I have a 01 Screw with 5.4 and I had just turned a corner and headed down a road doing about 20 and the engine surged twice and then quit. Coasted to a stop, threw it in neutral and it started right back up with no apparent problems, went another 100 yds and it did the same thing, only this time on start up the "Service Engine Soon" light came on and is still on? Was able to drive truck home and parked it. Made it home without any more problems. It has 30k miles on it. Anybody had this happen??? Lucky it is still under warranty!!! Just want some ideas when I call the dealer in the morning.

Thanks

 

I am going to say fuel pump. Normally they never come back to life after they quit. However you said it surged before it died. Normally a surge is related to a lean condition. Let us know.

 

Just another guess,

Do you have any type of performance chip installed like a superchip? If so if it comes loose, or poor conection that could cause your truck to stall out and act funny.

 

I'm with 01 XLT Sport on this one. If you have a chip it is a connection issue there. As anything been done to the truck lately ie: alarm/stereo install, or any other install or maintence. COuld have knocked something loose.
If not then it sounds like a power realted issue. Something important is either loosing connection or grounding out. I would say have the codes checked just to see what it is. Also, have the battery load tested, ALT, and all wires checked.
I hope it's something simple for ya, because I know how much of a pain electrical probs can be.

I thought I had problems the other night when none of the interior lights came on (dome or door lights). Next day they worked fine, I guess the switch had just frozen closed and then thawed out.

 

I have a 2002 5.4L. I believe I have piston slap also.
When its cold the motor has a slight knocking noise at 1500-1700 rpm in nuetral.
Driving down the road there is a slight knocking sound for a couple of miles when you are putting a strain on the motor. After a couple of miles the sound goes away. Other that that this motor runs well so I am not going to take it in. I would be really torqued if a new motor had bigger problems.

 

Could be water in the fuel freezeing and plugging the fuel filter. This is common when a vehicle sits for a few days with a poor quality gas in freezing temps. I'm assuming that its been below freezing. Have you changed the fuel filter? I would reset the computer (disconnect the battery), change the filter, add some gas additive (stp or something) and then go for a test drive. If the fuel pressure sensor detected a low pressure (plugged line), the light will come on. By clearing the line and resetting the computer, you should be all set. If the light comes on / the truck stalls then something else is awry. Good Luck!

 

I have been meaning to post, but I have been busy with the holidays coming up. I bought it to the Ford Dealer the next day. My Hi-perf chip had come loose and erased part of the memory in the computer. The dealership said they have seen the problem before. They reprogrammed the computer and it has been running great ever since. Better yet they covered the reprogramming under warranty! Thanks for all the help!

 

Did you check to see if you have any gas in the tank???

 

sxmax:

"My Hi-perf chip had come loose and erased part of the memory in the computer. The dealership said they have seen the problem before."

I could very well be wrong here, if so someone please correct me. I don't think its possible that part of the program can be erased by the chip coming loose. If that was true I would "think" your truck wouldn't run at all, or completely crappy until it was fixed. What I am saying is if some of the program is gone, it is gone period. The only thing I can think of is they used that as an excuse to get some money from Ford.

It is great to hear that you got your problem corrected.

I can basically explain what happens when your chip comes loose. The chip itself, as you know, contains a performance program. When it's pluged in it over ride the factory program. That is done by some of the pins on the chip jumping the factory program, or so the computer don't see it but rather the program in the chip. When the chip is loose enough but not out completely there are still some pins in and others that are out or not making good contact. So the computer sees neither the factory or performance program thus your truck stops running due to the computer not getting the inputs/outputs it is expecting to see from the program. That is why I personally don't believe that your chip coming loose erased some of the factory program. The factory program is contained in a chip and can not be erased or edited without a tool to program it. The worst thing I could ever think of happening due to the chip coming loose is blowing a chip on the factory computer and that would have to be replaced not reprogramed.

Again, I could be wrong, and would be very interested on what Mike from superchips, who is usally in the computer chips forum has to say about it.

 

Make sure the connectors are cleaned off well enough, and then tape that sucker in there. If it happened once it could happen again. Just my opinion,,,,98


I'm with 01 XLT on the partial memory erasure, I don't think that can happen??