I'll try to make this as concise as possible but bear with us as this is a very confusing story from day one. I'm writing this and posting this for my other half. He is recovering from injuries sustained in combat and going through a medical board and we are trying desperately to get his beloved truck back on the road for him but so far we are striking out badly.

I know this is not in fancy format or proper grammar. I'm just writing as I speak...

Truck: 2004 F150 5.4 Triton/Lariat 2WD
Low Mileage: 92k original miles
Always had oil changed and service completed on time even when deployed. Have service records from family member that meticulously cared for the truck for me

Last fall the truck started to lose power when driving. Spoke to a few mechanics and came here and was told to do a few things..Clean injectors, tune up, new fuel pump installed. All of that was done by a good mobile mechanic that can do small jobs but not the major ones but did a good job.

By end of October took the truck out to run an errand and it died 1/2 down the road.

Tried to come up with a plan as I do not trust any mechanics in this down. It's a military town and lets leave it at that. Unfortunately I had to trust someone. At the advice of a few senior folks I took it to a local shop that was suppose to be the best, good reputation, etc. Truck was towed to their shop.

After two days I received a call and things already went bad. Without my approval they changed the fuel pump saying it was bad, old and needed replacing. I told them to look in the back seat and reminded them I informed them that had been done. Box and receipt for the week old fuel pump were in my back seat at the time the truck was towed in. I told them to call me before any other repairs are done. They did not. Next day I'm told they changed all the spark plugs. I told them I was picking up my truck and not to lay another finger on it. I also wanted the old parts they removed for proof and proof of the parts they installed.

I sent the tow truck back to pick the truck up and bring it home. I was given a bill for 2100 dollars for the labor and parts, none of which they had as I asked. I paid the bill and told them I would be filing a complaint. I did that with both the BBB and the base legal office.

I contacted a higher scale mobile mechanic that also has a shop. They took the truck in and after an evaluation they found the timing chain was gone. How did the first shop NOT find this?

They also found some damage. They found oil, water and fuel mixed together. Not good I know.

The work that this mechanic completed was as follows.


Head gaskets were redone
Coolent temp sensor
Timing chain and components
Cam sensors and thermostat
Runner control valve on back of intake
Fuel pump ( twice)


Spark plugs because the first shop that claimed to change them did not. We have proof of this now and we know it's a fraud fix on the part of that first shop.

After all this the truck ran pretty good and would start up like new except once it warmed up it would start going back real quick. We tried changing a few more sensors. Nothing

The mobile mechanic is great. He tried to help us nonstop but nothing was working.

At this point we now have 4500 dollars in the truck between parts and labor and we are pretty much done with putting money into this but he loves this truck. It's a solid truck with low miles and in outstanding shape. After all he has been through I just want this truck to be fixed once and for all.

We had to put the truck on stand by for a bit because my Marine is going through some medical issues with injuries sustained in combat and a medical board which keeps us basically living at the Naval Hospital nonstop

Finally after a few months we had to bite the bullet and take it to the Ford Dealership. Last option that we wanted to do.

So after months of sitting and trying to sort this mess out ( and in the middle of this My Marine is recovering from wounds sustained in combat) we had it towed into Ford the other day. I pleaded my case to them and gave them all the information I could from notes and everything we have kept on this nightmare.

We have been told by everyone that worked on it we'd have the truck back in great working order and everything would be okay. A year later. Truck is still not fixed. It starts up and runs but within a few minutes it all goes bad.

The code it kept running after all this was Bank 1 actuator. That was fixed. Still nothing. Another code is running too lean. Tried to fix that. Still nothing.

After two days Ford calls us with the news of their diagnostics.

Their answer: Your truck needs an entire new engine and tranny. Engine is gone. Tranny has no overdrive. Estimate for this almost 10k.

This cannot be!! I just can't believe that after all this, the truck that starts up strong and runs for a bit...needs an entire new engine and tranny. They couldn't even give us anything more than that answer. Nothing about why they think the engine and tranny need to be replaced. Just that it needs a new one and for us to come in and put down 3k of a deposit for the parts and they will order them.

I had the truck towed back home that same day.

Can anyone please shed some light or help us figure this out?

Any questions please post them I will do my best go back and get the answers for you ASAP if this doesn't make sense.

I apologize. I'm not a mechanic ( I'm an Nurse) and only posting all the info I have from the notes and such.

We appreciate everyone that can shed any light or help with this.
Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving to all.

 

Have the mobile mechanic pull the FPDM (fuel pump driver module) and check it for corrosion. It's bolted to the crossmember above the spare tire. A new module from Ford is about $120.

That might get it running, but with all the other "issues" I don't know if you are going to be able to get it fixed properly where you are located.

 

Thank you!. Going to pass this along to him in the morning. We appreciate you giving us your time.

 

FPDM was my thoughts as I read through what all has been replaced.

Did the 2nd mobile mechanic replace the chain tensioners? More importantly the gaskets for the tensioners

 

Hi Patman,
Yes, he did replace those parts.

I called Ford to get a better understanding of what they found

Their words: "The engine is not getting any oil pressure and OD is gone in the Tranmission"

My ? is this. How can the engine have no oil pressure at all. It starts up, it drives. It just sort of bogs out some but no knocking at all. It sounds good. It's never thrown that code either.

We just want to make sure it truly needs a whole new engine and transmission after everything.

Thanks for everyone's help. This is distressing and all we want is our truck back on the road.

 

No corrosion was found. I posted an update to Patman from the Ford Dealer. The kind of changed their story a bit now. We are trying to figure out what to do from here. Lots of money to replace an engine and tranny after all the work that has been done and the fact that it's not acting like a truck with a bad engine at all. Very confusing If as they say there is absolutely no oil pressure at all...how is the truck running and driving? It bogs out some but there is no knocking or anything like that.

 

Hi Patman,
Yes, he did replace those parts.

I called Ford to get a better understanding of what they found

Their words: "The engine is not getting any oil pressure and OD is gone in the Transmission"

My ? is this. How can the engine have no oil pressure at all. It starts up, it drives. It just sort of bogs out some but no knocking at all. It sounds good. It's never thrown that code either.

We just want to make sure it truly needs a whole new engine and transmission after everything.

Thanks for everyone's help. This is distressing and all we want is our truck back on the road.

 

I'll tell you what people tell me .get rid of the ford and go buy a hemi dodge.

 

I'd get the other shops that screwed you to refund all the money first... If you take them to court you should be able to get the truck fixed for free afterwards.