On Friday afternoon I ran what I thought was going to be a quick errand. I drove about 5 miles to my pharmacy, got out picked up my prescription and went back outside to go home (took less than 5 minutes). Got in the truck put the key in and NOTHING. the truck would not start, it would just click (I could hear the relays in the fuse panel click). Luckily my dealer's service was still open and I called them. They said maybe the security system was off and asked if I have another key. Well after my wife came and I tried my other two keys, NO JOY. THANK GOD for Ford emergency road side assistance. I called them and the lady asked me to try all the tricks (that I had ALREADY tried), different keys, with the truck out of gear, reset from door keypad, etc. So now she tells me about some mysterious black reset button under the dash to the left of the steering column. If there is a button under there, I would LOVE to know where it is!!!. Oh well so they send a flatbed wrecker and IT HAD TO BE TOWED TO THE DEALER. Luckily my dealer service is open on Saturdays.

I went in early Saturday with my other keys and they said no problem well just reflash the truck, it would take about 20 minutes. Well about 3 hours later I left with a new starter. Geez, 1500 miles and the STARTER goes out, go figure. OUCH. All in all other than the frustration of this happening on a new truck, Ford's emergency roadside assistance was great. I told them my location and the wrecker arrived about 20 minutes later at no charge to me. It comes standard with your 36month/36,000 mile warranty.

 

Happened on my 01 F150, had something to do with the PATS system, and a pin inside coming loose.

 

The "black" button is most likely the fuel pump reset. If the truck is in an accident the fuel pump is designed to shut off to prevent gas leaking. If it is tripped you have to press the button to get your fuel pump working again.

 

That may have been what they were talking about - except those are on the PASSENGER side... no where near the steering column...

 

I know about the fuel pump reset. But even with the fuel pump OFF, the truck should turn over. Mine did NOTHING other than click. I had power, all electrical features of truck worked fine. The dealer service department were scratching their heads. They finally had to trace the wiring all the way to the starter. They did this while on the phone with Ford. It had power all the way to starter, it just would not spin up........ so they replaced it. It REALLY does NOT leave with the warm fuzzys on reliability. What if this happened late at night out in tha' boonies. No matter HOW good the emergency roadside assistance is, it would take a WHILE for help to arrive.

 

The "black button" is for the Ford aftermarket alarm. It is the over-ride button if you don't have the remotes to start the truck or shut the alarm off.

 

That sucks but glad you got it figured out "relatively" painless. I know the feeling. I went years and years never being stranded then this last year I got stranded 3 times (old truck) and had to be towed. First time was a weekend in cold weather, once was at work and once was at a busy intersection. It sucks

Well 3 times was all I could take - hence the reason I have my new F150. Your situation just goes to show you though it can happen to any vehicle. Just a little less likely than with my old (11 year old) truck.

I'm sure you'll have better luck. Just think maybe you got your bad luck out of the way.