Hello everyone. I'm about to pull my hair out because of my wifes 2005 Expedition. We bought it used last October. It had roughly 88,000 miles on it. Starting about 3 months ago it was losing power at highway speeds. The engine light never came on. I brought it to the local Ford dealer. Since the engine light wasn't coming on, they guessed and said the COPs needed changing because of the mileage (around 95,000). After spending a painful amount of money to have them changed, it was still doing the same thing, plus it was now dying at random. They checked the cats and told us that since we were apparently running a bad plug, it clogged them and they would both have to be changed. I wasn't about to pay them about $3,000 to change them so I took it to a local muffler shop. After checking the cats they told me only one was bad and it was changed for less than $300. That solved the power loss problem but it still dies at random, usually while stopped or slowing to a stop. My wife would tell me that it was dying at highway speeds but it would quickly start back up. I told her I didn't think that was possible since she would have to pull over and put it in park to restart the engine. I decided to change the fuel filter on Saturday to see if that helped. I then drove it myself to see if that did the trick. Nope. It died out on me three times within about an hour of driving. Once while parked idling, once while stopped at a red light and again as I pulled into my driveway. Also, while driving down the interstate at about 75mph, it felt like I hit a brick wall. There was a bump, the red alarm light that flashes on the dash came on for a couple of seconds and I lost acceleration. I immediately let off the accelerator then gave it gas and it continued as if nothing happened. My wafe told me that when it happenes to her she tries to accelerate but it it won't for a couple of seconds. That's why she thinks it dies out. I also noticed that when it's first put in drive, it takes a couple of seconds for it to engage. I'm not sure if it's related to the other problem. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Mark

 

Sounds just like the fuel pump is going bad. These things will intermittently fail when the internal brushes start to loose proper contact and stop pumping.
You might check your fuel pressure at the rail but that only helps if pump isn't working at that same time. If I remember right, you should see 40-45#'s min.
A common indication is stuttering at hard acceleration and/or hard starting when cold, having to pump the accelerator to keep running. Sounds familiar?
After 8 years, it's not unusual for these to go bad, especially if you run the tank low on fuel regularly, as they can get hot internally as fuel helps to cool.

 

Thank you. My wife is the queen of the "E". I'm surprised the fuel light hasn't burned out yet.

 

IIRC, that model should have a FPDM (aka, Fuel Pump Driver Module) located on the driver's side frame rail back by the spare tire. The PCM tells the FPDM how much fuel pressure it wants and the FPDM controls the fuel pump to achieve the requested output.

These FPDM are encased in aluminum and rot out quickly because they are attached to the steel frame rail in the back where they are in all kinds of slop (trademark ).

Check to make sure it is in one piece and not mis-managing the fuel pump.

 

Thank you. I'll check that as well. I wonder why the check engine light doesn't come on?

 

It won't with the fuel pump. Not sure about the FPDM.

 

FPDM DTCs are in the manufacturer specific range of DTCs and I don't believe they are required to turn the CEL on. And most generic scan tools will not display them. Need a higher end tool to see these codes with KOER.

 

Here is a post from one of our fellow members. He helped me fix my truck even before I had an issue.


https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...ixed-pics.html

 

Thanks mig25. My FPDM is mounted in the same place as the one in that thread. I unbolted it the other day to check for corrosion but didn't find any. I didn't unplug the wiring harness. When my wife started it the next morning she said it was idling very high and there was a strong smell of gas. After several seconds it idled down to normal. We've never had a problem with it starting, just dying out. I guess the next thing to do is change the fuel pump?

 

Yeah , I would check the fuel pump, after the coils have been replaced , the PDPM checked.
At 80K it should be running like a champ, 80K is nothing for these engines.
I hope when they did the COPs they also did the plugs. But that would be a whole new issue...