Ford Excursion :: 2001 - White Knuckle Downhill Towing
Jul 17, 2013
I have an 01 EX that handles excellent (no wandering)! I tow my 06 Jeep LJ Rubicon (4500 lbs) that is on 35" tires with a Ready Brute tow bar. I use a 10" drop hitch (reversed) to get the tow bar level and my tire pressure is 65# front and 60# rear. It handles nice on level, uphill and mild downgrades. When I am doing steeper downgrades (I-70 in Colorado) it tends to want to push my rear end to the point that I am really fighting the back and forth feeling. If I slow down to about 50mph it steadies out.
I'm thinking that part of the problem might be the slop in the hitch. What I mean is that with just the hitch installed I can rock it back an forth in the receiver about 1/2 to 1". When I start downhill instead of a steady transfer of weight I get a "bump" as the weight shifts which contributes to the handling problems. Is there anything I can do (other than wood shims) to get rid of the slop in the hitch? What my problem might be?
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My 04 F 350 started with a check gauge light while going down hill towing an 18 ft car hauler full of mulch. Did it for 5 seconds, then when we got to our land and I was getting ready to back up it did it again. and this time my oil pressure gauge was at zero. I shut her down. checked the oil. its full. Drive home everything is good. Today I'm getting fuel pressure gauge going nuts. 80 to 100 PSI. at idle no oil pressure and the check gauge light. but the engine is still running. Oil was changed 4K ago. fuel filters same. Where to start looking?
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After a hard rain overnight, my truck would not stay on. I had to give it gas while still in park or it would cut off. Also I noticed white smoke from the exhaust while doing that. Eventually car stayed on. But now at when I come to a stop, the car will cut off when I put my foot on the gas to take off. I also.noticed the overdrive button will start to blink. Once the car gets going a few miles, then it's fine. Then this process starts all over again once the car is parked. Also the service engine soon light came on.
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I am in the process of rebuilding my front end and have found that the nipples that screw into the top of the knuckles for the ESOF system are rusted and need replacing. I'd like to keep the system as close to original as possible, but have had no luck in finding a replacement. What the appropriate Ford part number is or where I could pick up a suitable replacement. This would be for a 2001 F-250 4X4 with the V10.
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We just got back from our first big trip with the EX since we have owned it. We towed our (new to us) 25' TT up to northern Michigan (Elk Rapids area). This was my first time pulling a camper this far. We have been on smaller weekend trips with it.
My question is regarding the speed control. I tried using it but when it was going up a slight incline it would not kick back down. I would have to turn off the speed control in order for the RPM's to drop back. Do you guys use your speed control while towing? What about over-drive? Should I have it on or off?
By the way, we had a great time and so glad we have the EX!!! Kids had plenty of room. Got about 8 MPG! That's how we roll!
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I have a 02 excursion 7.3 with 120000 miles. Went camping and towed my 28ft travel trailer weighs about 9000 lbs loaded . The trans got super hot dumped fluid in the past this time same thing but the front seal went had it replaced and the trans pump rebuilt on the way home it got super hot a few times what I need to do now. The trans guy said the trans had been rebuilt in the past don't know when cuz I bought the truck used 1.5 yr ago..... The truck has tow package coolers its set up for towing how the hell do I keep the temp down...
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I had a flow master 50 sieries on my v10 and it sounds like something rattling around when towing. Guess i will have to find something different later on.
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I like to drive with cruise control engaged but I find I can't do that in my new (well, 182K 2005 6.0L) Excursion. It's holds speed just fine, but if I top a rise and start going downhill - basically when no effort needed to maintain speed - it starts chugging and shaking the whole truck real bad. It feels and sounds bad, can't be good for it (or so I've assumed in my head). It's a real staccato feeling as if fuel is being applied less than a second, stopped, reapplied. Is this something unique to the diesel (my first diesel), an issue with the cruise control (vacuum, electronic?), or what?
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2005 Excursion 6.0 104,000 miles
I have a scanguage2. Normal driving yesterday morning. Not towing. Temp got up to 200 deg.....then later to 240!! Never an issue with the tranny !!
Yesterday I checked:
-the fluid level and it's fine.
-There was some crud on the dipstick though.
-temps for EOT and EWT are fine.
-a distinctive hot rubber smell too when it got to that temp.
Today I checked:
- the coolant for traces of transmission fluid...there was none.
-looked under the truck for fluid that may have blown out the vent....none
-no leaks anywhere
The truck is parked and will be towed to the shop so i don't incurr any more damage. So what could the prob be??
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I towed my friends car hauler yesterday for a short distance for him. I had no turn signals or 4 way flasher while towing. After dropping off the trailer still no signals or 4way flasher. I parked and checked fuses all were good and signals started to work. But still no 4ways. Any thoughts on what to look for. Never had this before. I have blown a fuse before and always been able to find and fix.
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How much do any of you increase your tire pressure while towing?
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I have a new set of towing mirrors for my beast and also a set of the LED smoked signals. It appears that the old ones just "pop" off but I would like to know for sure.
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3 for 3 this year. When I'm towing, arrive at our campsite and back our trailer into the spot. I get white smoke pretty quickly and there is transmission fluid all over the ground.
4R100 transmission with 71k miles on it. I had the fluid changed this year HOWEVER it did do the same thing last year on a camping trip when I was towing.
I don't have any other issues other than this. I assume the fluid is getting ridiculously hot and then boiling over? The gauge doesn't change at all in the cab (but I assume it is either a GOOD/BAD sensor vs. an actual temp sensor).
I've tried using 2WD, 4HI and 4LO all with the same results. What needs to be done to prevent this? Larger transmission cooler? Is there anything that is 'plug and play'?
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Ive got a 2004 excursion Eddie bauer and I've got the non-towing paddle mirrors with power adjustment, heated, and turn signals. I want to put the 2008 style towing mirrors on that have power adjustment, heated, turn signals, and have the marker lights but not power fold or power telescope.
How I can wire these new mirrors to my factory wires? I understand that the marker light may have to be separately wired in, but all of the other functions I want to wire in to my existing wires.
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I have a 2000 Excursion with a 7.3 diesel. I have 245k on the clock. Engine and transmission are original. I have an overheating issue when I am towing and pull a long grade. It's not as bad as it was before but it still happens and I am tired of turning off the AC and putting the heaters on full blast to support cooling when it is 90 plus outside. A list of things that I have done so far.
Newer water pump and thermostat.
New tensioner.
Installed a new trans pan with about 7-8 larger capacity.
Used some magic juju juice to clean out colling system.
Installed a coolant filter. I am on my 5th filter. The first one didn't last 500 miles before getting stopped up.
Switch to Delo ELC.
I recently had the upper hose off and when I looked inside, I didn't see any scale or build up. I also read about some of the trucks of that vintage didn't get a trans cooler. When I looked, I saw a cooler but it doesn't look like it is plumbed through the radiator.
I want to install a large trans cooler. I don't want to replace the radiator just for the sake of replacing it. Also, look at the pic of the water pump with the thermostat sitting in it. Is the thermostat supposed to be resting all the way down? I keep wondering about that.
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So this may be a really dumb question, but here goes. I have a new to me 2001 v10 gas 4x4 ex. It has obviously been lifted in the past. The springs seem totally shot as the back end is quite a bit lower than the front and drops dramatically while towing. I am adding a helwig and have a wd hitch but have not set it up yet. So my question is can i do the spring swap? It would seem that i would need to address whatever changes are made from the stock ride but im not sure. I like the current lift and would be fine keeping it and adding the lift from the new springs.
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I've been googling for about 3 hours now, and no answers for the gassers, just diesels. When I start my excursion (v10) it pours white smoke for a while, then stops. It does this every time I start it no matter how far I go or how long it sits.
There is plenty of coolant in it and I've never had to top it off, so I don't think it is getting coolant in the cylinder. With that much smoke it wood definitely need coolant if that's what it was. Oil consumption is kind of high in my opinion, but the smoke smells rich.
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I have a 2001 excursion 7.3 4x4 with the 6.0L trans cooler. It is over heating when heavy, uphill towing is under way. I am guessing that my computer has been reprogramed at some point and more fuel is being injected than the radiator is designed to cool. I know my trans cooler is clean. I have tried cleaning the radiator and intercooler with a garden hose. I am considering a hood scoop or some sort of vents in the hood. When it over heats I turn on the heater and open the hood and the engine temps drop in just a few minutes so I believe that the engine needs more cooling or I need to slow down a bit on hills. Any other cheap fixes to get more air in to cool things under the hood more?
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Tonight we left baseball field and my 2005 excursion was white smoking all the way home. I Stopped Several Times And Checked Coolant Level And It Never dropped. I let it sit for a hour and coolant level is still at my black mark. So does this mean it's a injector? It poured down raining so I'll have to wait till morning. Will scanguage show any codes for injectors. If so I can program in the morning.
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2004 6.0 Excursion.. I had an issue with lots of white smoke. A p0401 code, then the smoke stopped. I removed the egr and cleaned it. All seamed good until two weeks later. Now I have smoke again. Its seems to be only after it is warm. Do I need a NEW egr valve?
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I was having an issue with coolant loss and white smoke from tailpipe. Was told it was likely intake leak vs headgaskets. Changed intake gaskets, fixed the issue for a day then it started just dumping coolant from every available place in the exhaust system. Was draining a full collant bottle in about 2 minutes. Was also checking for exhaust in the coolant with the tube and blue liquid which it stayed blue. Had previously done a degas pressure test and it passed. The only test I hadn't performed was compression test which all the cylinders output was lowest 160 to the highest about 185. Did not perform a wet compression test as I was mainly looking for base compression and consistency.
Not sure what healthy is on these vehicles but considering they were all running pretty close I call it good. Also it idles just as smooth. Pulled intake a 2nd time and rechecked my previous work. Everything looked fine so I put it back together. Ran smoke free for about 50 miles now I'm back to smoke after it sits a bit but it clears up after a short drive. What am I missing? I will note that I had a small coolant leak from drivers side rear of engine that I noticed while it was parked in the shop. I'm assuming that would be the oil cooler? But oil is clean so it's not mixing. What other avenues on these engines can coolant make it into the exhaust? Drives perfect with no power loss.
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