Anything to know about a '11 Escape V6?

[scotts90ranger]

My brother is looking at one, it's flex fuel XLT 4x4 so I think that means 3L Duratec with 6 speed auto, 156k miles from a private party, going to go look at it tomorrow afternoon... Not in rust belt so that isn't an issue, will take my code reader, looks clean in the ad, so anything I should look at specifically? Does it have a transmission dip stick to pull and smell?

 

[rusty ol ranger]

Wife had a 2010 2wd with a 4popper (2.5)

Gave us 125k or so trouble free miles. I did put a starter in it, a heater resistor and it needed ball joints bad when we offed it. But it was a good rig.

It did have a trans dipstick. But the filter is non serviceable and you just change the oil in it like an engine...pull drain, drain, refill.

I never did it. Never gave trans issues.

It did rust wheel arches and bottom of hatch...underbody stayed solid. But youre in oregon so no worries.

 

[racsan]

Love my ‘11 V6 escape, got it at 140-something-K and its now north of 170K. Weve had it 3 years now. Ours is a awd. Great in snow, I put a 2” receiver hitch on it and havent towed much with the ranger since. Gets almost 24 mpg in summer, getting about 20/21 now that its cold. Only issue Ive had were the rear wheel bearings & right side rear axle seal leaking at differential. Bren loves it, its her daily and what we are usually out in during the weekend. Common rust issues with this generation escape are rear wheel wells, rear shock tower mount in body and bottom edge of back hatch. Check unibody frame rail in back end too, ours is getting bad there. I have replaced the back hatch. Currently thinking about another at a local lot with 130K. Its a 08 fwd V6 with rear frame rust issues and abs light on. I still think it would work as a commuter for me to keep the ranger out of the salt, Used to drive the hhr in the winter for that but it has some worrisome internal rattling now. Trans on our ‘11 escape has been trouble free, love the downhill braking feature, its a switch on the gearshift that gives you compression braking & locks out overdrive. Perfect for towing if you choose. I also have relocated the spare to inside the back and its a fullsize, made a shelf over it and beside the tire I have a floor jack, extra oil, jumper cables breaker bar with lugnut socket. In my opinion you cant go wrong with the gen 2 escape chassis. I wouldnt mind having that V6 in a ranger chassis. The 240 hp is a bit bullshit as that is “@ 5 or 6 thousand rpm, cruising rpm with the awd is only about 1600. I think its a 3.54 ratio. Fwd is different ratio but dont recall what, its higher I believe- maybe 3.30ish? They ride/drive nice. I put a brush guard on but it mounts to the front core support, you dont want to “use” it.

 

[19Walt93]

We sold a pile of Escapes for year and almost all were 3.0's. If the oil has been changed regularly they are bullet proof.

 

[rusty ol ranger]

A 3.0 with a 5sp and awd might be a fun toy

 

[racsan]

A 3.0 with a 5sp and awd might be a fun toy

I know- Id love to “build” that. Im not sure that engine was ever in any chassis with a manual. Gen 1 escapes (at least when they first came out) could have a 4 cyl with a manual but the V6 only ever came with a auto. I think by the gen 2’s a manual was no longer available.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Well, that one sold today so not going to look at it, but he's pretty set on this platform, I think '08 through '12 as the newer ones are fugly... The market seems to be coming back down to reality though, it's been pretty dumb for a long time... I knew racsan had an Escape that got used to heck but couldn't remember the year. My mechanic buddy doesn't have quite the fondness you guys do for these things but his gripes are somewhat silly things like oil leaks and timing chain issues that would be prevented with good maintenance...

Sounds like he's not on too bad of a track, I'd be tempted by an older Highlander but the price difference seems silly between the two, for the same price you get an Escape that's like 5 years newer with like 75k less miles... new enough to have some neat stuff but not new enough to be completely dumb with useless garbage...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

I know- Id love to “build” that. Im not sure that engine was ever in any chassis with a manual. Gen 1 escapes (at least when they first came out) could have a 4 cyl with a manual but the V6 only ever came with a auto. I think by the gen 2’s a manual was no longer available.

You could get a manual gen 2, or atleast according to the owners manual. Not sure if they came with a 6 or awd though.

Well, that one sold today so not going to look at it, but he's pretty set on this platform, I think '08 through '12 as the newer ones are fugly... The market seems to be coming back down to reality though, it's been pretty dumb for a long time... I knew racsan had an Escape that got used to heck but couldn't remember the year. My mechanic buddy doesn't have quite the fondness you guys do for these things but his gripes are somewhat silly things like oil leaks and timing chain issues that would be prevented with good maintenance...

Sounds like he's not on too bad of a track, I'd be tempted by an older Highlander but the price difference seems silly between the two, for the same price you get an Escape that's like 5 years newer with like 75k less miles... new enough to have some neat stuff but not new enough to be completely dumb with useless garbage...

Personally i think the 08-12's were the best looking generation. They had more of a trucklike look to them rather then looking like an overbloated focus.

 

[scotts90ranger]

He bought one yesterday... '11 4 cylinder 4x4 with around 190k miles on it but the carfax had a ridiculous amount of service records that all sounded like they took care of it... he looked around for anything that didn't work and mentioned it and they took off a grand... $4k mostly because the heater resistor needs replaced... trans fluid looked clean, oil looked good, exhaust smelled like nothing so rings are good...

 

[racsan]

Heres one other one I was looking at, bad rust in unibody framerail at drivers side rear axle. Miles and price aint bad but the underneath sure is. Outer body and tailgate seem to be fine. Not sure what state its spent most of its life in but its seen some salt for sure! My ‘11 came out of new york originally and has some rust but not to this degree.

 

[scotts90ranger]

holy cow, I don't envy you guys... I would be surprised if there's even any surface rust on the one my brother got for the same price... It's wet in Oregon but what they put on the roads doesn't seem to hurt anything...

 

[scotts90ranger]

He showed up today to show off his new toy... it's the same color as racsan's. it's a Limited so is AWD not 4x4 but is less optioned than fully loaded limited somehow, whatever, he's happy that it's less to break... I was surprised that there is some rust on the thing even though it's been in the northwest it's whole life... there's some bubbles in the paint on the inside bottom lip of the hatch, will probably just need wire brushed then painted, it's internal not external so it's fine... It's super clean, the bottom seat heat pad doesn't work on the drivers side but the back does. There's a couple tiny dings on the back passenger side. The transmission does some goofy things but it shifts solid so I don't think it's due to wear just goofy adaptive shifting stuff I think. I was wrong earlier, they dropped $500 for the bad heater resistor and the blown front speaker but still that's $60 in parts...

There's at least no rust in the rear frame area by the shock like that white one racsan looked at... it looked pretty good for $4500 with fees...

 

[rusty ol ranger]

this was my wifes. You can see the rust got it pretty good

 

[Roert42]

, I think '08 through '12 as the newer ones are fugly... The

For the best. Everyone that I know that ever owned one of the ‘13 and up escapes had a lot of electrical issues and had multiple computers replaced.

 

[don4331]

My eldest daughter has been trying to kill her '11 Escape for past 30 months...quite unsuccessfully

The rust on @rusty ol ranger 's Escape is minor compared to what is on her's. For some reason, the '08-12 were terrible for rust over rear arches/tailgate. The older '01-07 seems to do much better.

I hate the automatic - never seems to be in right gear in city. The traction control is annoying too - I'm 2 or 3 steps ahead of it.

Repairs on her's in last couple years:

Passenger's front window 2X due to thieves in her parking garage.​

Throttle by wire body. Was a long drive 30km/h from her work to my place to get it fixed​

Starter motor​

The boot on her driver's half shaft has been torn for at least 3 years. But CV won't fail (She has replacement shaft but is too lazy to get it installed).​

Transmission leaks but she just tops it up (drives me nuts as I hate oily driveway)​

Hinges on rear glass corroded and failed.​

​

Overall, everything that broke has been as easy to fix as my Ranger.

There are Gen IIs with 2.3 Duratec and 5spd manual, but they're as rare as that 8 bolt 8.8. And the V6/Aauto are definitely AWD, not 4WD, with automatic - stuck with one wheel spinning was...embarrassing.

Editted to improve clarity