[escape05xls]

Hello everyone! I just got my 2005 Escape XLS 2.3L auto 4x4 a month ago. It has 103k miles on it, almost mint condition though. dad has a 2005 v6 XLT 4x4. Anyway. Im posting because I have some questions on mine.

I noticed this yesterday. I drove maybe 1-2 miles, parked, left the car running, went inside but while in front of the suv noticed the radiator fans were running full blast. The coolant temp gauge is just under 1/2 way which is normal. But do the fans on the 2.3 4x4 run like that?

Does the 2.3l 4x4 have a trans oil cooler? I think I saw one but that could be one of many things on it. The suv does have a hitch from the previous owner.

Does the WAAG grill gaurd, block light at all from the headlights? Anyone have a rough idea on its weight?

The side runners, are the ford oem ones the best? These wont be for stepping on but to keep door dings from happening. Depends on weight..

This is my DD and winter car, I drive 30k miles a year for work. So I need the most mpg I can get and lightening up the suv would help but, the hitch and front guard will help in any fender benders and all the deer that litter MN.

I know most, specially the older members, think the weaponR intake is worthless. But every intake I've had on a car (that was designed properly) increased mileage once the lead foot wore off. I've only seen 1 member with the weapon r post their review on the 4clyinder engine though :/ Other than the intake and the xcal 3 are there any other things for gas mileage except the way I drive? I'll be removing the roof cross bars soon, suv came with new tires so I wont replace those. I know someone said a upgraded exhaust ie. free flowing, but at $700+ yeah...dont think Id do that anytime soon.

I guess the only other thing I can think of is (and I havent driven a auto in 2 some years...) the trans feels pretty sloppy and sometimes slips/takes a while to shift. Is there anything to help that except a sct tuner?

OH I did search and almost read this whole forum and **************, but I just need those things cleared up.

Thanks!

 

[Squishy]

The factory towing package did come with an engine oil cooler, but I don't know if that was offered with the 2.3. The previous owner may have tried to retrofit a towing package himself. You can know for sure the next time you do an oil change - an engine oil cooler will have hoses running out where the oil filter attaches. You may have spotted the small radiator at the bottom of the bumper openings - that's the transmission oil cooler and comes standard with all but hybrid Escapes.

My grille guard isn't WAAG, but it weighed roughly 50 pounds if I'm remembering the installation correctly. I noticed no fuel economy change before and after the install. It won't help with deer hits and fender-benders, though - as we have no solid frame attachment points, any decent hit will just crumple the guard supports and collapse it onto the hood, possibly causing more damage than without the guard. I have mine primarily to protect my auxiliary lights and to offer the plastic bumper cover some protection when plowing through snowdrifts.

Ford step bars came in two versions, I think. The earlier ones, which I have, had a plastic top and a metal bottom. The bottom rusted within three years from all the rocks thrown at it by the tires. I did see one from a 2005+ Escape where the owner claimed it was all plastic, so try to find that if you want to go with OEM. For a winter car, I would stay away from chrome or stainless.

The transmission sounds like it just needs new fluid. You can dump-and-fill the pan to exchange ~30% at a time, or do the more involved fluid pump out of the cooler lines. From the fluid application charts, it looks like the transmissions shipped with Mercon up until 2006, so that may be what is inside if the previous owner did no transmission maintenance. There were possible fluid incompatibilities with early versions of Mercon V (and Ford did state not to mix them), but we have seen no failure trends in recent years, since Ford changed its stance by discontinuing Mercon and back-specifying Mercon V for all Mercon applications. I have played with Dexron VI in the transmission, which I wouldn't safely recommend, but my shifts were noticeably firmer, cold starts were much better, and shift quality was retained for a much longer time. I have 20,000 km on the current fluid and my shifts take less than a second. Also, on some shifts that take longer even with new fluid, try rev-matching the shift. When you know the computer is about to shift, lift your foot off the gas slightly to lower the RPMs - it's much easier than on a manual as the computer will automatically shift when the RPMs go low enough. I don't have to do this with the first two shifts, but I find it helps smooth out the later shifts.

Edit: The radiator fans will also run continuously if you have the A/C compressor engaged, which should happen in both A/C modes and both defrost modes.