2021 Expedition Max Platinum Potential Issues to Watch For

Just picked up an Expedition with around 22k miles. What issues have you guys seen that we should watch out for over the life of the vehicle?

Transmission is a ticking time bomb. It’ll start out as rough shifting usually between 3-4. Progressively gets worse until it’s grinding and rumbling in lower gears constantly.

Also since it’s used, you are going to have issues with the adaptive learning on the transmission. The car has learned the habits of the person who drove it those first 22k miles. This is only going to exacerbate things. Maybe that’s a good thing if you can get the transmission to fail before the warranty is out.

@Freeman
Good to know. Thanks! Looks like I’ll be going with the extended warranty.

Uma said:
@Freeman
Good to know. Thanks! Looks like I’ll be going with the extended warranty.

There’s a Ford warranty that gets recommended in the subreddit and is available online. https://www.zeiglerfordesp.com/

Uma said:
@Freeman
Good to know. Thanks! Looks like I’ll be going with the extended warranty.

Be very careful with the extended warranty. I have one on my 2020 with 90k miles now. Started getting the 4030 code indicating bad cat. Took it to the dealer and they confirmed the bad cat, but said the extended warranty doesn’t cover it because ‘it’s part of the powertrain.’ Ford’s own website does not list the cat as covered under their powertrain warranty. When I argued this, they basically said to go ahead and get an attorney.

Ford released a service bulletin on the transmission issue at the end of Feb 2024. You should take it in ASAP and get them to fix the transmission. It’s $4.5k out of pocket if you don’t get it done under warranty.

@Jonah
Can you link this bulletin? Can’t find it.

Delaney said:
@Jonah
Can you link this bulletin? Can’t find it.

This is what the service writer at the dealership advised me of when I took it in there, so I don’t have a link, sorry.

I have a '21 Platinum. Bought brand new. Already took it in to fix the transmission issue once. It has never been right since we bought the car new, but once it hit over 50k miles, it was beyond awful. Ford fixed it after 2 months in the shop. Still doing the same thing, though. It’s very clunky, terrible shifting, etc.

Try to get it reset if possible. Other than that, you shouldn’t have many issues at all. From my understanding, the '21s are pretty solid.

You WILL have AC and transmission issues.

Adaptive transmission can be reset with Forscan. The CDF drum issue (3-4 rough shift) sucks. I have the very early version of it on my 2020.