05 quits on highway
 

I was driving my wifes 05 Expedition down the highway tonite at 65 mph and the engine dies for a second or two, then comes back to life. I travel a couple of miles and it does it again. It gets worse and worse and I finally pull over with the engine running rough and it dies. I wait 3 minutes it restarts and I continue on for another 1/2 mile and it does it again. I finally abandon ship. I am thinking fuel filter, fuel pump or fuel. Anybody have a similar problem in the past or have some insight on what the problem is? I left on the side of the highway, I must go get it tomorrow.
Thanks
JWR
not happy with the Expedition.

see if it has any codes stored in the computer.them we can go from there

I'm no mechanic but if it comes back to life each time, I would suspect an upstream O2 sensor. My daughter's Rav4 did this for awhile a never threw a code. Took it to Toyota and drove it up and down the street until it finally happened again and left the car in that suspended "dead" state and read it and threw the code for the O2 sensor. Hers only happened while at red lights or at idle speed.

Codes and Fuel Filter
 

I checked the codes and I got 2 codes relating to fuel pressure at the rail and 1 code P1233 Fuel Pump Driver off line. The car was at the point where it would not run anymore. I replaced the fuel filter which did appear to somewhat clogged. I cleared the codes and it started right up and idled. Upon taking it for a ride, it would not accelerate just fall on its face and the P1233 code reappeared. I am not completely familiar with this system, but it acts as if the fuel pressure regulator is not working. Has the pump been damaged by the clogged filter, or is there a regulator that has been damaged. I guess a fuel pressure test is next. It almost appeared as there was water in the old filter???? Any suggestions?
Thanks,
JWR

To me it sounds like your truck isn't getting full fuel pressure. That can be either caused by the pump, filter, and fuel regulator. Since you said that you replaced the fuel filter then you can rule that out. I would put a fuel pressure gauge on it and check what the fuel pressure is while the engine is off but fuel pump running and when the engine is running and then somehow put the engine under some type of load to see what the fuel pressure does. If it goes down more than normal under load then it's either a fuel pump or pressure regulator.

05 Expy
 

I hope this is not the case, but we had a very similar issue with our '05 5.4L 3 valve, just a couple months ago. For us it turned out to be a fuel pump relay, and a new fuel pump. The dealership could not determine if the pump was bad until they replaced the relay. It was about $1,200 to have them both replaced, including a tow bill.

After the repair, we had to replace the battery as well. It was only about 3 months old, so the parts store replaced it for free. But whatever happened killed that battery too.

I'm sure it would be cheaper if we didn't have the dealer do it, but we were 3 hours from home, heading on vacation, so we took the path of least resistance.

It has worked fine since.

symptoms
 

Hi ehaiss,
When your 05 had problems, what were the symtoms? Did it still run? My does but for short periods and with no power. Did yours come up with any codes the dealer mentioned?
Thanks,
JWR

Sucess
 

Well I purchased the fuel pump driver module for 90 plus tax at my local Ford dealer. It is not in an easy place to change, on top of the frame rail next to the spare tire. I did not have to do any pinpoint testing, because as soon as I removed it the problem was obvious. It had a huge hole corroded through the aluminum back plate, approximately 1" x 2.5" . This module mounts against a steel plate bracket and it appears as if galvanic corrosion took out the aluminum of the module. The steel bracket was in perfect condition. The new module has standoffs so that the aluminum back plate is 1/4" away from the steel bracket. It looks as if Ford knows about this problem based on the design change of the new part. In any event, the 05 runs like new now and thank you everyone.
JWR

For future reference by others
 

Mine was exactly the same as yours. It would start and idle, but had little to no power. We lost power while driving on I75 near Atlanta at 75MPH. We were able to idle along, stalling every 100 yards or so, for about 1/2 mile to get to an off ramp, and out of traffic, before it would not run.

As I mentioned before, my pump module was also shot. Perhaps the 1/2 mile drive killed the module, I'm not sure.

If you got away with $90, you did very well. It was $600 for the dealer to diagnose, and fix that issue, and another $600 to have the module replaced.

Glad you got it fixed!

Sounds like you ended up at a Stealership

Costs
 

I diagonosed the problem myself and performed the repair myself and I get a discount on parts at the local Ford Dealer. A friend has a ramp truck which I borrowed to tow the Expedition home. I bought the shop manuals for the Expedition when it was new, so I did a little research and before I got into it.
All in all it cost me 90 for the module and 50 to fill up the ramp truck, not bad.
My guess Ephaiss is that the dealer replaced the pump first and when it still didn't run right, they started to dig into and find the real problem. Of course you ended up paying for their stumbling.
JWR

Same thing... Please HELP!
 

Sorry to re-open this thread, but I have had the exact same thing happen. I was traveling at 65mph and it just died. I was not able to restart. I had it towed to my mechanic who came up with codes
P1235, P1233, and P0191.

I've since had it towed to a Ford Dealership (who I don't trust very much) who say I have something wrong with my throttle body. Does anyone know if this is at all related to the TSB Customer Satisfaction Program 07M08 which is the issues they are having with the Fuel Injector where they had to extend the warranty? My dealer says it is nothing to do with this, which I am finding hard to believe.

Do more online research and copy and paste all you find that applies to your problem and then talk with the service manager. Being well armed always helps when negotiating.

Ummm... thats what I'm trying to do by posting on this thread....:confused:

That just goes to show you, great minds do think alike.