I was recently traveling down I-95 to Florida from NJ when my 2005 Expedition would not start. It spun over very fast as if it was not getting fuel so I suspected a fuel pump. I had the vehicle towed to the local Ford Dealer where they diagnosed a bad fuel pump and quoted around $900 for the replacement with an after market pump. They called me the next day and said the completion time was delayed because they discovered that the Fuel Pump Controller (mounted on the frame with 2 screws and a wiring harness connector) was ALSO bad. My suspicion is that they misdiagnosed the fuel pump failure when in fact the controller had failed and that they learned this after they changed the fuel pump. They stuck to the original $900 quote so I effectively got the controller and labor to change it for free.

What is the likelihood both of these parts were bad? I suspect very low.

BTW: (they did provide me both old parts which I still have)

I brought it to Ford to avoid this sort of problem with a relatively simple diagnosis. If it is highly unlikely that the fuel pump replacement was necessary given it did not run after the fuel pump change and prior to the change of the controller, do I have any recourse? I find this level of incompetence for a Ford service department unacceptable.

Thanks for your input!!

 

It's not impossible for the fuel pump to fail, but it's by far more common that the fuel pump driver module fails. The likelyhood of both failing at the exact same time is slim at best.

 

I think you are more correct than you realize.

 

I would have to agree with both Skauber and Alloro on this one. Try going in for two recalls on Monday, the dealer ordering the parts, then saying they only got one set the following Saturday when you call in to ask why they never contacted you upon receiving said parts. I've previously used this same dealer for select parts on my RX-7 and their ETA had been 3 days every time on special orders. But since these were for recalls issued nearly 20 years ago, I felt it appropriate to give them some leeway.

The next Monday, I contacted Ford Corporate to express just how displeased I was with the lack of good faith displayed two days prior. While on the phone with them, the local dealer called to let me know that they had the parts all along, saying that the person whom I spoke with on Saturday was in essence blind, deaf and dumb as the missing recall parts were RIGHT NEXT to the set they identified as being for my truck. Either way, someone was either lying, didn't give a s**t or was too lazy to look.

In your case KBWFord, any competent serviceperson whom suspects a failed fuel pump would seemingly first try hotwiring the pump before removal to verify that it is indeed dead. Most can generally be discerned by a pretty obvious factor such as sound or by relieving the existing pressure and seeing if it can build it up again. Fuel pumps are no more complicated in wiring than a light bulb

If you paid by debit/credit card, dispute the charge.

 

In any case, when a dealership gets a vehicle with signs of bad fuel pump, and said vehicle is known to have a common failure point in the fuel pump driver module, then it's pure lazyness not to test that right of the bat, they're easy to diagnose, takes 10 minutes on a bad day....