Engine sensor failure on the 2005 Ford Expedition
When engine sensor failure gets reported
Owners of the 2005 Ford Expedition report engine sensor failure at a median of 45,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 12 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 85,100 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
25% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24,000 miles | 34,500 miles | 42,500 miles | 101,000 miles | 109,100 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $180–$900 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 4 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2005, at a median of 45,000 miles, and latest on the 2019 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Our 2005 ford expedition eddie bauer exhibits the same symptoms as were reported today regarding "camshaft position sensor on ford 7 ltr engines 1997-2003 - engine shuts down while driving forward , at variable speed: very slow to highway speeds. Will restart on first try after coming to complete stop. Message panel shows "check throttle linkage" or similar. First occurred around july 07 second time took truck to ford dealer aug 11 - they were unable to reproduce problem after testing for several hours (at least that's what the charge said). One month later it happened again, has now increased intermittent to once every 2-3 weeks. Incident dates start approx july 2007 through yesterday 12/05. *tr
I bought my 2005 ford expedition in march 2007 with 21k miles on it. I have had to replace 2 different injectors in 16 months because the vehicle will start cutting back and acting like it wants to cut off when it stops at a light . The most recent replacement came when I drove it 5 miles from home and it jerked continuously the entire inside of the vehicle smelled like gas very strongly as well as the exhaust. The truck stays parked most of the time because im too scared to drive it and its a gas hog!!!!!! The replacement of the injectors are not cheap!!!! The inside lights will come on and go off at anytime for no reason. I tap the brakes and they come on, I roll the window up or down and they come on. I have also had to replace the battery due to this happening even when the truck has been parked for hours. I have replaced the oxygen sensor and a coli pack. Its never ending and I feel like I should not have to continue to replace these things when I am obviously not the only one with this problem. Ford needs to step up and take responsibility for their crappy products. I have 5 more years @ $515 per month to pay for this piece…
I bought my 2005 ford expedition in march 2007 with 21k miles on it. I have had to replace 2 different injectors in 16 months because the vehicle will start cutting back and acting like it wants to cut off when it stops at a light . The most recent replacement came when I drove it 5 miles from home and it jerked continuously the entire inside of the vehicle smelled like gas very strongly as well as the exhaust. The truck stays parked most of the time because im too scared to drive it and its a gas hog!!!!!! The replacement of the injectors are not cheap!!!! The inside lights will come on and go off at anytime for no reason. I tap the brakes and they come on, I roll the window up or down and they come on. I have also had to replace the battery due to this happening even when the truck has been parked for hours. I have replaced the oxygen sensor and a coli pack. Its never ending and I feel like I should not have to continue to replace these things when I am obviously not the only one with this problem. Ford needs to step up and take responsibility for their crappy products. I have 5 more years @ $515 per month to pay for this piece…
Also reported on the 2005 Ford Expedition
Other engine problem
Other speed control problem
Other electrical problem
Other fuel system problem
Other powertrain problem
Stalling while driving
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does engine sensor failure happen on the 2005 Ford Expedition?
Across 12 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 45,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is engine sensor failure on the 2005 Ford Expedition?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 4.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed