I have a F250 5.4 auto 4x4 CC shortbed. Bought it new in August 2001 *emphasis added*. So here we are...three years later and...you guessed it... the warranty just ended. And...you guessed it... the truck stopped running. There's 25,000 on the odometer.

The truck was hard to start this morning. It's never ever failed to start right up before. After a few cranks it started and seemed to be just fine. I was on my way to the coffee shop, cruising about 35 mph, when it cut out completely, the engine just went silent, dead, nothing, for about 1 second. Then before I could say "Golly Gee Whiz, what was that?" it started right back up, and we kept on cruising. I sat there thinking "Did that just happen?"

I made it to the coffe shop, it's actually a drive-up espresso stand. I'm at the window, the trucks idling in "park". Then it stopped. No sputtering, no stuttering, no wheezing or whining. The thing just shut off, rpms dropped to zero, and that was that. There was no gradual drop off, it was like someone just flipped a switch.

I turned the key and it'd crank, and crank, and crank, but nothing.

Anyone care to take a stab at this? It's at the shop and I'll find out soon what it is.

Just thought I'd share. Even I'm laughing at the whole The Warranty Just Ended cliche'.

 

not getting fuel?

 

That's what I suspect. Of course the bigger question is why?

Are there any notorious fuel problems with the 5.4?

 

Possibly just need a new fuel pump? Possibly a clogged fuel filter? Just some ideas...

 

Faulty fuel pump reset switch or sensors that trip fuel pump when in an accident or roll over???

 

Does it start if you have your foot on the gas peddle?. If it does it could be the IAC. If not, then I would suspect the fuel pump.

 

The cam sensor would cause the engine to quit like the key was turned off. The fuel pump i would think the pressure would slowly drop and the engine would stumble before it quit.

 

Autozone or the likes and check for codes!

 

That's a good point, bradley.

Can someone help me... what's an IAC?

 

Sounds like you are having an electrical problem where the power to the engine is being interupted. Maybe ignition sw wiring..Good luck or loose connector.,

 

IAC- Idle air control. They've been known to fail.

 

this wont help your situation but same sort of thing happened to me... my truck rolled 36k on a friday afternoon... and sat. am. got up to go hunting at 5am... and it would not start... needed a new battery.. had 36,049 miles on the truck...i think the battery has some sort of internal clock or something?... well good luck with your truck.
JJ

 

Thanks, Berol. And nice avatar (one of my favorite movies...)

Ignition wiring does sound like another good idea. My uncle's car would recently not start at all - checked EVERYTHING, had already replaced distributor cap and rotor. It turned out the cap he got had little cracks that somehow prevented it from working properly.

 

They traced the problem to an "open circut" to the PCM. In other words the PCM lost it's ground...nothing more than a loose wire I guess. But, an expensive loose wire, $200.00. That $200.00 could have bought me a full tank of gas and a Coke.

 

Glad they found it...