So, this is going to be a long one,as I'll start from the beginning. I have a 2005 F250 with a 5.4 in it. Several weeks ago, I was driving home one night, and the truck sputtered briefly and died. Cranked it a few times, and decided to push it to the nearest parking lot. While waiting for a ride, I cranked it over a few more to times, and consequently, heard this sizzling sound from behind the cab, and then under the hood. After that, the battery was completely drained, but after a few minutes had enough to operate interior lights and radio. Took the truck home, put it on our Actron Scanner(Same as advance auto or autozone uses) and pulled some fuel related codes and a ground wire code. Replaced fuel pump fuse in interior fuse panel, fuel pump modual and ground wire by the module, fuel filter, and after ruling all else out, the whole sending unit assembly with a Bosch assembly. Fired right up. Took it for a test drive, and ABS light was on, tow/haul flashed, speedo didn't work and odometer would check out, but tach worked and shifted fine, but radio would be on AM when key was put in and turned on, and battery would be randomly drained. Scanner on, pulled P0500 and P1502. Replaced rear axle speed sensor, took for a test drive, same thing. Ordered a ford wiring diagram book. After testing and checking, found that the fuse that gives power to the two 60amp fuses for the ABS module wasn't seated and if the key is held just right, the beeper for when the door is open will not beep.. Fixed the fuse issue, took for a test drive, and truck died after 5 miles, just like you pulled the battery out it. Tried to crank it, no power, opened the door,and shut it for a car to go around, tried to crank it, and started up but spit and sputtered. Got it home, put on scanner, no codes. I think I've narrowed it down to the wires under the Junction Box, as I pulled the ignition switch out, and hooked the positive terminal back up and then the negative, and it arcs, indicating to me, there is a draw, but it has to be from the battery to the key switch. Anyone have any ideas or insight? Sorry for being so long, but I thought I'd include everything on the situation, might help someone too. Thanks in advance for any help.

 

**UPDATE**

Did a parasitic drain test today,found that there was 3 times the allowable drain,pulled the pcm fuse in the battery junction box, pulled the fuel pump relay, ABS control module fuse in the battery junction box and it made no difference, pulled fuse 116 (Ignition switch, Run/Start/Acc power circuit) in the central junction box and reinstalling it, the drain went away, and was below the 50 milliamp maximum.Took the truck for a drive with the scanner hooked up and watching live data, the truck went approx 8 miles, and started to misfire/miss, looked at the live feed, and the fuel pressure held a constant 40 pounds, but the ignition advance went from the usual range of 15-30 to below ten all the way down to five, but maintained a steady 2,000 rpm. After a half mile, it cleared up, and happened again approx 3 miles later, right before the driveway at the house. At an idle the timing was fine, and when the rpm was brought up, the timing behaved fine. It appears to have a problem under load/once something heats up. Has anyone ever had problems with their ignition switch or heard of the bus bar in that circuit being bad? Thanks.

 

Moving this over to the SuperDuty forum that covers the F250 truck.

Stewart

 

**UPDATE**

I put a new ignition switch in, the electrical part, not the key part. Hooked the scanner up with the truck off, the timing was at 10' and had 40 lbs of pressure on the fuel rail. Started the truck up, and the timing went to -1.5 then 5 and then 13, the whole time running fine. Took the truck on the same route, ran fine, the timing was all over the place(dependent upon engine load and rpm) but never below 10', and ran fine. On the way home, the truck started the same issue of cutting out/misfiring and bucking, and the timing retarded to below 5 and even -1.5', stood on it, no change, put the truck out of drive and into third, and it seemed without the load it ran better, but not perfect. Got to a stop sign, tried to do a burnout to put it under load, timing retarded and was a repeat of above. Any ideas? I believe it's been narrowed down to a ignition timing problem. What controls the timing on the 2005 5.4? PCM, throttle position sensor, both? Any idea on the root of the problem?

 

**UPDATE**

Went to take the truck for a drive with the scanner on again to see if I could replicate the problem again, but decided to swap the PCM relay in the central junction box with the relay from the towing relay as a last ditch effort before swapping the PCM with a junkyard one. I decided I would drive the truck on straight stretches of road, but with stretches of long inclines. Amazingly,the truck drove for probably 25 minutes with no issue, from putting along to zooming along at 65, and even seemed to shift better. So when going up one of the inclines, I lifted on the throttle so the transmission wouldn't shift down, and low and behold, it started in again. This time the timing didn't go into the negative, and I got the check engine light to finally flash then stay on. Pulled right over onto the edge of the road, and the scanner pulled a cylinder 3 misfire and a multiple cylinder misfire and a cylinder 8 misfire. I limped it to a friends house, let the plugs cool down for a while, got in and it drove fine. I think when the fuel pump shorted and burnt out the driver module and ground, it put such a draw on the system, that the PCM relay took a hit as well. My next step is to replace all the plugs,boots and COP's. Rockauto was the cheapest for Motorcraft parts, and amazon was the cheapest for the Lisle tool and rubber padded socket.

 

When you get this problem fixed, you will be a Ford gas engine consultant for sure. I really admire your tenacity and knowledge in trying to fix the problem.

 

Sorry for such a long period with no new information, but work has been hectic. I replaced all the plugs, boots, and coils, as stated above. The plugs were original, and we're burnt down to nothing. Five of the eight broke, but were easily extracted with the Lisle tool. To make sure there was no debris in the combustion changer, I took a shop vac with a piece of gas line on the end of it, and sucked out every cylinder before the new plug was installed. I torqued them to 25 ft lbs. The truck cranked over 3 times and fired right up, sounded much stronger, ran much smoother, and even came up to operating temp much quicker due to the hotter spark causing the better combustion. Since the change, I have drove it and had no problems. I never take the truck up over 2500 rpm, (as it has 167,xxx on it and have had no problems, so trying to keep it that way) and it seems to have much more power and shifts better as well, it does not dog like it used to. So, for anybody wanting to change their own plugs, it's not terribly difficult, just take your time, have a well equipped set of tools, and don't break any electrical clips. Hope this helps anybody else with similar problems.