We have a 2015 Expedition EL 4x4. We purchased it new and haven’t put too many miles on it (~45k), but do tow a fairly heavy trailer (~7k lbs) from time to time on extended highway trips.
A few known issues that I am aware of on these units:
- You may take it to Ford and get a PCM/TCM update. We had some harsh shifts and transmission searching that would occur. The PCM/TCM updates seemed to fix that. Ours was done under warranty, but typical dealer charge is ~$90.
- If it’s 4x4, then there are some isolated transfer case issues. During warmup and initial driving, the vehicle will engage the transfer case to warm up. There have been a few known cases of the transfer case causing issues/going out around the 75 - 100k miles mark. This sometimes would cause some drivetrain problems.
- There is also isolated issues with the direct injection ONLY engines (2011 - 2016 Ecoboost 3.5’s) and the crankcase breather coking up the valves. Several people have installed Catch-Cans to alleviate this, but if your valves are all caked up that can cause some issues. If I remember correctly, if you have a bore scope you can look into there. Last time I checked, there’s not many approved solutions for that other than replace the heads, but again, doesn’t seem to be a widespread issue. That’s one of the reasons why ford updated the engines to include direct and port injection in the later models.
- One other thing not mentioned here yet is the potential for a faulty or failing injector. You may want to make sure you change the fuel filter to make sure its not starving for fuel.
If you pull the codes, that would point you in the right direction.
Overall, we have been really happy with our expedition and it tows great with plenty of power. The engines are fairly robust, so once you figure out the problem, you should have a great tow vehicle.