My 2004 excursion left me stranded in Louisiana this weekend and I had to drive a rental back to Austin today. Was running fine and I got up to come home on sat and the turbo would not engage. When I would step on the gas I could hear a loud hissing sound, the more I stepped on the gas the more of that sound I could hear. Truck would not accelerate at all and almost felt like it was going to come apart at 50 mph. The error code I got from auto zone was turbo issue. and it gave me possible reasons. I checked hoses to and from turbo all hooked up and seemed to be in working condition. There seemed to be some black soot along the top and back of the engine. It would idle fine, but trying to drive it was impossible. I left it at a Ford dealership in Lafayette and await the news. I have a powertrain warranty up to 113,000 miles I hope it covers repair.

 

Sounds like a major pre turbo exhaust leak if you have soot in the engine compartment, and no power. One of the flex joints in the up pipes could have failed, or a joint came apart altogether. Should be easy to diagnose by a dealer tech.

 

You made me feel a lot better anyway!!

 

Of course it's no fun breaking down, but it doesn't sound like anything catastrophic. Hopefully warranty helps you out, and the worst you end up with is a story to tell.

 

You mean like waiting on I-10 for 5 hours waiting for a wrecker? Might have been the longest Saturday of my life!

 

Well, price to fix 2700-3200 depending on if the turbo isn't wiped out. Right and left uptake, alternator with connection, tearing turbo down to see if it needs replacing. Not to mention the truck is 350 miles away and I'm going to have to pay 650-700 to have it brought back from Lafayette, La. Guess the take away message is don't buy a car 12 hours away.

 

What happened with warranty? The up pipes will have to be replaced to get it going. Unless the turbo is completely shot, it may have one last trip in it also. Changing an alternator is really simple on these trucks.

Was the vehicle a recent purchase? Private party or dealer?

 

It was a private seller. Truck only has 88k and ran great from Alabama to lafayette on Friday. The warranty people said the don't cover any issue outside of turbo itself, just engine stuff. It's been a mess not to mention the guy at Hub City Ford in Lafayette has been difficult to say the least. Said 12-15 hours of labor on up pipes, turbo break down and alternator replace. I have a great mechanic in Austin just trying to figure out how to get it to him.