Shut down while driving with no warning
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Shut down while driving with no warning
2003 F-150 v8 4.2 4x4 with 295k miles ...
Yesterday while driving in town going 35-40mph my F-150 gauges spiked just before the engine shut off. While still moving I shifted to neutral and tried to restart, no go so I was able to stir to the shoulder and park, turned the key off. Sat there for about 30-60 seconds and the truck started up and I was able to drive off. [added] Forgot to mention, there was no check engine lights or anything, when I drove off, it was as though nothing happened. Not sure if it matters but temps out here was about 105 degrees and I was blasting the AC (which seems to take longer now to cool things down a bit).
I've had the truck since '04 and the second owner, been pretty descent with fluid changes and such, in fact was on my way for quick oil change when this happened. The tech there thought it could be either the alternator (battery is roughly 6 months new) or the ECM.
Any ideas on direction with this? I'm not a mechanic so I've got no clue where to begin here.
Thank you,
Anthony
Yesterday while driving in town going 35-40mph my F-150 gauges spiked just before the engine shut off. While still moving I shifted to neutral and tried to restart, no go so I was able to stir to the shoulder and park, turned the key off. Sat there for about 30-60 seconds and the truck started up and I was able to drive off. [added] Forgot to mention, there was no check engine lights or anything, when I drove off, it was as though nothing happened. Not sure if it matters but temps out here was about 105 degrees and I was blasting the AC (which seems to take longer now to cool things down a bit).
I've had the truck since '04 and the second owner, been pretty descent with fluid changes and such, in fact was on my way for quick oil change when this happened. The tech there thought it could be either the alternator (battery is roughly 6 months new) or the ECM.
Any ideas on direction with this? I'm not a mechanic so I've got no clue where to begin here.
Thank you,
Anthony
Last edited by ajmaske; Jul 9, 2017 at 03:01 PM. Reason: adding additional info ...
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just saw a you-tube video ... so its okay to use the dio-electric grease on the terminals? this stuff won't hurt anything?
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Okay, turns out a little corrosion around the bottom positive post and connector and some building up inside the connector as well (my bad, I assumed they cleaned the connectors when they replaced my battery or perhaps did a ****ty job of it).
Connectors now all clean, posts now all clean, everything reconnected, I did use the dio-electric grease, and everything seems fine as of right now.
Nothing worse than driving down a congested road and your engine suddenly dies, worse tomorrow back to the commute grind and I'd hate for that to happen on the freeway.
Thank you much!
Anthony
Connectors now all clean, posts now all clean, everything reconnected, I did use the dio-electric grease, and everything seems fine as of right now.
Nothing worse than driving down a congested road and your engine suddenly dies, worse tomorrow back to the commute grind and I'd hate for that to happen on the freeway.
Thank you much!
Anthony
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by the way, the type of battery is an Interstate. I've never bought one of these before (first time) are these prone to corrosion? I usually get that Motocraft (Tough) Max and never had to deal with corrosion ...
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Interstate batteries have mostly given me good service. No better or worse than any other lead acid battery for corrosion of the positive terminal. I would not worry all that much about the dielectric grease. Some use it, some don't.
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okay ... for now I'll just keep an eye on it ... usually I just use those oiled up felt pads (red/green ones) but completely forgot about those this time ...
I used the dielectric grease when I swapped out the coils/plugs so I didn't think much about it when I saw the you-tube video ...
Thank you guys, I really appreciate it ...
I used the dielectric grease when I swapped out the coils/plugs so I didn't think much about it when I saw the you-tube video ...
Thank you guys, I really appreciate it ...
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