Problems with 1999 Ford Expedition ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

My 1999 ford expedition has had to have the ignition coil packs replaced at least 4 times. the symptoms are misfire and a resulting severe engine vibration upon acceleration. once the vehicle reaches a cruising speed, the problem appears to go away, but only until you accelerate again. ford motor company knows there is is design flaw in these vehicles which causes water dripping from some source (the air conditioner or a windshield that is not sealed) to short out the ignition coil packs. they have a technical service bulletin out on the problem, but the problem is not always reported as a check engine light and they fail to diagnose this properly in some cases. the first 2 times this happened, i took the car to two different ford dealerships. both trips cost me close to $400 each time. the third time it happened, we went to our local garage and the guy said this was a common problem, well known to auto mechanics, but that the individual failing cylinder could not be readily diagnosed by the computer codes, so it was an expensive repair because they might have to try all 8 coil packs to locate and identify the offender. the last coil pack that failed was replaced by my husband at a cost of $45.00 as the failing unit was easily accessible. you can see the great difference in cost of doing it yourself vs. both of my trips to the dealership. my truck is failing again now and of course, it is exhibiting the same symptoms of a coil pack failure. this time, however, the coil pack in question is not easily accessible for the home mechanic and we will be forced to take it in for repair.

In rain, wipers fail, dash lights fail, radio fails, hvac fails, 4x4 engages

Vehicle parked 90 mins, noticed smoke from hood, raised hood flames 12-14 " high, cc did not work 6 mos prior to vehicle fire

Had to have electrical components and fuse box replaced due to windshield leaking water into 1999 ford expedition. also replaced winshield.

Every time it rains or snows, several functions controlled by my 1999 ford expedition's electrical system begin to function irratically. as an example, while driving in the rain, the windshield wipers do not function continuously. in addition, if the vehicle is sitting in the rain, several functions come on automatically and the battery inevitably dies. i've had to replace a battery and i would like for ford to acknowledge and repair the problem before i sink anymore money into it. it appears that others have had the same problem and it has been linked to a leaky windshield and the gem module of the vehicle. a recall has been issued for explorers and mountaineers with this problem, but to date, nothing has been done about the expedition.

After vehicle was parked for 3 hours a fire started under the hood. vehicle was totaled. dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak

Spouse woke up to glass popping, ran out of house, and saw garage completely engulfed in flames - one week prior to vehicle fire turn signals and hazard lights would not work - blown fuse and replaced it. cruise control would jerk while activated. *ak

1999 ford expedition eddie bauer 4x4 the emergency brake was removed by the dealer when they sold it to me and never put one on it, also the /c blows out hot air up front and cold in the back, and the odomitter does not work, it goes in and out and the dealer refuses to fix it. several of my friends have the same truck and they have the same problem

Spark plug (believe it was #4) blew out of the cylinder head. 66k miles. these were original plugs, so not attributable to faulty mechanic. head re-threaded, new plug inserted.

(1) 1999 ford expedition would not start, dead battery. replaced battery, determined all electonic components shorting out and inoperable: headlights, brake lights, and interior lights goes on and off, wipers work only intermittently.*ak (2) vehicle taken to local ford repair facility. dealership was immedietly familliar with problem. failure attribuited to leaking windshied and subsequent water leakage on vehicle gem (general elecronic module) and fuseblock (3) repairs consisted of replacing winshield, repacing gem module with improved water resistant variation (result of tsb), replaced fuseblock, replaced starter motor. problems with some electronic systems persist after repair. (4) resuling $1,650.00 repair bill for 5 year old, 70k mile garage kept vehicle due to being left in the rain for two days.

While vehicle was parked for 1 hour a fire started under the hood. vehicle was totaled. dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak

On january 15th, 2005 my wife had returned from a short trip from the grocery store in our 1999 ford expedition around 9:30pm. she had been home about 45 minutes when i noticed the smell of smoke. i looked out the door to the garage and saw flames coming out from under the hood near the windshield. i quickly took the keys and tried to crank it to get it out of the garage and away from the house. fortunately it did crank. after i attempted to put the fire out with a fire extinquisher the local fire department put out the fire. the car was declared a total loss by my insurance company a couple days later. i have no doubt that this fire was caused by a faulty cruise-control de-selector switch. the cruise-control had stopped working about 4 or 5 months ago. after the fire i noticed a puddle of fluid on our garage floor. i now know that was brake fluid from the master cylinder. i called montgomery motors service department on tuesday january 25th and they said they had never heard of this problem with expeditions. two days later ford announces a recall on certain year model expeditions (not 1999). i'm upset that ford knew of this problem and did nothing about until there were over 63 fires (not counting this one). and now they are only recalling a few year models when it is obvious that this is a problem with 1997 thru 2002 models. i was very fortunate that my home and family was not burned up in this fire. some other families may not be as lucky. thank you in advance for your attention to this dangerous problem. *ak

Spark plug has blown out of the head.*ak

While consumer was driving and coming to a stop sign there was a loud noise. consumer pulled to the side of the road, and the vehicle cut off. after having the vehicle towed, it was discovered the spark plug blew out.*ak

At the end of october fuse to the brake lights blew out. replaced fuse, and saw smoke coming from under hood. removed fuse, and opened hood to find source of smoke, it was the brake switch on top of the master cylinder. took it to dealership, who reported that they replaced the switch. 3 weeks later vehicle was parked in driveway for 1 hour after driving for .5 hours and it caught on fire. also, house caught on fire. the fire was in the engine compartment. the hole in the hood was centered on the driver's side near the middle. insured by progressive. *ak

I own a 1999 ford expedition.i have had 3 spark plugs blow out of the heads. 2 didn_x0019_t take the threads out but 1 completely ripped the threads out with it. i had it retapped and a helocoil put in but that only lasted about a month. now best ford is telling me i need to replace the passenger head at a cost to me of 2500.00, and ford will not do anything about it due to the mileage. i have spoken to fords customer relation_x0019_s center trying to work something out to no avail. i have found hundreds of consumer complaints on the internet of defective aluminum cylinder heads with the same thing happening to them. people experienced the same problems with there trucks with as low as 25 thousand miles. *ak

While driving vehicle beeping noise like an alarm started to sound. then the radio, the light saying the washer fluid and the 4x4 start flashing on and off when car is shifted into park it stops. also on an occasion the heater was running the car was turned off key out of the ignition. had to restart the car to get the heater to stop.

While vehicle was parked it caught on fire. the night before it caught fire the emergency brake light illuminated the dash board. *ak

Dt: the contact owns a 1999 ford expedition. had to have repairs done several times. the first time it was the alternator. then, there were problems with the motor. the last time there were transmission problems. *ak

I have recently discovered (local news cast) that a problem i encountered with my 1999 ford expedtion has been reported to you dept on several occasions. i would like to add that i was told by a local mechanic that this is a common poroblem with the ford expedition and f-150's. the damage to my vehicle @1700.00 was casued by a spark plug shooting out of the cylinder casuing damage to the engine and the needed repairs were expensive abd time consuming for our family not to mention the need for a rental vehicle that pushed nearly 700.00. thanks for you response to this matter greg jensen burnsville mn. *ak

Tl*the contact owns a 1999 ford expedition. the contact stated that water penetrated the vehicle causing the general electrical module, and fuse box, to corrode. the vehicle started on its own and caused the radio, heater, and all other electrical functions to fail. the vehicle was taken to the dealer numerous times for the failure. the dealer replaced the electrical module and the fuse box several times. the windshield was replaced, but the dealer wasn't able to locate determine where the water penetrated the vehicle. the manufacturer took a report 0478403130 and advised the contact to take the vehicle back to the dealer. the failure mileage was 30,000. the current mileage was 135,000. updated 3/8/11 *cn updated 11/28/11 *cn

1999 ford expedition collided head-on with another vehicle. both were travelling at highway speeds. the expedition immediately caught fire, including the passenger compartment.the fire wall failed and fuel apparently fed the fire.

I have a 1999 ford expedition,and while i was driving on the highway, one of my spark plugs popped out of cylinder. *ak

I bought a 99 expedition used in march 2004, from the local ford dealer in clarksburg, wv. from the 2nd day i had it home it has had electrical problems in the rain. the rear wiper would stop immediately and the front wipers would not come back on if the car was in drive after you had turned them off. during the first incident i stopped to get gas and when i got in to leave the pumps my headlights would not come back on. i drove the two blocks to my house by the street lights. i know from the internet i'm not the only person to have this water leak in under the dash of a ford expedition of f-150. it is a miracle if no one has wreck in a sudden down pour. *nm

My 1999 ford expedition spontaneously combusted in the early morning hours on 1/21/04 while we slept. the car had been sitting for many hours - with the engine turned off. a loud noise woke us up and the ford expedition was on fire. the fire completely destroyed the ford expedition, the cadillac deville(parked across from it), the portcache, and the roof of our house. *nm the fire was coming from the engine compartment. cruise control stopped working for a period of time. it stopped about a week before the fire. two of the running board light bulbs had also gone out. no aftermarket equipment. the fire spread to the structure and another vehicle. will e-mail pictures to bruce york. vehicle was insured by state farm policy number 930041594. state farm did a fire investigation.

It started a year and a half ago. the windshield wipers would come on for no reason. it didn't happen very often at the time i took it in to evaluate the problem. the dealer told me they could not fix a problem they didn't see. slowly the problem got worst, especially in wet weather. about eight months ago, the headlights would go out if the steering column was lowered. i can no longer raise or lower the column anymore for fear the wipers, locks and headlamps will not work. at times, the locks to the back seat would not respond to the power lock buttons. the rear wiper does not work anymore, you can hear the motor run at times, but no movement. the odometer blinks on and off at times. there have been times it doesn't come on at all. that normally happens when i'm on the road for a long period of time. with all of that going on, the worst thing is to drive the car in the rain and snow and not know if the wipers will work at all. *jb

Water leaking under dash around windshield dealer tried twice to fix problem and to date it leaks when subjected to rain.

Back wiper failure odometer failure running board light failure radio failure rear door lock failure. *nm

1999 ford expedition blew #3 sparg plug out of head

1 engine blew-100 deductible 2 electrical,lights wont go off - 3 electrical,radio/windshield wipers inop-4 transmission leak-5 transmission going bad-6 alternator bad all within a year and 4 months, been walking more than riding, have not enjoyed truck yet, scared to drive past 200 miles out i got a real lemon that i still have to pay 535 for, i hate ford, will never buy another if it was free, going to iraq, but ill be back 4 justice.... *jb

The vehicle stalled without warning. the consumer had the vehicle towed to the dealer. the mechanic informed the consumer that the spark plugs blew out causing the engine to fail. *ak *nm

Vehicle fire - possible engine fire with extensive property damage. *ak

The truck will not start, even though there is power. after waiting a few hours it starts up without a problem. it may run fine for a couple days and then have numerous problems for days on end. this has been going on for more than a month now. called three dealerships and was forced to take it back to the original dealership (two hours away). the problem did not happen when at the dealership, was not logged on the computer and was charged $100.00 to do nothing. i have heard from numerous people that this is a common problem with the alarm system (that does not log problems on the computer) that is under warranty. have called ford customer service and was told that there was nothing that they could do. after numerous times of lack of starting, the original dealership told me that we needed to leave the truck with them for an extended period of time (three to four days).*ak

Spark plugs blow out of cylinder heads on the 5.4 v-8 and on the v-10 motors as well. this has happened to me three times and ford recognizes the problem. it needs to be investigated as this is a potential fire issue, and may result in loss of control.*ak

While driving the vehicle stalled without warning. it was later determined that the vehicle spark plugs were defective. *nlm

Upon starting vehicle consumer smelt smoke from within the cabin. consumer proceeded to turn the vehicle off, and lifted the hood. engine compartment was on fire. dealership was notified. fire was extinguished, and vehicle was towed to dealer. an electrical problem caused the fire. component that failed unknown. vehicle was repaired, and returned to the consumer. *ak

Water in the fuse box causing many shorts. there is a leak in the wheel well. no water is any where else in the suv. shorts include, radio off and on, flashing lights on the dash, all lights off on dash, suv starter relay shorted and tried to start the ignition without any keys or anyone in the suv. because it is considered water damage my extended warranty will not cover it. ford motor company has been contacted by myself and they have apparently heard of this complaint and will not assume responsibility at this time.

There is a problem with vehicle's electrical system. all doors lock/unlock intermittently without engagement. also the vehicle's interior and exterior lights engage on/off. ph

The passenger side cylinder head needed to be replaced to the very common spark plug blow out. from other websites i have seen this to be a very common occurrence among expedition owners. the repair cost was in the area of $1800.00. ford does not acknowledge this as a defect and yet it happens to people every day. *nlm

The interior lights would flicker on and off intermittently. the windsheild wipers would turn on and off intermittently. the radio would turn on and off without anybody touching the controls. truck switches into 4x4 mode when driven thru car wash. i could have neglected to fix the problem, but, decided to have necessary repairs done to the 1999 ford expedition at a cost of almost $2000 to me..... my extended warranty did not cover the necessary repairs.......and ford (the manufacturer), would not help either. i had 2" gem modules" replaced in this vehicle within 1 and 2 years. the second time ford/ford dealer replaced the gem module. the vehicle still switches into 4x4 after going through a "drive thru" car wash......water must be causing an electrical problem somewhere underneath the truck??????? the first gem module is available----i paid for it, so i kept it.....brookdalke ford (dealership), said there was water damage to the printed circuit board which is what the gem module is made up of.......there is no visible water damage to this part. i work for an electronics manufacturer......and a few of our technicians agreed ---no water damage.......it's a design problem by the manufacturer or the designer....... thank you, delano maudal 3082 highcrest road roseville, mn 55113

Windshield wipers intermittently wipe without switch being activated, rear wipers fail to wipe at all.

Interior lights malfunctioning, daytime running lights not working correctly, heating/cooling system not working properly; stays on even when key is not in ignition. when ignition is turned on or off, the woofer makes a loud thumping sound. woofer inoperable. right sign wing never worked properly/ will not open or close. braking system is doubtful, it squeaks, and when gas is released engine and braking are not coordinated smoothly . constant squeaking when in motion. dealerships service repair personal neglect and refuse to find the causes, even though vehicle is still under warranty. *nlm

The engine starts normally after the key is turned but dies when i shift into gear. after the first failure, the truck was towed to the dealer who performed diagnostics. the tests did not show any abnormalities. i was told that they could not identify the faulty part therefore could not replace anything. they said it could just be a fluke and might never happen again. this was while the truck was under manufacturer's warranty. the second failure occured two days ago, approx. 6 months after the first incident. i was eventually able to get the vehicle started on my own and drove straight to the dealer. again, they were unable to find any faulty parts. the vehicle is now out of manufacturer warrenty but is under an extended warranty. however, the repair shop said that they could not just start replacing parts without a clear cut diagnostic becasue the insurer would not pay. i am now afraid to drive the vehicle any distance from my home or office in case the defect stalls the car again or manifests itself in some other, more destructive way. i cancelled my trip for the fourth of july and am waiting on a dealer call back. i am assuming this is a glitch in a computer chip or something relatively minor, but difficult to find. however, the problem is a major one in my life as i do not feel safe driving this vehicle. the dealer has been responsive and is researching the problem. i do not know if they have access to a data base of other expedition/f110 owners who may have had this same problem, so i am trying to distribute my information to a central organization that might be able to recognize a pattern of failure and identify it's cause. the vehicle has been maintained per the manufacturer's recommendations.*ak

Had spark plug coil go out on #4 cylinder, shakes at higher speeds tires wear unevenly burning oil smell after you drive it had it to dealership 3 times and they "couldnt locate a leak " ( maybe there techs should read these tsb's?) finally reconized as bad head and gasket replaced still was leaking then i told i needed a total engine replacement! now its outta warrenty and my problem according to ford dealership. even though had it in for burning oil smell when under 36,000 (dot number: na tiresize: 275r16)

Turn signal/wiper control stem shorting out with electrical arc sounds as long as stem is in l/r position. same item occurred in similar vehicle owned by same: 1997 ford expedition, vin#[xxx]. suspect this is a defective assembly which may cause accidents due to lack of ability to indicate turning intent, especially when turning left or changing lanes. *ak information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6). *tr

Failure of the #3/#4 coil packs seem commonplace on ford expeditions primarily due to the design of the heater hose (sits above the coil pack): if the hose drips, the result is a costly repair. this problem is reported frequently on the www.xpedition.net mailing list, and finally showed up an my vehicle. there are reports on the mailing list of people having this problem multiple times (2, 3, 4..). *ak

1999 ford expedition experiencing problems with the head gaskets. *mr the consumer felt that the engine should be replaced at no cost. the passenger side head gasket leaked oil badly. ford replaced the head gasket once while under the manufacturer 36k mile warranty. the head gasket was replaced again at the consumers expense because the leak resumed. the consumer was informed by three different ford technicians that the oil passage in the block of the engine was so close to the edge of the block that a head gasket would have a problem preventing oil from leaking out and ford developed 2 or 3 revised head gaskets to address the problem since 1999. after th second repair ofthe head gasket, one of the heads leaked anti-freeze. other problems were: an inoperative horn, transmission shifting made a whining noise and the vehicle would not heat up when at zero. *sc *jb

Vehicle continually experiences a no start/turn over condition, consumer can jump the vehicle with cables and it is fine, this situation happens speratically, dealer does not know what the problem is, they have replaced the module, however it still continues. *mjs

Engine suddenly running very rough and engine check light on. dealer investigation showed coolant leak on coil pack 4. coil pack removed and replaced and hose clamp tightened. repair was not done as a defect although many other vehicles have had the same problem. *ak

Tire defect: driving under normal conditions with my family of five we heard a "bang" and realized the rear right tire had blown. because of the severity of the blow out we felt immediately that this was a manufacturing defect and expressed our concern to nemer ford. the ford expedition has never been used for any off-road purpose. nemer ford refused to do anything and simply referred us to the firestone dealer. we contacted our local firestone dealer and they told us it must have been punctured, which we knew was not true. we have not replaced the tire and still have the original tire to prove to someone that the tire is defective! firestone told us we needed to purchase another tire, i will not risk my family's safety by purchasing another firestone product.( dot number: tire size: p265/70r )