5 times in 7 months my 2001 Eddie has taken off while I have been idling. The last time, I had just come to a complete stop and had my foot still firmly on the brake when it happened. I noticed that it showed that I was going 30MPH and 1-1/2RPM AND I was still stopped! Any clues to help the dealer? They say they don't know what to do. I am afraid to drive it anymore.

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-Aug-01 AT 09:08 PM (EST)[/font][p]have had same problem twice with my exp.,have not taken it to dealer yet. any more info.?

2001 e.b. 5.4

 

I bought a 2001 Exy XLT with Sport Package. I have the same problem. I have taken it to the dealer and they have replaced the throttle body twice and have messed with the linkage another 3 times. I am not sure what was done the last time (I think it was a throttle body) and it has not done it since. However, now the RPM's are dropping.

When I come to a stop, the RPM's are supposed to be around 750. Mine will drop to 500 and the truck will ride rough. If I give a littel gas, seems to help. This issue developed at the same time as my tranny crapped the bed (2001 bought in Jan with 5k miles on it and the tranny is slamming into gears and is bouncing off the rev limited before it will shift). I am not sure if the RPMs dropping is due to the tranny (it started when the tranny started to act up) or if it is because of some thing else that was done to fix the first problem. I am actually taking it in the shop tomorrow so we will see.

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 21-Aug-01 AT 07:37 PM (EST)[/font][p]please post outcome of trip to dealer. Mine has not done it again for about a month. I'm sure I'll end up at the dealer.
thanks

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 21-Aug-01 AT 10:28 PM (EST)[/font][p]Well, it is still in the shop...almost 3 weeks now. Ford mounted a 'flight' recorder into the system and is driving it hoping to catch the event on that machine. I will keep posting the newest adventures with this problem. (I never received an e-mail alert that anyone had posted to my query - until today, so I never checked it! Sorry)
In a strange way, I am glad to hear that someone else has experienced this 'phenomenon'. I know Ford thought that I was crazy when I brought it in.

 

dbugem-
What exactly did your -01 do? Under what conditions? Just checking to see if it is JUST like mine.

 

My 2001 Expedition just came back from the shop. Finally after 4 weeks.

What it was doing:
I would notice it most of the time after I had used the cruise control. For example, I would set the cruise at like 50 mph. I would then (to pass or what ever) hit the gas and would pass. Then, when I would come to a stop, (ie a light) I would hit the brake. I would not hit the Off Key on the cruise. When I would get to about 5-10 mph, the truck would engage the accelerator itself and woud try to pull me through the intersection. At the same time, my gauges would sweep from left to right, but stop about 1/2-3/4 the way. Normally I could hold it with the brakes.

Now, there have been 2 times that I have not used the cruise, and it would do the same thing. I cannot always recreate it by using the cruise control. One one occasion, I was pulled half way through the intersection. Not fun

So far, the dealership has (1st trip) replaced the Throttle Body, then (2nd Trip) replaced the linkage. Then (3rd) the Throttle Body was replaced again (I assume they replaced a bad throttle body, with another throttle body, or they have no clue. I am betting on the later of the 2). Then for the 4th trip, they said it had something to do with the computer (please keep in mind that the reason that there was issues with the computer is that I was having major issues with the transmission. There were 7 codes in the computer). Was associated to a loose wire I think.

I am in the process of doing the lemon law for my state to try and get a new one. I have had a total of 4 trips to the dealership for this issue alone (not to mention 2 times for the tranny, 2 horns, 3 recalls and other misc. stuff).

I am giving up hope of finding a resolution to this issue as I have had too many issues and will not be able to afford all the work that I am sure is going to come up after the warranty is out.

 

We had a similar problem with our '97 V10. When we would slow to stop or make a slow turn, the engine would suddenly rev and unless you had your foot firmly planted on the brake our vehicle would take off. Sometimes it would stutter first. Sometimes it would die. But it's the surge that had us worried about running someone over or crashing into someone in front of us. You could not purposely duplicate the problem (so dealer wouldn't help) and it normally happened when vehicle was not thoroughly warmed up.

I found another V10 owner with the same problem on an RV Board and e-mailed him. He finally got his dealer to replaced the fuel vapor cannister. He said his mechanic said that when he took his foot off the accelerator, the cannister would purge (causing a stutter) and then the computer would sense it was empty and dump a bunch of fuel in (causing the surge). He e-mailed me back to say that solved his problem.

Naturally I took all this information to my dealer. Last week, several months and thousands of miles after bringing this to my dealer's attention, they replaced the cannister on our Extended Service Plan. It hasn't done it since, but we haven't driven enough to draw a conclusion.

Another possibility is that if you brake with your right foot, the brake pedal and gas pedal could be situated so that you are accidentally hitting the gas pedal too. That happens on our van, also.

 

Since I posted the first message, the '01 has been in the shop for over 40 days. The dealership was unable (shocking) to recreate the surges...go figure. They offered that perhaps my husband and I are accidentally stepping on the gas and the brake with the SAME foot. This would be a stretch for me since my foot fits between the brake and the gas - unable to hit them both unless I am driving with my foot HORIZONTAL.
Anyway, I managed to talk them into putting a 'flight recorder' in the vehicle while I am driving it so when it happens again, I can catch the incident on tape. The tape is constantly recording, in a continuous loop and when I press it, sometime after the surge, it will continue to record for a couple of seconds and then shut down. I sure hope it catches some critical information from the computer system. It is our last resort to get this solved.
Will keep you all updated!

 

On a sunny dry October day at around 1:30 pm, my Expedition decided to accelerate on it's own. I was slowly driving in reverse up the drivewayto park it in order to wash the vehicle and vacuum it from the garage. The vehicle suddely revved, then was quiet, and then revved again. Despite my braking as hard as I possibly could, the vehicle accelerated extremely quickly in reverse and parked itself approximately 4 feet inside my home having created a large hole in the inside garage wall. Damage estimated to my home is $15,000-$20,000. The damage estimated to the vehicle is $10,000-$15,000. I find it extremely difficuly to accept total responsiblity for this event. It was weird. It should not have happened. It was gratifying to find other examples of spontaneous acceleration on the web. Certainly the local Ford dealer has not heard of this kind of problem before!!! Anyone standing behind the vehicle when this happened would have been killed! It will be a long time before I can comfortably put any vehicle in reverse gear again!

 

AngieW-
Did you contact the dealer? What did they say?

 

Now this long chain of the same complaint is making me nervous about my wife's '01 EB Expo 4x4... A couple of weeks ago she told me that she was at a stoplight with her mother as passenger and the both swear it took off on its own with her foot on the brake. I tended to dismiss it as another "women just don't know how to drive" type thing, but now it is concerning me....

 

NChevyRehab-
I have to admit, the first two times it happened to me, I could hardly believe it myself. As a matter of fact, I didn't tell my husband until the third time when I was just sure it wasn't a 'woman thing'. I was lucky because the fourth time it happened to HIM as he was pulling it into the garage(scary).
I will keep posting all my activity pursuing this matter. I sure hope to catch the event on the computer recorder that Ford has left hooked up in my car.
It is a bad feeling to know that your car can take off on it's own.
Keep checking with the posts! (And tell your wife she isn't crazy!)

 

For all of you...
Just letting you all know that my '01 did it again today and I pressed the flight logger, so I hope enough information about the event was logged. I will keep everyone posted. Waiting for my husband to come home from work to take the Expedition in...
I sure hope they find something!

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 26-Oct-01 AT 11:01 PM (EST)[/font][p]Please do! I took mine to the shop almost 2 weeks ago yet again for this issue. I was even nice enough to tell them about the fix that was posted by HeyYou (the guy with the V-10).

However, Ford has so far refused to put a new fuel vapor cannister on the vehicle as they cannot recreate the problem. And they have "already spent enough time and money on fixing a problem tha they cannot recreate". Oh, so that means that it does not happen, right Ford? It sounds to me that Ford thinks the cost for a vapor cannister (and any other part that might be the cause) is not worth the safety and well being of me and my family. I seem to remember the exact same thought process from Ford when Explorers were flipping all over our highways! (Can anyone sense the high level of "screw Ford" at this point?)

Please keep us posted as to what was found. Yours may hold the answers to all of our problems.

Boxter