I was hoping that the truck would start this morning when it was cold, so I wouldn't have to wait around for a tow truck, and it did. I left it running for about 15 minutes before driving down to the service dept so it would be good and hot and might replicate the problem for them, but it didn't! (Does it ever?!?!) It started right up five times straight... Stay tuned for more drama...
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The day I took the truck in was the day we were supposed to be leaving for Oregon after work, towing the trailer. When I went back to the dealer at 5 pm, THEY HADN'T EVEN LOOKED AT IT YET!! So, four of us piled into Hubby's Toyota Tacoma and made the trip to Oregon. Had to bunk in with my inlaws in their motorhome, 'cause we had no trailer with us. I was gone for a week, and I called my Ford Service Advisor every day, and got voice mail every time, and he never called me back.
Finally, the following Monday, as we were driving home, I got through to him around 7:45 am. He told me there were no codes, and they could not duplicate the non-starting problem, so "go ahead and pick it up when you get home". WTF?!?! He never even called me the whole time I was gone, and then he tells me nothing is wrong??? Oh, that poor guy; it's not even 8 am on Monday morning and the crazy lady (that would be ME) twisted off and chewed him out but good. I cannot even express the dismay and anger I felt at that time. I lost it. I told him to keep the f-ing truck and let his wife drive it and see if it strands her on the side of the road, among a few other choice things...
So, after I cooled off a little, I called back to Ford and told my story to the Service Manager, who assured me he would look into it with my Service Advisor and the Shop Manager. I also called the Service Manager in another city that had fixed my truck when the same type of non-start issue happened last year when we were on vacation. (That was the O-rings on the HP Oil Pump previously mentioned in an earlier post). Well, that Service Manager said that if that was happening again, there would not be codes put out and the only way to find the problem was to tear down the truck. I asked him to call my local Service Manager on my behalf and point him in the right direction.
We finally made it home around mid-afternoon, and I got in touch with the Service Manager. He said the shop tore down the truck and found a faulty ICP (Injector Controller Pressure) Sensor that because it wasn't working right, could be the cause of the problem. The replaced it, ran the truck hot and it started fine. Kept it overnight and it started fine cold, too, so I picked it up the next day. No charge for repairs. (Imagine that!)
About a week and a half later I towed my 5'er up to Mammoth Mountain for some mountain biking recreation (about a 550-mile round trip), and to my pure amazement, I had no truck problems at all. I did manage to pick up a nail in one of my brand new trailer tires, so I had to call AAA to get the spare put on before I came home, but that didn't even bother me after all I've been through - lol!
Of course, I still hold my breath every time I crank the key, but so far, so good. Hopefully, the drama is over!!
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Forgot to mention about the trailer brakes... I'm still getting a "beep" once in a while when I apply very firm pressure on the brake pedal (think panic-stop pressure) when towing, but I'm not seeing the messages "Check Trailer" or "Trailer Fault" on the dash anymore. Just hearing the "beep". And it doesn't always feel like the brakes are solidly working, so I kept to the truck 35mph speed limit on the downhills coming home from Mammoth just to be on the safe side!
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Does the manual lever work at all? Ford had lots of problems with the IBC for the first year at least, maybe into '06 models. I read where several were replaced with the newer version, or bypassed and an add-on brake used. Sure not a good feeling not to have complete confidence the brakes are gonna work when really needed! Ford has TSBs buried somewhere on the first versions of the IBC--maybe someone here has access to them.
Joe
About 4 weeks ago I was due for an oil change, so whilst at the shop I asked to have the controller looked at again. They tried to charge me $45 to tell me it was fine! I'm now on a first-name, here's-my-direct-phone-line basis with the Service Manager, who really is trying his best to get this sorted out for me. He backed off the service charge and asked me to bring in the truck, with trailer hooked up, to do some more testing. Finally got around to that last Friday, and needed to go in anyway because the ABS light had been lit up for the last three weeks now, too! The Shop Manager test drove it with me (poor guy had a very tough time with the manual tranny - thought he was going to burn up my clutch!), and we were able to replicate all the problems I've been having, so off to a good start at least. When the truck brakes are not applied, but the trailer brakes are manually applied, the brakes work okay up to a point, but as the output is increased, the "trailer fault" code beeps and lights up, and at the exact same time the brakes release. Not good to have the brakes release when one is trying to stop 17,000-lbs on a dime yanno?!?!... Unfortunately, all the Ford literature points to the problem being on the trailer side of things. Something about a trailer brake output overload or excess current draw from the trailer making the controller think something is wrong and thus cutting off the braking. They did not charge me for the brake controller recheck, but the ABS problem was that the left front wheel needed a new sensor, and that set me back $355!!
So... I dropped the trailer off at a big-rig truck-n-trailer repair shop with copies of my EIGHT service write-ups from Ford et al... since none of the RV repair places in town seem to know what's what. The plan is to remove all the wheels and give all six brakes a full inspection and specifically check for wiring shorts and magnet problems; repack the bearings if needed. Estimated cost: $600 *sigh*... Hopefully they will have it all figured out before I tow it to the coast the first weekend in November...
Keep yer fingers crossed for me, boys!
Oh, BTW, here's my set-up from the good ole days when everything worked right:
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They came back with the following on my paperwork: "unable to verify trailer light coming, hook up IDS-retrieved code 2808, performed pinpoint test D1-D5, found trailer hitch connector not fully locking, remove and reinstall connector, connector plastic release/lock tab bent causing concern, rec. trailer hitch connector to start - customer declined at this time". I declined to have the plug-in in the bed replaced, because Hubby said he could do it.
So, tonight, Hubby removed the plug-in from the truck bed, and said that he could tell that it hadn't been removed and looked at as stated on my paperwork
Hmmm.... He could tell that they had not plugged in a plug and taken it back out?!? I wonder how.
There is nothing in their report that says they removed and reinstalled the socket in your truck -- and no reason why they would need to do so for the problem that they identified (at least not unless you told them to fix it).
The problem described is that the trailer plug does not lock in to the socket on the truck -- this has to do with the whether or not the plug fits all the way in to the socket and whether or not the tab on the cover then fits into the notch on the plug. If the plug is not locking into the socket, then it will wiggle (even if it does stay connected) and the minor changes in resistance are likely to trigger the check light.
This may or may not be what is causing your check trailer light to come on, but it certainly could be what is causing your problem. And nothing in your post suggests that the dealer did not do exactly what they claim to have done
It also sounds like your husband did not take them serioiusly and therefore did not bother actually checking what they said they found wrong.
Alrighty here's the latest update: Ford had a brake specialist engineer in the shop last Wednesday, and he test-drove the truck with the trailer hooked up and his diagnostic equipment plugged in. His readings indicated that the problem was in the controller itself. Thursday, the controller was replaced. I asked to have the $150 that I previously paid when they replaced the bumper plug and fuse credited, and my service advisor wrote that amount off the $450 parts price, and then gave me another 15% off the total parts & labor.
Sounds like the problem is identified and fixed -- and that they treated you fairly with the credit and discount.
Get a large bore rifle, take the truck out in the woods and put it out of its (and your) misery.
You have had a massive string of mostly unrelated problems with this truck.
The trailer brake problem appears to be properly identified, but the bottom line might just be that this trailer and your truck are not compatible. Most brake controllers will cut off if the current draw is excessive -- I don't know of any decent controller that does not include this feature.
At maximum braking effort, your trailer is drawing more current that the controller in your truck is designed to support. You might find a different controller that has a slightly higher current limit, but the better solution is almost certainly to find out why your trailer brakes are drawing so much current. It may turn out that the brake system on your trailer just does draw a lot of current at maximum braking voltage -- if that is the case, then the question becomes whether to try to find a controller that can handle that much current or to try to find a way to reduce the current required.
Reducing the current drawn by the trailer brakes is reasonably easy, BUT the easy ways to do that might reduce the amount of braking force applied. If there isn't something readily identifiable as being wrong with the trailer brakes then it takes an expert trailer brake technician to tinker with this kind of problem safely.
The trailer brake problem appears to be properly identified, but the bottom line might just be that this trailer and your truck are not compatible. Most brake controllers will cut off if the current draw is excessive -- I don't know of any decent controller that does not include this feature.
At maximum braking effort, your trailer is drawing more current that the controller in your truck is designed to support. You might find a different controller that has a slightly higher current limit, but the better solution is almost certainly to find out why your trailer brakes are drawing so much current. It may turn out that the brake system on your trailer just does draw a lot of current at maximum braking voltage -- if that is the case, then the question becomes whether to try to find a controller that can handle that much current or to try to find a way to reduce the current required.
Reducing the current drawn by the trailer brakes is reasonably easy, BUT the easy ways to do that might reduce the amount of braking force applied. If there isn't something readily identifiable as being wrong with the trailer brakes then it takes an expert trailer brake technician to tinker with this kind of problem safely.
Where were you eight months ago, n4aof?!?! Could have saved me a few trips to the shop if I'd had your take on it earlier! Yes, the way you described it is pretty much what the last guy at Ford told me. But what I don't understand is why would the controller have worked perfectly for four years, and then started having these problems all of a sudden if it's solely related to too much of a current draw? Wouldn't it have been acting up right from the start? And if the truck is rated to tow 17,000-lb but the trailer is only 10,000-lb, isn't the trailer well within the truck's towing capacity in all respects, including braking? The whole reason I sold the F250 V10 and bought the F350 Diesel was to tow the trailer. What a POS it has turned out to be.... Anyway, no news yet from the truck-n-trailer repair shop, and the next towing date looms large... a week from Friday!
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