Troubleshoot this one.....

While driving at 60 mph with the cruise control on, my engine (5.4)abruptly died, and the odometer showed dashes in the display. I immediately pulled over to the shoulder, still rolling to catch an offramp off of the freeway if needed, put it in neutral, turned off the ignition and then while still rolling, turned the ignition to start and it fired back up again. Shifted into 'D' and all was well.

Has anyone had this happen or would you know what would cause this?

 

Have you got that Superchip in there good and tight? If that dosen't seem to be the problem maybe a trip to the service dept. or a code scan would help.
The chip not being in good is the only thing that I can think of. Unless there is a problem under the hood.
Let us know what you come up with.
Tom

 

Wittom,
The SuperChip is in tight and solid. I did not get a "CHECK ENGINE" light, so I assume no codes would show up if the dealer ran diagnostics. I might try to check for codes myself through the odometer though.

 

I had that happen on my old Y2K truck when I had the chip.. The chip might have wiggled loose, make sure it's in there nice and tight. As much as I hat eto say this, make sure it's taped in place too.

 

If the chip is in tight check all of your battery cable connections.

 

have the dealer check your igntion switch, this happened to my 97 and as i was pulling over to the side of the road i reached down and bumped the key and the dash lights came back on.

 

That happened to me with my superchip, pull it out and reclean the prongs on the computer, put it back in and hold it with some duct tape. It hasn't happened since.

 

It sounds like a vapor lock. I had that happen in one f my vehicles, a 1995 Explorer.

 

1. Your F150 has Maxifuses under the hood in the Power Distribution Center. Check the one that comes from the battery and feeds the IGN circuit. Remove it, check for corrosion or dirty contacts. Make sure the female receptacles that the fuse plugs into are not loose or burned.
2. Try this at home, I would not do this while driving, but if you want to here is something to try.
Ford had lots of Ign Switch problems in the early 90's Aerostar, F and E series and the Tempo & Escort cars.
We would start the engine, then slowly move the ign switch toward the off position. Sometimes it took several tries, but we would find that we could get the engine to stall long before reaching the off position. The contacts in the ign switch were bad.
Given the fact yours is new, the switch may need to be adjusted.
Hope this helps.
Mike C.

 

I have had all sorts of electrical failures in the last two years. I troubleshoot them and find the culprit to be the fusebox(everytime!) I had a radio that would cut off and on,wipers that would just quit working,and several other problems. The usual problem is loose fuses. Once I even found a fuse on the floor,lol. This might be your trouble,worth a look anyway. Good luck,,,,,98

 

Thanks everyone for your input and advice. I did check the SuperChip and it is firmly in place with tape. Tomorrow I will check the underhood fuse box and pull the appropriate ones out and check for corrosion. I'll also check out the ignition switch and do as Mike Chiodetti recommended. I'll let you know what I find. Thanks again.....