Calling all master Ford mechanics!

About a week ago my 97' f150 4x4 4.6 died in the middle of the the road. To be truthful, it died in the middle of a busy intersection. It just stalled, as if I turned the ignition switch off. I tried cranking the engine with no result. As I got out to see what was the matter I got into an (altercation) with one of our %$#@* drivers here in Jersey. That's another story. Any way I thought it was the fuel pump because I could not hear it cycle on after switching the ignition on. I checked all the appropraite fuses and still nothing. I had the truck towed to a garage, it took them 6 hours to find the problem. They found a bad 30amp ignition fuse. When they tried to replace it it just blew again. After taking the Electrical-harness apart they isolated the trouble to bad radio supressors that mount on the coilpack. They look like little grey plugs that take a hot lead in and then feed into the coilpack. Has anyone else ever had this problem. I tried to find a similair problem on Fords bulletin board but came up blank. This is a $13.00 part or $26.00 for both. What caused this to happen. Will it happen again? Should I do anything?
Mike

 

pstmn1,

Doubt that both of them shorted at the same time. All it takes is one of them to short out to blow the fuse. They may have changed them both just as a precaution. They serve to stabalize the voltage to the primairy coil circuit which, if I am not mistaken helps reduce radio interferance caused by the coils constant on and off function. Not enough current is allowed to pass through to blow the fuse. When they short closed the full amperage goes to ground and blows the fuse. It most likely will never happen again so don't worry. If it does I would suspect a short to ground in the circuit. If your truck ever stalls like that again then just unplug them and the truck should run. If not the circuit is shorted to ground.

Regards

Jean Marc Chartier
Regards

Jean Marc Chartier