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New Guy Electrical Glitches

5K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  jvgviper 
#1 ·
I was directed to this site from one of your members via a side by side forum. He thought someone on here may be able to help.

My 14' F350 6.7 dually has 20k miles on it. I bought it used with 14K from a dealership in CA. I live in NM

In five months I've owned it, it's been at the shop for an accumulative 30 plus days.

Randomly, wether it has been sitting for a week or I've been in and out of it all day, it won't start. Says its has an ignition failure, low oil pressure, and engine overheating. Sometimes it will turn over, start and re-set itself. Sometimes it won't turn over at all, just nothing when I turn the key.

If I leave it set for an hour or two, or sometimes a day or two, it will start like nothing ever happened. The engine light usually goes off within a day.

Been to two different dealerships four separate times. It has been towed there, not starting with the engine light on. They say it doesn't read any codes and that they can't duplicate the problem so they give it back.

Most times it only happens when I go to start it...but it has happened once while I was driving. Gauges flip out, same engine notifications, stays running, but the shifting is weird.

Ford doesn't have a buy back for used vehicles, talked to two different lemon law lawyers but that route doesn't seem optimal since I would have to go through CA courts. Dealership I bought it from won't return my calls or emails. Local dealerships can't seem to fix it. I have a "Ford" case number and a rep that calls me once a week, but he hasn't done much of anything really.

Any help would be appreciated.
 
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#3 ·
So, I have had some electrical glitches myself, mine is a 2015, about 20k miles at the time. I made a video also, plus I was able to check and pull my own codes, there were a lot of dealer only reset codes. I would be driving down the road and the damn thing would go haywire. Dealer kept it for a week, put me in a rental, and commenced to checking every connector within the computer touches.m they did a computer reset and have had no problems since.

Crystal will be along today, she will ask for some information and she will help you get the problem resolved.

Here are a couple of threads. The first is the one I asked about my specific problem, the second is one I found similar to mine.

http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/f152/start-up-glitch-545018/

http://www.thedieselstop.com/forums/f152/2013-f350-dash-lights-no-start-460098/

Good luck and keep us posted.

Cale
 
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#4 ·
...Ford doesn't have a buy back for used vehicles, talked to two different lemon law lawyers but that route doesn't seem optimal since I would have to go through CA courts. Dealership I bought it from won't return my calls or emails. Local dealerships can't seem to fix it. I have a "Ford" case number and a rep that calls me once a week, but he hasn't done much of anything really.

Any help would be appreciated.
Welcome to the forum, brando31! Just to clarify, have you retained the services of an attorney? If so, I'll be unable to assist as I do not have any legal training.

...Crystal will be along today, she will ask for some information and she will help you get the problem resolved...
Thanks for the shout-out, Cale! I appreciate it.

Crystal
 
#23 ·
Solved???



So I asked the dealer to take a look at this and they said they did. Then it happened twice more the weekend after I picked it up. So I layed under the dash and started looking at the wire bundle above the parking brake and found the black and gray wires noted by a member in this thread. When I pulled the black and grey wire it felt a little loose....so I pushed them together and they felt like they snapped in place...hasn't happened since and its been over 1000 miles.

Hopefully this was it!!!!

Thanks JVGViper!!!!!
 
#7 ·
Fordservice: No I have not retained lawyer services. I decided not to go that route. Hoping FORD and the dealership it is at now will be able to help me out. Also getting some good info from the forum...maybe it will lead me in the right direction.

Thanks again.
 
#11 ·
I passed the information along to the mechanic about the parking brake/harness being a possible problem area. He couldn't find anything there...but thanks for the heads up. After (2) weeks (this time) I picked it up yesterday. Last time it went over 1000 miles before it glitched out.

Nickelplated recommended an OBD reader...is there a certain brand or style I should look for?

Crystal -I PM'd you but haven't heard back. I'm actually not to sure that I am doing it right as I have not used that function before. Let me know.
 
#13 ·
...Crystal -I PM'd you but haven't heard back. I'm actually not to sure that I am doing it right as I have not used that function before. Let me know.
Hi brando31,

I'm not seeing a PM from you in my inbox, so I went ahead and sent you a PM directly; you should be able to see it in your inbox this morning. Go ahead and reply to that, and I'll get to work. :)

Crystal
 
#17 · (Edited)
This is a classic description of network fault which I have seen many times now on 2011 and newer Super Duty trucks. Most of the time the cause is a wiring concern with the HS-CAN network circuits which spread throughout the vehicle. Only once have I diagnosed one where one of the modules was faulty and affecting the network. These CAN cause conditions where no codes would be set but that is highly unusual. If this is the case I suspect you are not getting accurate information. Also, if this is in fact what I suspect it is, it can be tricky to diagnose and many technicians have difficulty with it. There are however several common areas in the truck where these wiring problems are commonly found.


Good Luck. If you were in NJ I would be happy to help you. I love hunting these down.
 
#18 ·
Interesting!! I’m not an expert

So it is my understanding that it is only the instrument panel that is cutting in and out? The low oil and engine oil temperature alarm comes from the PCM.
So from a key board it is hard to troubleshoot but from the wiring diagram it seems that a few things could cause the dash to flash, but if the oil and engine lights are on then I would say that the problem is coming from the PCM or BCM?

That said, guessing is not going to confirm anything. As posted above, I use an APP called Torque Pro and can monitor certain modules (PCM,BCM…etc) inputs and outputs. The APP is $5 and the bluetooth adapter is less then $25. There is also a way to put the dash in “Engneer Mode” that will show some codes.

Again I’m guessing, but the power to the instrumental panel come from the BCM and the key in the ingition signal (input) also comes from the BCM so I would start testing there. It has to be process of elimination and what does all the problems have in common. Since all the gauges and displays are powering off and on in the video, I would check the load side of fuse #11 in the BCM to see if the volatge is cylcing off and on, this fuse should be hot all the time. This would lead me to believe that the problem is a control circiut or CAN BUS (network) problem that is causing the dash to shut off and on.

Please keep us informed and good luck.

Added On Edit:
ford_ doctor is a faster typer and an Expert.
 
#20 ·
Sorry, new to this...can you specify PCM and BCM and what the differences are between the two?

Thanks
Vehicles now a days are controlled now by computers or modules. Simply the PCM is a Powertrain Control Module and the BCM is the Body Control Module. The modules in the vehicles talk to each other through their own network which is called a CAN_BUS. These systems are usually known as PLC (Programable Logic Controllers) systems to people in the electrical, electronic trade.

Your problem seems to common to the computer system. Like ford-doctor also seems to think, this is not a common problem and so it would take someone with advance training to isolate the cause of the problem.
 
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#21 ·
Okay guys...its happened again. Attached is the video where I get it to reset by engaging and disengaging the parking brake. Also as advised, purchased an OBD2 and will spend the evening researching the codes online:

UO 140
UO 155
UO 102
UO 212
UO 151
UO 137
 
#22 ·
All those "UO" codes have to do with lost communication between modules, it doesn't mean that all the modules can't communicate but something is pulling the network down. There are ways for a Ford Tech using test equipment to isolate the modules and narrow the problem down to a piece of hardware. I have read other posts with some of problems.
 
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