Radcad

Many, many thanks to Tiffany and others regarding the TSB for the 07 Expy. I finally couldn't ignore the trans issue (I try to look on the positive side of things), but it seemed to be getting worse. I took it in to my dealer last week (Vista Ford, Oxnard, CA) along with a printout of the TSB Tiff supplied. No questions asked, they re-programmed the trans and it's awesome! Ok, now I feel like a complete idiot for waiting, but I'm glad I finally had it done. I have had NO issues and it shifts great now. A quick trip and back to Tahoe for July 4th, and 1,200 miles later it's still great. Smooth as silk, no hesitation, and more importantly, no waffling back and forth between 2nd, 1st, 2nd, etc. If anyone else has this issue on an early build '07, don't wait - have the TSB work done! Thanks again everyone! :happy feet:

Mike, that was so harsh! :slug: Sorry about that Tiff. I must admit I feel somewhat responsible, since I have mentioned the gas gauge a few times in the posts. Thanks for letting us all know, and I will be more careful too! Ray

Mike - Ok, so now you know. I am an admitted manual reader. I belong to MRA (Manual Reader's Anonymous). I have tried to cut back, but it's no use. They're coming out with a patch soon. Tiffany, don't you know that the glove box in the new Expy is hermetically sealed? There's no WAY that it has dust in it. You could store surgical utensils in there. I use it as an incubator. I believe if Mike sits in his Expy, with his seat adjusted comfortably, hands and 10 and 2 on the steering wheel, stereo volume on way high, and clicks his heels 3 times....the manual will magically appear in the center console.

Mike - I'm pretty sure that if the skid control program engages, a light on the dashboard (upper part, where the button is) will come on. So when I was cornering hard to enough to try to get that light on, it most definitely wasn't engaging. But, as I said, that's just a testament as to how well this thing handles! Ok, I did have to chuckle at your story about the daytime running lights. The only reason I didn't fall prey to what you did is that I have actually read the entire owner's manual. Otherwise I may have thought the same thing. But boy do I have a absolutely true story to tell you: My father told me "You'll laugh about this someday - maybe not tomorrow, not in a week, or a month, but someday." He was right. But at the moment he said that, I was in no mood to laugh. I was 20 years old and had just bought my first new car. It was an 1986 Dodge Shelby Charger. Ok, so it's not a classic. But to me it was my own Indy race car. I bought the most expensive radar detector at the time (a Passport - $299). I wore leather driving gloves when I drove it. I had the windows double-tinted, almost completely black. Being a black car with gray stripes, it looked like Darth Vader's personal transport. I bought orange construction cones and practiced cornering maneuvers at the school parking lot. I was a little excited about this car. So, I've had the Shelby about 1 year and one of the headlights goes out. On a freezing cold Sunday in December (I lived in Wisconsin at the time) I came out of my small, 4-unit apartment building to change the headlight. Mind you, back when I still lived with my folks, whenever I borrowed any of their cars (all beaters), it typically required some sort of minor repair before I could drive it. I'd changed water pumps, fixed leaking gas tanks, starters, alternators, wiper motors....but I was still in no way a mechanic. When I performed these repairs I never had the right tools available, so it was difficult. This made me very grouchy. But now at last, I had my new car. Changing a headlight? So simple! I start by taking the headlamp chrome surround off. No problem. Then I undo a set of screws that I think should allow the headlight to come out. No go. Fitzing here, fuddling there....nothing. The grouchiness ensues. As I got more frustrated, I became more and more forceful with the headlight - trying to pry it out of there. This caused me to sratch the paint on the surrounding bumper and headlight recess. Soon, screwdrivers are flying, rocks are being kicked, and my overall temperment is right at boiling. Having had enough, I finally grabbed the headlight with both hands and ripped it out of the housing. Now I saw what was holding it there....a spring....a stupid-assed spring!! But now I'm an inferno, so as soon as I see the spring and tell it how stupid it is, I turn around and hurl the headlight at the nearby rocks....shattering it to pieces. I put the new headlight in, attaching the wire harness. But now that I've stretched out and ruined the spring, the headlight would no longer be adjustable. Instead, it just flopped around in the housing, aimed towards the sky. Again, this did not make me happy. However, I went to the car door, opened it, and flipped the lights on. I walked to the front of the car to check the lights..... I had changed the wrong headlight. I can't imagine what my face must have looked like as the realization at what I'd done occurred to me. Then, I realized that in my fit of rage I had actually smashed a perfectly good headlight, and now still had only 1 working headlight. As the screwdrivers, rocks, and anything else I could find were coming down from their descent (and as the neighbors were watching the crazy man through their picture windows), my dad pulled up in his car - there to watch the Bears game on TV. He asked what was wrong, and of course what I said was barely intelligible, because every other word was of the 4-letter variety. His face turned red, then redder as he tried to contain his laughter. It was at that time he said the words at the beginning of this story. And he was right! So don't feel bad Mike. (By the way, I've mellowed a lot since then.) Ray

Mike - I second what Tiff says - that's the way my daytime driving lights operate as well (no fogs). Finally you got yours!! I am glad you like the ride. I am sure it's probably even smoother with the smaller tires, so yes, I think it's simply the new platform is just that good! Try not to run up too many miles your first weekend (did about 750 on mine it's first weekend). Tiff - I saw a charcoal '07 EL a few weeks ago going through Ojai. Thought it might be you by chance, but later realized it had 18" wheels. I believe you have the 20"s - so it couldn't have been you. I didn't mention it then because I was still very new to the posts and didn't want you do think you had a stalker...haha! Ray

Mike I was wondering if you'd picked yours up yet. I can tell you're excited about waiting for delivery of your Expy...I can't imagine having ordered one and then having to wait as long as you have to get it! I currently have 2,200 miles on mine. I am as excited to drive it today as I was the first day I picked it up! First, here are the pro's: Virtually everything. I've had no issues with it whatsoever. The ride is smooth, it's quiet - but the sound of the engine is Nascar revisited when you gun the motor. Great soundtrack! I drove with 7 people in it last Tuesday, and a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S owner rode in the rear seat. He commented at least 3 times about how nice the Expy was inside/out and how nice it rode. The nav system is great, and I used it extensively. I still have to figure out how to program and use the voice commands, but I am looking forward to that. It's fun to look at vehicles I once thought to be big and bad (i.e., Hummer, Escalade, Yukon, even Ford's own Navigator) and note how diminutive they seem now (insert jokes about vehicle size = manhood dimensions here). The heated seats are great on cold mornings. The vehicle feels incredibly solid over bumpy roads, and I have no reason to believe that squeaks and rattles will infest the vehicle when it's got 50,000 miles on it. I formerly owned a 420SEL Benz, and I think the Expy is more luxurious and drives nicer. It handles great too (for a big vehicle). I do have the upgraded 20" wheels, so that may make a difference over the 18"s. This is probably a tie as my favorite vehicle I've ever owned, (with my '03 T-Bird). Con's: Understand, this is REALLY nitpicking, and I don't even like to mention this because it's not a big deal. But I want to mention everything I can think of. The "miles to empty" gauge in the message center is a bit conservative for my tastes. The warning comes on with 50 miles to go, and if you fill up then there's still room for about 8 gallons of gas. I would like finer adjustment on the radio volume: It seems the volume I want it at is always in-between the smallest increment of adjustment available. As far as comments about the trans and the shifting between 1st and 2nd from a stop: I've noticed that it's become more intuitive as I've driven it. I don't usually mash the pedal at takeoff anyway, but now it really takes a supremely light touch to have it start out in 2nd gear (which I'd prefer it not do). Read my other posts about the trans. After having driven it now for these 2,200 miles, I have no complaints about it at all. I believe it's shifting the way it was meant to shift. And of course, it's a very smooth transmission. And a final note that really says something about Ford products: Prior to buying my '02 Explorer Sport Trac (traded in for the Expy), I would never have thought I would buy American again. But my resulting experience with my former local Ford dealer/service (thank you Jarrett Ford - Dade City, FL), the reliability of my Sport Trac and T-bird (34,000 miles - no mechanical issues at all), and the fine interior design and fit/finish led to a huge altitude adjustment. (A little joke for the aviators out there...duh.) I am a proud Ford owner, and laugh when I think about how much people pay for premium foreign brand names (and the resulting high service/maintenance costs). Not that those premium brand names aren't fine vehicles, but they're not worth $30,000 to $40,000 more. No way. Not after having sampled, owned, and driven my Expy for the last 2,200 miles. Let us know as soon as you get yours, and don't forget pics! I'm sure you won't be disappointed. And just to get you wound up even further, here's a couple of other pics of my Expy. Ray

I looked at my nav system today to try to answer your question exactly. If you leave this screen on, whenever you turn the vehicle off and then back on it will return to this screen without asking for you to "agree". Mind you, the screen can be dimmed so it's not too bright at night. From my fiddling with it today, this is the screen you want to keep it on if you don't want to use the nav system and subsequently have to "agree" every time you start the vehicle. From this screen, if you press the "nav" button on the dash (not in the screen shown above), it will then ask you to "agree" before starting the nav system. At night, if I have Sirius or an am/fm station on and am not using the nav, I like to shut off the display or simply put the status bar on the display (which will show the clock, current station, and current media - note in above pic the black bar which contains the info "SR3 - 129 El Sotano - headphone icon - time) However, even from the status bar or the display/off settings, it will ask to you to "agree" at next vehicle start up. Is that confusing enough? In short, if you leave it on the media screen show above - you will not have to hit agree every time you re-start the vehicle. :blah:

Spydie- I too like the nav system, a lot. I use it extensively about 3 days a week. Yes, there's a legal disclaimer screen (it seems as though all nav systems require this). It's not that much of a pain, however, because it will pick up where you are in your journey - even if you shut off the vehicle and stop along the way. I know some nav systems will require you to re-enter your destination information if you shut off the vehicle. And Tiff, just so you know, somehow, some way I got my nav to stop asking me to "make a legal U-turn". That was really annoying. Now, if I miss the turn it just quickly re-routes me around the block or another way. If I figure out how I did it, I'll let you know. I suppose all nav systems do the re-routing thing, but it's a very nice feature. By the way, what happened with your brake situation?

Dan - You might already know this, so I apologize in advance for my redundancy. While cleaning the brake dust from my wheels today (the 20" chromed), I noticed that the wheels appear to be chromed plastic, over the aluminum (or steel?) wheel. Not a big deal to me considering the chromed plastic grille on both my Expy and my T-Bird (the grille still looks immaculate). But thought you should know this, considering you added them after your initial purchase. - Ray

Glad you didn't accept that the squeaking was "normal". I've always had good experiences at the Ford service departments, however, I made sure to introduce myself to the service MANAGER (insist on that, which it seems you did in this case) on my first visit. Could it have been that your brakes were "glazed"? You might want to ask rjr, he seems to know a lot. I know there's actually a procedure where you perform several consecutive hard stops from speed, in order to heat the pads or rotors up and clean them off...something like that.

:P No! I was alone (how pathetic). My wife hates it when I zip around corners. I tell her it's for her own good, that I'm helping to expand her comfort zone. That goes over really well.

Just crawled under my Expy and looked. It's a 20" steel wheel, with the same Pirelli tire. Your parts guy needs a whack in the head with a shovel. FYI, I took my Expy for a morning drive up into the twisties near Ojai. I'm not a race car driver by any stretch of the imagination, but I tried my damndest to get the stability control system to engage (I couldn't). But there was not one squeal out of those tires. They grip very well, and are quiet. I hope you like them. We'll have to wait and see how they wear.

The Pirellis are good tires. Although when test driving the Expy, I wasn't able to compare the ride between the smaller wheels and the 20's (my local dealer had 20's on all their models), the Pirellis handle well and ride very smooth, with very little road noise. Cornering is also very good in my opinion. As Akirby said, check on TireRack.com for the user reviews. There are only a few reviews there, but they're good reviews. -Ray

Did you calculate your mileage using miles driven/gallons at fill up? Or did you use the estimated mileage on the dashboard message center? My message center estimate was lower (15.7) than what I actually got (16.45), so yours may actually be a bit better. You're right though, when you mash the pedal the sound is awesome! Makes me want to get aftermarket mufflers so I can hear it even better. -Ray

Nope - no issues with the brakes squeaking here. Currently at 1,000 miles on the odometer. But you know, considering your admitted lead foot, Tiff, you gotta bring the big brute to a stop sometime! Now punish those brakes! -Ray