I was cruising on the highway at about 50 mph the other day checking out the flooded river near me when my 2005 SCab 5.4 Auto trans went to idle and the trans seemed to quit pulling, I coasted through the roundabout in downtown Whitesbug, GA and coasted into a church parking lot. The orange wrench was lit on the dash.

Let the truck sit a few mins with engine off, then it cranked normally and drove with no problem. Called Ford dealer and he tells me that its probably a bad electronic throttle body which will cost $500 to replace, or possibly a bad potentiometer at the accelerator pedal.He said the early model electronic TB's have been having problems but that Ford has not issued a recall on them.

Anyone else have any issue like this? Truck is an '05 with 36k on it.

 

Until the computer is scanned, all anyone can do is guess.

 

Go to your local AutoZone and have the codes pulled, That will most likely tell you the problem.

 

Went to Advance thinking I could do that, they told me their scanner will only read codes from CEL conditions, thats a different light. He said Ford computer would have to read it.

 

The wrench light goes through the pcm/cel and can be read with any scanner. You most likely will have to replace the throttlebody. It is simple to replace. I would just buy the part from the dealer and install it yourself. Save you a hundred bucks or so. What happens is the throttle position sensors don't correspond to each other and the truck goes into "limp" mode. That means that it will only idle until you shut it off. Only thing is, this could happen again at ANY time. Kind of a bummer if you're on the interstate at about 70mph and the truck just suddenly idles.

 

Yeah, I think its enough of a "bummer" to where Ford should be required to issue a recall on these. What if I had been on 285 around Atlanta in rush hour traffic with 80,000 pound big rigs all around me when it decided to fail on me? Wonder how many injuries/deaths have been caused by F150's suddenly losing power like this? Big time safety problem.

 

The pcm relies on the tp info from the pedal to send the proper voltage to the throttlebody and looks for similar voltage at the sensor on the t/body. If they don't match, the pcm goes into limp mode, also known as fail safe mode. Like I said, replace it yourself, disconnect the three plugs on the pcm (located just to the right of the battery), and let it sit for a few minutes. This will erase the learned strategy of the pcm. Hook it all up, start up the engine with all accessories off and let it idle for a minute, then put it in gear and idle for a minute, back in neutral, turn on the ac and idle for a minute, then put it in gear with ac on for about a minute. This will let the pcm relearn idle speed for various situations. Good luck.

 

Now is not a good time for me to spend that kind of money. I'm hoping it was a "one time" event and won't happen again. I can avoid driving this vehicle in heavy traffic situations until my confidence returns in it(if ever?).

 

fixed

 

Two things to consider. You really should get the fuel injectors checked as Ford issued an extended warranty on them for the 2005s( assuming you have the 5.4) They got a batch of defective injectors. next, the MAF and throttle body need to be removed and cleaned thoroughly. If that doesn't take care of it, then have the plugs been changed?

 

clean your throttle body. then drive it to see if it reoccurs. you might save yourself a couple bucks and can put that towards the fuel pump driver module. that will leave you walking for sure.

 

If you determine that you need a new TB, check out Ebay. I bought a "take-off" unit which looked like brand new for $165 to the door! Installed it and it works perfect ! Just my .02....Sellers name is: specialtyengineparts; it comes complete with the throttle plate motor and the TPS sensor.

 

None that I've heard of. Most of the time when people have issues they pull over to the side of the highway. With the millions and millions of these trucks on the road, if it were a major problem, we would have heard about it by now.... kinda like the Toyota gas pedal issue.

So just keep on driving a rig that could fail at any time and there'd be nobody to blame but yourself for letting an issue continue that's given you plenty of warning. I guess that's how y'all do things in WV huh? Last time I was there I was told not to drive at night because thats when all the drunk locals are on the roads.

- NCSU

 

Yes !! My 2005 SCab 5.4 auto..FX4 had similiar items as you listed..With only 51 K on it and I had bought it from a dealer, they replaced the transmission for $00.00 my cost,...I also thought it might had been the ETC at the time... well, so far so good..

 

Had the same issue as you, had my TB cleaned along with a plug change and no problems since. They told me that the TB is covered up to 75,000 miles, and that mine was "sluggish" kinda wish it was replaced would of only had to pay a $100 deductible.