Body mount area rust on '03

[Cherryriver]

Al Steele, I'd already read your sad tale before the topic of our Expedition rusting came up. It was very concerning, to say the least.
Lee Hartwig, our Expedition probably fills a different role for us and the value versus the repair math will be different. For us, the Expedition is a second, much larger car that we have for specifici uses, mainly to carry work stuff and secondly to pull a modest trailer. Apart from bad-weather driving such as winter, it doesn't necessarily get as much call to be driven. As an example, most years I put more miles on my motorcycle than my van/SUV/whatever.
So if the repair comes back at $2,500, which I suspect it won't, it might be a good investment rather than going to a newer and more expensive one.
If indeed the rust is fatal, I would not be comfortable selling it as anything other than parts or junk. Having just faced this exact situation with our previous van as mentioned above, I think it will be going down the parts/scrap route barring a repair miracle.
Very tough financially for two such losses in less than a year.

 

[GaryH]

Great. One more thing to worry about on my '03.

 

[texasscot]

whtbronco, your math is impeccable. Besides, at my age, investing in a new truck of any kind is out of the question.
This Expedition is so nice in so many ways we're willing to put money into it. But- with the odometer at 186K, and not being entirely sure about whether anything else is going to go wrong, it's a pretty tense situation.
Currently, we're waiting on our much-respected repair shop manager to figure out a path. I know this guy is on our side in terms of getting on the road, but he does have to, after all, turn a profit.

There are very many here with 100,000 miles more than yours. I’d say fix!

 

[Cherryriver]

Still waiting for news from the shop...
But my other big question remains: what will happen if and when there's a failure?
Might I be able to safely drive it for a while? A month, six, a year?
Reverting back to the Astro in the past, it's considered a known thing that if the core support finally lets go, it drops itself and some of the front clip onto the area around the steering gear. Locking that up at 60mph likely means kissing a large portion of one's anatomy goodbye.
But in the case of the Expedition, I don't have any idea how it might progress.
Heck, there aren't even any serious body rattles or creaks.

 

[whtbronco]

If the body mounts fail you risk breaking quite a bit of plastic stuff as things drop down. Since you have the front(rad support) and the next body back badly rusted on the driver side you could have the body drop enough to hit the front left tire I'd bet. You could also be found liable if you were involved in an accident as a result of the failure, I mean it's possible.

I know quite a few people in the Hines, IL area and everything is someone else's fault with them. They themselves are "perfect".

 

[Cherryriver]

What you say is all true.