My wife got first hand experience piloting a "dead stick" Excursion today. The engine up and died while rolling into the supermarket parking lot. She managed to avoid plowing into two oncoming cars, and get it stopped before she hit some pedestrians. The control forces needed without power assist are apparently rather high.
This may be the final straw for our X. We love it when it works, but it's become a hangar queen. We're on turbo #3, and tranny #3. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]
The failure itself is somewhat interesting....
The engine died under throttle. Didn't sputter, or cough and die, just dropped like a stone.
After she got it stopped, she was blocking traffic, so she turned on her emergency flashers. The dash indicators showed the flashers working, but the exterior lamps were not working.
She could not put the tranny in park. She managed to get it in neutral and...
It would not crank. It just clicked. The radio stayed on, but the dash lamps dimmed as she tried to crank it. The batteries are less than 5 months old.
The tow truck driver managed to get it into park, with some difficulty, but it still would not crank. So it got towed to the local dealer. They pushed it into it's reserved service bay and started their diagnosis. My wife did the paperwork with the service writer, and then remembered that she forgot her cell phone charger in the rig. They went back out to the service bay, and the exterior hazzard flashers were working. They tried to start it, and it fired right up. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]
She made them keep it, and complete their diagnosis. I initially thought it was just a CPS failure, but this has all the signs of some serious electrical gremlins. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]
Been there with a Chevy T/D,and got insulted by the N.Y. Lemon Law.2 engines,2turbos,2fuel pumps,and a host of other goodies.The arbitrator felt that although I was still having problems the value was not deminished [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img] Go figure! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sick.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/vomit.gif[/img] I lost $10,000 in 18 months because I was forced to trade it in for my X.I did not have the heart to sell it to some hard working sapp and have him be miserable.Joe M. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]
Rob It may be a chaffed or bad wiring harness. I do remember that Ford did have some on our model Xs. Hell the are still having problems with this on the 6.0l. Seems like they would make them a few inches longer so they could be routed away from rubbing and pinch points. Hope it threw some codes. If it is a CPS that is a simple fix. If it is not I would go back to where it happened and turn in the same way and see if I could duplicate it again. Also look over the wiring harnesses.
God luck Bro. - [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] - Ed
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<font color="red">~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~</font> SMILES and the best to all**Ed-<font color="red">RETIRED</font>**OINKING-BILGE-RAT <font color="red">FREEDOM IS NOT FREE ! ! !</font>
2005 LTD. X PSD 2WD FIBERGLASS RUNNINGBOARDS; SUNVISOR: REAR DEFLECTOR
<font color="00FF00">BENEFACTOR**<font color="red">NRA</font>**<font color="red">LIFER</font>**<font color="red">TX.ST.RIFLE ASSOC</font>**<font color="red">GOA</font>**<font color="00FF00">MEMBER</font>**<font color="00FF00">NRA/ILA</font>**<font color="red"> I VOTE ! DO YOU ? </font>**QUACK*QUACK ! ! !
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Ed, Yea... I'm thinking a wiring harness came loose in the column. That's the only place the hazzard lights, ignition, and shift linkage all come together.
Joe_M, I know what you mean. I'd have problem selling it to a private party without disclosing it's history.
It a vastly capable rig when it's running right. But I expect a $40K rig to be reliable, and now I have to worry about my wife being able to control it when it decides to throw a glitch. I like my new truck, and I like the X... But my old truck dies slowly when something breaks. It's coughs, sputters, runs bad... But never in 250K+ miles has it ever just stopped running without warning. Even if it did, the brakes are vacuum boosted, and there's a reserve tank. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]
Rob,I saw the burb's photo add in the paper at a dealer 100 miles from my home,two months after the trade.[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif[/img]I called him and asked what does GM certified mean,he said it meant the truck was flawlessand never had any problems.[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]So much for certified! Good Luck All,Joe M.
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