Another Salvage Auction thread- this time a clean titled (repo) 2004 Lincoln Navigator

I do admire the electrical and trouble shooting skills of GON. My only fear on this current vehicle would be what the inside of the motor looks like. The payday loan thing IS NOT a good sign.
 
BITOGers,

This Forum is a "master mind" group. I am not anywhere near the level most of the members of this forum are. None the less, thought beneficial to recap lessons learned so far on this 2004 Navigator. I posted this on a Ford form. I read well over 1,000 threads on the water issues and air suspension issues, and found little that shared what worked and what didn't work in trying to address the issues. The majority of posters that posted like water/electric/ air suspension issues didn't receive useful replies, and never returned to share what "the fix was". Most of the information below I already posted in this thread but thought to recap in one post rather than the piecemeals I posted prior.


A few random repair items after purchasing a 2004 Lincoln Navigator RWD 141k miles.

I purchased a 2004 Lincoln Navigator, RWD, with only background being a handful of pictures at auction. I saw in pictures the Navigator was sitting on its tires, but that was it. I went to the auction house, the Navigator started and smelled real bad. The check suspension was displayed on dash. I drove the Navigator 25 miles home. What a crazy bouncy ride.

Started working on the suspension. Replaced the air compressor, still no air shocks being filled. Did some research and discovered the Navigator needs to see the doors be open and shut to kick on the air compressor. The SUV was not seeing the doors being opened or shut, no auto headlights, and radio would not turn off after exiting the SUV.

The smell was from sitting water. Went to the fuse box, lots of corrosion. Replaced the 2004 fuse box with a 2006 navigator fuse box. Still no auto lights, radio still stays on, etc. Replaced the VSM using a 2006 Navigator as a donor, no improvement. Did some research, found out about the purple wires and the white and read wires in the interior rocker panel splices being corroded. Replaced those splices, solved some of the problems, but not all of them. Still no auto headlights, radio staying on after exiting vehicle, etc.

Replaced the front driver and passenger door sensor switches, no changes. Started to spend time on the purple wires the runs throughout the interior. There are two major purple wire runs. Discovered that when all are hooked up, VDC dropped from 12 VDC to 10 VDC. If I disconnected the purple wire only going to the VSM, but left the rest of the purple wires connected, 12 VDC was maintained.

I checked the keyless entry, which the VSM controls. Keyless entry worked. HMMM. The 2006 VSM still installed, but was dropping the voltage from 12 VDC to 10 VDC. I disconnected all three plugs from the wiring harness to the 2006 VSM, and 12 VDC maintained. For fun, I started the SUV, and found the VSM can be removed and the SUV will still start, run, and drive. With the VSM removed I still had no autolights, radio still stayed on after exiting SUV, etc.

Put the original 2004 VSM back in the SUV, and 12 VDC maintained, and now had autolights functioning, radio turned off after exciting SUV, etc. Good sign. Discovered a 2006 VSM will not work in a 2004. It may be a programming issue, I have no idea. Maybe the 2006 VSM has an error. Had I found the bad wiring instead of replacing the VSM, I would have saved a few days of troubleshooting. Lesson learned, VSM should be replaced only after exhausting every other possibility of electrical issues on a 2004 Navigator.

Air suspension compressor now comes on, but the shocks displayed no sign of filling up. SUV was still sitting on its tires. A few days earlier, I replaced all the suspension ride height sensors, using the 2006 Navigator as the source for sensors. Discovered two things. Although the sensors all have the same part number and visually look exactly the same, the front left, front right, and rear are distinct. I have no idea why. The front right was originally bad. Went back to the pic a part, found a 2003 Navigator, pulled the front right and installed it. Bingo, the shocks are now trying to rise and fill. Want to mention the 2006 Navigator ride height sensors do not have brackets. The 2003-2004 Navigators have brackets. The sensor will mount with or without the bracket. Troubleshooting implied if the sensor had a bracket, the bracket must be used and can’t be bypassed.

Now the air springs are trying to fill, back held pressure. Front still a no go. All the air springs are rotted front and back. Ordered from Arnott new front air springs, they should arrive in a few days. For the rear, I ordered new Gabriel shocks, OEM air springs, and Mevotech rear mounts. I am keeping the air suspension as I will use this SUV for towing and research suggested the coils on the rear end sags with heavier towing loads.
As part of troubleshooting, I installed the air suspension module from the 2006 Navigator into the 2004. What I discovered from this is the Navigator no longer knew it had air suspension. This is important for two reasons, one is the air suspension module from a 2006 to a 2004 can’t be seamlessly swapped (research also implied any air suspension module replacement required Ford dealer calibration). But the bigger discovery- instead of buying a $300 aftermarket module to eliminate air shock error after replacing air shocks with coils, installing a used 2006 Navigator air suspension module in a 2003-2004 Navigator may accomplish the mission in telling the Navigator it no longer has air suspension.

Finally, I lifted up on the gear shift knob and it broke into pieces. Ford discontinued these knobs. One for sale (new) in the USA, $204 USD. One can buy the entire shift assembly at the dealer, which implies it comes with the knob, for retail of $640. Discounter Ford online have the part for around $450. All the used knobs/ assemblies on Ebay look bad to real, real bad….

And an important note. Ford had a lot of fuse box issues with the 2nd generation Expedition/ Navigator. The issues centered on a non-accessible fuel pump relay. One can ship their fuse box to an independent shop to have this issue fixed. Ford fixed this fuse box issue in later built 2005s, and all 2006s. Many suggest a 2006 2nd GEN fuse box won’t work in a earlier 2nd GEN. All indications show that a 2006 2nd GEN fuse box will seamlessly work in a 2004 2nd GEN. A few fuses may needed to be resized, and a relay moved, but I have seen zero signs of non-backward compatibility.
 
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Headed off to a pick a part with four 2003-2004 in inventory. The pick a part would not tell me if the floor shifters were still in the Navigators.

Like what i found, a complete unit fully intact. It was dirty, but unlike every unit I saw on Ebay, the knob was not all scuffed up. Snooped around and found two knob assemblies, and grabbed them also. They seem very hard to find. $59 out the door for all three pieces. They charged me not only for the part, but a $2 core fee for each piece and a environmental fee. The price for these items at the local to me pick a part would of been about $24 out the door.

I am still happy, these units sell on Ebay from $125 to $225, plus shipping, and the units on Ebay all looked bad to very bad. I liked the seats in one of the Navigators, but unfortunately sitting in the lot the water damage made the purchase not feasible.
Also posting one driver side and one passenger side of the rocker panel wire patched installed, one sealed the splice with yellow heat shrink, the other sealed with blue heat shrink.

The rocker panel has about a dozen factory splices. Yet research indicates only two splices fail from water, the purple color wire and the white and red wire. Those wires are always hot, so I suppose water sitting on them with 12v always applied must corroded the splice.
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Dealers and Private Sellers can ask whatever they want for used vehicles.

Nonetheless, I would have a very hard time valuing this vehicle at over 10k.

 
Earlier this week the two front Arnott air shocks arrived. These front shocks are scheduled to be installed late this afternoon.

Went to a pic a part earlier this week with four 2003/2004 Navigators in the yard. A remote pic a part and the vehicles had not been trashed. All four of these Navigators had air shock to coil conversions. The more I see the more I worry about this Navigator air shock system and its costs/ reliability. For a 2003/2004 RWD Navigator, there is not a single OEM shock available in the entire USA. The left and right rear shocks (not the air springs are different). SO one can get replacement air springs, but not the actual shock that rides inside the air spring.

The part number for the rear driver shock is AU2Z18125D (ASH23446). The rear passenger side is AU2Z18125A (ASH23438). I did find one of these on Ebay, but both are needed to make this work.

Had a little luck late yesterday. On Ebay, a Seller listed two Cardone rear Navigator complete air strut assemblies. I have zero confidence in these assemblies, but not many options. This Seller was 100 miles from me. RockAuto sells these assemblies for $410 each The Seller had them listed at $275 each. I reached out to him, offered $300 for both, and I would pay in cash and pickup in two hours. He accepted the offer.

If the Cardones somehow work (I have low expectations) I will continually search for rear OEM shocks (no aftermarket have been found). I do have a pair of OEM air springs, so I can always use new air springs with 17 year old rear shocks, but strongly prefer to have new shocks with the new air springs.

If I was not planning on using this Navigator to tow, I would be all over the coil conversion kits. Inexpensive and easy to install. At this point, I will likely purchase coil conversions as a emergency backup.
 
Finally have the suspension working. Multiple misses on my part contributed to the delay in getting the suspension fixed.

The ride height sensors are a high failure item. The SUV has three of them, and they are all different. All three sensors look exactly the same. On the barrel, a part number identifies the model of sensor. But when using used/ junk yard sensors, the part number is barely existent. It is stamped in very tiny numbers into the black. They just are near impossible to find and read. Maybe on a new sensor they are easier to find. I went to a pick a part, and pulled the sensors off three Navigators. I suspected many of the sensors I pulled were bad.

I marked all the sensors with paint, by location where they should go, and what exact vehicle I pulled the sensor from. I returned home, and kept swapping sensors until I had a front left, front right, and rear that all worked. Last night I also replaced the front air struts. The SUV now has full air suspension running. I will be purchasing brand new spare ride height sensors. They are a huge point of failure on these Navigators. Of the five Navigators at pick a part.... every one had converted to coils. That speaks volumes. Without the Ford IDS diagnostic computer, these air suspension systems are a bear to efficiently troubleshoot.

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While replacing the front struts last night, went to change the oil. The oil pan was spotless, like it had never been touched (not good). Not sure I have ever seen a more concerning outside of an oil filter. The oil stain in the picture was baked on, it is not from me removing the filter. The filter was a Motorcraft... Maybe the first owner had the dealer change the oil, and the second owner never ever changed the oil....????.... The oil was cold when I changed it, looked like oil out of a 1970s lawn mower....

Maybe the filter stain was simply from the last tech letting oil drip on the filter and not wiping it off, and it baked on.... who the heck knows.

I put in Castrol synthetic 5w20 and a Fram Ultra XG2. Will likely change the oil at the 500 mile mark. The filter is not so easy to remove and replace.
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Had the used Michelin Defender tires installed yesterday at Discount Tire, along with new TPMS sensors (I supplied the tires and sensors). $220 for the tire install. I thought that was a high price. DT did not activate the new sensors, they said they did. They also failed to install the fifth sensor on the spare.

I am to the point that service like this is the "new norm". The exception is if one is ultra wealthy. Thank that is simply life. I suspect I will be doing everything myself that I can, not just automotive.

The Navigator is driving nice with the Defenders. I did have the check engine light come on while driving yesterday. Two codes. P306, and P0174. I suspect p306 is a plug or coil. The P0175 is PCV tubing. I already ordered new PCV tubing ($65 from wholesale on-line OEM dealer), just waiting for it to come in.

Last weekend I washed the carpet. It is drying out now.

Major items left to do:
Tune up (plugs)
Thermostat /Coolant flush
Differential gear oil service
Trans filter and fluid replacement
Serpentine belt replacement / idler pulley/ tensioner
Fix the driver seat (won't go back or forward)
Replace the HVAC actuators (and possible blend door)
Put the interior back together
Flush the brake fluid

The brakes look good- so I have that going for me - lol.

The SUV rides nice. When done, I have to wonder, other than high tech safety features and bluetooth (andriod auto/ apple carplay), and better fuel economy.... not sure what I new SUV at $70-100k provides over this SUV, which when done will be the price of just sales tax on a new SUV.

I am concerned
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about OEM new part replacement availability. I have come across a lot of critical parts, some not available in aftermarket, that are discontinued and not available, such as rear shocks (not the air springs).
 
Throw a dashcam, maybe a remote start

And a sub $500 headunit with Android Auto/Carplay and maybe a $20 backup camera

And you've got all the appurtenances of gracious living, in a well maintained and paid off package

Why buy something newer at that point?

It looks sharp, and I applaud your effort in taking this Navi back from hood rich spec to class act 💯

May I suggest FORScan for bidirectional and lower level body controller diagnostics

...it's free 🤷‍♂️
 
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Found a pull a part yard with parts I really like for this Navigator. The issue is the yard is a few hours away, priced 300 percent above other pull part yards. The yard is not well designed/ maintained. Every vehicle is sitting in a pile of rutted water. They do not "lift the vehicle up with steel rims. In the case of the Navigator, the air is out of the suspension so getting any part "underneath" the car requires one bring in a floor jock, and a 2x8 to place under the floor jack.

This pic a part prices parts based on salvage yard published price lists, not pick a part published price lists. I was the only person in the yard, guess the locals are not to fond of their prices or policies. I sure am not- but do like the Navigator they have in their yard. Super clean.

Nonetheless, I purchased the drive seat. Its' frame/ rail look twisted from the accident (vehicle was hit in passenger front hard. I initially passed on the passenger seat as the passenger seat looked twisted even worse than the driver seat. I will return for the passenger seat as covers in this condition are simply not found anywhere. I will just switch these seat covers on the old base.

The covers I have on the Navigator now are not bad, but I am having fun trying to make the Navigator as nice inside as I can withing reason.

I also picked up another gear shifter, the one I picked up was much cleaner than anything else I had seen.
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The new SUVs are not really THAT much better than a well sorted navigator or escalade from the mid 2000s. They are priced like they are lightyears better but its just not true.
 
The new SUVs are not really THAT much better than a well sorted navigator or escalade from the mid 2000s. They are priced like they are lightyears better but its just not true.
No-they are. But you are right that they have seen massive price increases.......
 
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