This is a 2004 E-350 with the 6.0.....FICM is 4 Pin.....



Gentlemen, any help I receive will be greatly appreciated. To make a long story short a week or so ago my fathers E-350 quit on him, but he was able to start it right back up. He had no problems until yesterday. He drove a few miles, shut the van off, and then it would not start, not even any cranking. Waited for a ride to come and get him and when he tried it it cranked and started. Driving about two miles home, the van shut off 2 more times, but would crank. He was able to get it started the last time and into the driveway where it now sits. As he pulled into the driveway he put it in park and floored it, when he did, the engine quit right away.

So far, I removed the FICM and checked it out. I hit the solder connections on the back of the circuit board. I could not hit the solder connections on the front side at the transistors due to that "gunk" covering both left and right sides of the board completely.... someone on the assembly line must have been bored that day.

Reinstalled the FICM in the truck....I had a little buzzing but it quit abruptly. I kept cycling the key off and on and played with the Transmission lever with these effects : ......sometimes it would buzz, sometimes not, and there wasn't an exact amount time that they would buzz.

Then, finally, they buzzed for more than a few seconds, and shut off again. I cycled the key one more time and it buzzed like normal and turned over and started right up. Let it run for awhile, and it warmed up. I played around with the throttle and had no issues. I shut the engine off after about 20 minutes or so. About 40 minutes later I tried to start it again, but only had a little buzzing but mostly nothing.

All the lights come on the dash, when it started up, it started up just fine and ran like a champ. Does anyone have any ideas? If so it would be greatly appreciated. Money is tight right now for my father and it really ticks him off because the dam thing was in the dealership in November for a LPOP and EGR goodies, fuel pressure regulator housing, etc etc......which he got socked for.

Thanks for the help,

Chuck

 

Bump......if this is illegal I apologize in advance.....

 

im a little lost on how to help on this one. no part of the ficm will stop the engine from cranking. I can come up with areason for it to just shut off and then not crank. even shorting vref to sig return the truck would crank. this may sound stuipid but have you been able to varify the no cranking part yourself? Theres not much to go on here. do you have a code reader? if so any codes?

 

Hey Cheezit, I just tried the FICM as a shot in the dark to be honest. I have verified the no cranking myself. And at this point I have no access to a code reader, But I will see if I can get a hold of one.

I have a write up by Bismic about "no starting issues" that I left on the computer for my father to go by tommorow....It is just odd that I get no injector Buzz or very little and then one time the engine cranks and starts up just fine, idles and warms up just fine, and after I shut it off, I then have nothing. I have tried two more times tonight and all I get again is some intermittent "buzzing" and thats it.

Weird that it works, then doesn't......call me crazy and a hopeless hopeful, but maybe its the FICM relay......any bets? I wish it were that easy, maybe Wednesday will be my lucky day.

 

This might be coming out of left field, but wouldn't a faulty ignition switch give the same sort of symptoms?

 

dont really see ficm relays fail.. Ive replaced 1 so far.also will not prevent crnaking of the engine.dp the dash lights prove out when it goes no crank? check engine lamp and glowplug lamps work?
have you tried to jump the starter and the harness connector?

 

it could ... just not a part we see failing.

 

Really? Ask my wife, I think it's an anual thing with her. She likes to hang ten pounds of keys on there and wonders why it binds and won't start. Honestly though, my parents used to have a Volkswagen that used to do similar stuff. Glow plugs would work, turning the key to start would yield an intermittent crank and/or start, and I've even see it shut off just like that. Again - replaced the switch and it worked fine.

 

Got to be a woman thing...it drives me crazy...I only carry the keys I need to start the rides & get me back into the house. I don't need FOBS, or nick-nacks on my key ring....that's what they put key-less entry keypads on the door of the truck.

Another out there in left field...bad contact on one/both of the batteries or poor ground? Couldn't hurt to check could it?

 

Have a look at the ground stud on the block it could be loose or coroded.That 20 lb key chain thing drives me nuts too.

 

Thanks for the input guys, I am gona leave this page up for my father....hopefully when I am done work today he will have good news for me.

 

Make sure that your driver side battery connection (5/16 nut on battery terminal) that powers the accessories wire is not loose or corroded. If it is either, the van will not start or when started will cut off. In fact the more I think about it that sounds like exactly what the problem is.

Check those connections!

FYI - per my wiring diagrams, on non van trucks, the glow plugs and alternator are the primary connections to the passenger side battery positive terminal. The vehicle accessories and engine controls are connected to the driver side battery positive terminal. If the driver side connection is loose or corroded, the truck may not start and may die while driving.

DSMMH

 

Hey, thanks for the replies guys....here's the deal as of 16:45 EST.

Checked the FICM relay (which in the owners manual is still referred to as the IDM relay....friggin book writers), that checks out ok.

Replaced it back into the fuse box and the Injector buzz starts but is very erratic. Engine will not crank still. Sometimes it is on for a second, others for a little longer. Once, it sounded as if the injectors buzzed just right and the engined started, only to die a second later. Again tried with less than optimal "buzzing sound" and it cranked once more but after that second time it won't crank anymore at this point. Battery is getting low, which will cause problems in and of itself. It's a little chilly in PA right now.

Crossing the starter the engine will crank. All lights in the gauge display work. Glow plug light will NOT go out though.....maybe that is a sign of the problem. I will have access to a scanner tomorrow, hopefully it will be able to give me some more clues.

To me this sounds like some sort of electrical gremlin........Would a faulty PCM cause this problem? I am just trying to break it down to relays, wire chafing, etc etc. I can't test the PCM obviously, but maybe when I get that scanner it will help me out.

Again, thanks for all the replies, and if anyone has any other ideas I'd still love to hear them. Again, thanks, I can not say it enough.

Chuck

 

Sorry, but in your first post, what were the glow plugs doing? Did the light stay on then, or is it just now when you bridge the starter?

 

i think i'd take mohle's advice and concentrate on your ignition system before anything else.sure sounds to me like it'll have power one time and the next time its gone.and the glow plugs staying on also sounds like ignition problems.you say the starter cranks when you cross it?,there's a clue right there that its losing its signal between the key switch and starter signal wire/relay somewhere.