Anybody here drive an Excursion?

Airslot

Airslot

God
Who here has an Excursion? I'm in the market for a different vehicle. Being that the Proline weighs between 7000 - 7500 fully loaded, I'm looking at either 2500 Suburban or an Excursion. I know that a 1500 Burb would probably work, but I'm not sure I won't have a bigger boat in 2-3 years?

Anyhow, your thoughts on the above vehicles? Oh yeah, forgot to add that I'm looking 2000-2002 model years probably. Will have about $8k cash to work with. Don;t want a payment.
 
The EXCURSION is big and bulky for one thing, and the 4X4 won't go into most standard garages(this is the reason I didn't buy one as I won't own something too big to go in my garage, I gotta be able to do my own wrenching). Also the EXCURSION is HEAVY! It requires either the diesel or V-10 option as the V-8 is working it's tail off just to move it around pretty much. I know they are rated at 920 GVWR, but the 4X4 diesel weighs in at 8200 empty. So you really can't legally put alot of weight in them. The 4X4's also have ALOT of bad driving problems with them due to the springs that FORD put on them. Ford put stiffer springs on the X that allowed it to sit lower, but it also caused alot of BUMP steer and just an all around poor ride. Putting SUPER DUTY springs on it and new style bump stops corrects this, but will lift it about 2-3 inches. The rear springs are also VERY stiff and are known to have a harsh ride to them on all models. As you can see I did ALOT of research into the EXCURSION before I finally decided to keep my SUBURBAN and make it what I wanted.

In the 2000-2002 SUBURBANS you can get them with either the 6.0L or the 8.1L. The 6.0L is a good engine that gets decent milage, but it will know you have that much weight back there. The 8.1L is harder to find, but is one SERIOUS powerhouse that they say will still pull down decent MPG's if you can find one with 3.73 gears. The SUBURBAN will still fit into most standard garages, and there is no comparison in the difference of the ride in the two.

A V-10 or diesel EXCURSION is more than capable of doing the towing job and being a good family vehicle, but having ridden in both the SUBURBAN wins hands down in just the differrrence in ride.

If this won't be your daily driver, then I would reccomend looking for a late 90's 2500 SUBURBAN with a 454 in it. They can be had with low milage for VERY decent prices right now, but you won't ever get good MPG's out of the old 454. The 6.5L powered ones are also out there if you want a diesel, but if you go this route there are some upgrades I would reccomend to you right off the bat to keep it running(and there are some years I would stay away from in the 6.5 unless the engine has been replaced).
 
Thanks for the well thought out feedback. I don;t have a garage, so that isn't a factor. I waffle back and forth between the Excursion and the Burb. Gotta get the little lady in the EX and see what she says. The Ex wins on looks with us, and neither gets great mileage. Have to look into the ride quality a bit.

Thanks,
 
The 2WD EX isn't that bad of a ride, but the 4X4 can knock fillings loose if it has many miles on the springs as they tend to ride almost solidly on the bumpstops(FORD designed them this way, that's why in 03 they went to a squishy bump stop like a TIMBREN). The BURB will win in the MPG and ride dept of both of them IMHO. They each have there merits and flaws though. Like I said though, the EX is just too big to fit into a standard garage so you are limited to bigger shops to get service work done on them due to the sheer size of it. And if your other half is vertically challenged, I reccomend the 02+ EX as they were available power adjusteable foot pedal controls. Not sure when GM offerred this in the BURB.
 
Plus if you check the fuel economy on the Excursion it is as bad as the bigger heavier Expedition.
 
My imaginary RV friends talk about certain years of the Ford V-10 having problems with the sparkplugs falling out because the hole they screw into only had 3 rows of threads and is aluminum.

Let me find the years for ya.
 
Last edited:
From what I read on RV.NET, in mid 1999 Ford changed the heads on the V-10 and corrected the "sparkplug blowout" problem so anything newer than a 2000 will be ok.

It was also noted that if the sparkplugs were installed with proper torque and retorqued every 10k miles, then there is not problem even with the old heads, but what are the chances of finding a used one that someone did that too?

If you go to RV.NET and do a search for "excursion" there are 100's of threads compairing them and suburbans.
 
Thanks Randleman. I love reading about this stuff. Gonna settle in with some spirits and the laptop and ride this storm out. I have a buddy who is a meteoroligist, and there is a narrow band of this storm that is forecast to dump 30-40" of snow. That's about 85 miles north of me, and I hope it stays there....
 
I've been driving a 2000 Suburban 1500 for 5-6 years, purchased with 49K on the odometer and it now has 157K. It has been THE MOST RELIABLE vehicle I've ever owned, and I've owned over a dozen. It tows the V and a tandem box trailer with ease. I can't say enough good about this truck.

A friend has a 2001 Suburban 2500. The first engine went 430,000 miles! He's on his second and the truck has over 500K on it now.

The Suburban has the be the best most all around useful vehicle GM ever built, in my opinion.
 
Thanks Pipe. Next challenge is too find one of these beasts, either one, that is priced somewhere near reality. Buying vehicles has never been a favorite pastime of mine, but either book value is way low, most dealers and people are high on something, or most likely a combination of both. I can tell you that if I could find one at "high book", I'd jump on it today. Some of these prices are just unreal.

OK, rant over...
 
I've owned a 1996 Chevy Suburban and now a 1996 GMC Yukon. Both great vehicles. I've owned the Yukon for 3.5 years and had a few things to replace - water pump, distrubutor cap, and intake gasket - in that order. Bought it with 126 k miles and now have close to 180 k. No monthly payment so I can't complain if something comes up once per year or so. After another 1.5 years It'll be 200k and I'll feel like I got my money out of it. Paid 6k so that's $1200 per year to own and drive. Spent more on gas than that.
 
Blue, thats how I feel about it. Buy something I can afford with no payment. Of course there are going to be maintenance items, but if its a vehicle that I intend to keep, I don;t mind fixing it.

We've just got to the point that the truck is not a vehicle that suits our needs, don;t intend to keep it, therefore don't want to fix it anymore...
 
my 1999 4 door tahoe has been a great truck it has had the usual intake gasket replaced as all those will need but no other issues. it gets 14 to 15 in town 20 to 22 hwy not towing and towing 14 all around, it had 107,000 when i bought it 3.5 yrs ago for $7850 and now has 142,000 it just went to LI, NY at xmas no issues. as for my 1994 diesel 2 door tahoe it has been one good truck i give it hell too. it had 111,000 when bought 8 yrs ago for $8000, it's had it's usual injection pump issue which turned out to be a bad EGR valve once and a bad pump control box once, plus one vacuum pump about 2000 miles ago but it has 240,000 plus miles on it and all hard miles mostly towing as in the summer i tow tractors on a 30ft trailer all summer the trailer is never unhooked. it gets around 19 town 21 hwy and towing a boat 18 to 19 all times towing the tractor 15 to 17 all times but tractor and trailer loaded is at 9500 lbs.
 
i don't know how many may be having rough idle or stumbling onyour 1992 to 2002 GM motors but this may be all you need. take the EGR Valve out clean it really good with Non-Chlorinated brake cleaner and replace the gasket with a gasket that has a screen in it that will 98% of the time fix alot of odd issues you may be having. they make one for you ford guys too.

it actually fits all these below

ACURA1996BUICK(1996 - 2004)CADILLAC(1993 - 2000)CHEVROLET(1992 - 2002)GMC(1992 - 2002)HONDA(1996 - 2002)ISUZU(1996 - 2004)JAGUAR(1992 - 1997)OLDSMOBILE(1992 - 2001)PONTIAC(1996 - 1999)SATURN(1994 - 2002)

getimage.php


link to where i bought mine fixed what we thought was a bad trans the way it acted

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?a=G-autoparts

worth a try and cheap fix for some of you.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/New-...ptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories


50e5_12.JPG
 
Last edited:
A year and a half ago when I was contemplating a pull behind camper the big engine suburbans were right reasonable, but that was right after gas was $4/gal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top