04 XLT Stopped midway and started again

[raseshkumar]

Hi,

I just bought an 04 XLT from a private seller. It runs beautifully, and gives a good mileage of 14/21 city/Hwy. It only has 16K on it. I am driving it to work and I drove it to central Jersey (60 miles one way) yesterday. But last night it just stopped mid-road and the 'Check Gauge' and 'Service Engine Soon' light came on. The engine just died while the car was running and the car came to a halt. All gauges were in their center (so, I guess no problem there). When I tried to start the car by turning the key, nothing happened. No sound, nothing.

Then I called AAA and put on the blinkers. Opened the hood, couldnt figure out what to do, so closed the hood, then came back in to the car (all this took me 10 mins) and turned the key again and it started fine. Both 'Check Gauge' and 'Service Engine Soon' light were gone. And it is running fine since. I am totally awed as to what happened last night. I have a pregnant wife who also drives this car and I wud surely like to know what happened so that I can correct it and this never happens again.

The car is still under factory warranty and I took it to the local ford service station and they checked it and said that everything looks fine (they cudnt figure out what went wrong with the car last night).

Any suggestions are welcome.

Rasesh Kumar

 

[awdrocks]

Sounds like my friend!!! He was taken a shower the other day and just fainted and went into convulsions... doctors have no idea what happened. Scary stuff.

Maybe get a DTC reader and if it happens again check what code the check engine light sends.

Hi,

I just bought an 04 XLT from a private seller. It runs beautifully, and gives a good mileage of 14/21 city/Hwy. It only has 16K on it. I am driving it to work and I drove it to central Jersey (60 miles one way) yesterday. But last night it just stopped mid-road and the 'Check Gauge' and 'Service Engine Soon' light came on. The engine just died while the car was running and the car came to a halt. All gauges were in their center (so, I guess no problem there). When I tried to start the car by turning the key, nothing happened. No sound, nothing.

Then I called AAA and put on the blinkers. Opened the hood, couldnt figure out what to do, so closed the hood, then came back in to the car (all this took me 10 mins) and turned the key again and it started fine. Both 'Check Gauge' and 'Service Engine Soon' light were gone. And it is running fine since. I am totally awed as to what happened last night. I have a pregnant wife who also drives this car and I wud surely like to know what happened so that I can correct it and this never happens again.

The car is still under factory warranty and I took it to the local ford service station and they checked it and said that everything looks fine (they cudnt figure out what went wrong with the car last night).

Any suggestions are welcome.

Rasesh Kumar

 

[GregV8]

Same thing happened to me a few times, I think I even posted about it in another thread.
You didn't need to wait 10 minutes. Mine wouldn't restart either but then I pulled the key out, then back in and ta-da! it started.
I have no idea what caused it but made two observations:
-in all cases I was not pushing the gas. Just kinda let it roll, it was a slight downhill.
-it always happened on the same piece of road (there is a military building next to it , I was even thinking I must have crossed their microwave link which EMP'd my truck

 

[raseshkumar]

Happened Again, Oil Pressure Gage was at 'Low' end

It happened again yesterday. And 'GregV8' as you said it happened when I was not pushing gas at all, the truck was sliding downhill on its own and then the engine stopped all by itself. But this time I noticed that the oil pressure gage was at the low end. Looks like either the oil is low (stupid me, I havent checked the oil levels yet, will do that when I reach back home 2nite) OR the pressure measurer is faulty. And yes, I did not have to wait for 10 mins. I brought out my key, put it back again in a min and the car started.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

 

[awdrocks]

Is your check engine light on when its stalled? If so im telling you try and read the code.

 

[GregV8]

Will the code be "remembered" in the system after I restart the car?
i.e. if I go to the dealer the next day and -obviously- cannot reproduce the problem, can they still read out yesterday's failure?

 

[jsbaker]

I may be on the wrong track here but if taking the key out and putting it back in lets the car start again it sounds to me like something is going on with the PATS system. I am thinking bad thinking bad pats module or whatever module controls it or some kind of interference since Greg said his has done in the same exact spot more than once. When yours happened again was it in the ame area as last.

 

[tipdrill]

This happened to me once in an '04. Had cruise control on and was rolling fine. Next thing i know the power is gone and the same two lights you were talking about came on. Hasn't happened since tho.

-subscribing-

 

[awdrocks]

If the check engine light disappears prob not. You need to check it on the spot... before you take out the key and restart.... while the check engine light is still on.

Will the code be "remembered" in the system after I restart the car?
i.e. if I go to the dealer the next day and -obviously- cannot reproduce the problem, can they still read out yesterday's failure?

 

[BWilliams]

I may be on the wrong track here but if taking the key out and putting it back in lets the car start again it sounds to me like something is going on with the PATS system. I am thinking bad thinking bad pats module or whatever module controls it or some kind of interference since Greg said his has done in the same exact spot more than once. When yours happened again was it in the ame area as last.

I had thought the same thing -- the PATS might be cutting off the engine if it can't detect the coded key. If the problem is always on a downhill, maybe either a broken wire cutting power to the PATS module, or a short that's disabling PATS until the key's removed?

 

[GregV8]

yeah that's an interesting point... I will try to examine it next time it stops. Must say hasn't happened for a while now. (Not since I put in HID lamps: )

 

[raseshkumar]

awdrocks, it seems difficult to check the code as I don't think the mechanic will be able to reproduce the problem easily.

jsbaker/BWilliams, if it is a problem with PATS, should the Check Engine light and the Check Gage light come ON?

 

[awdrocks]

awdrocks, it seems difficult to check the code as I don't think the mechanic will be able to reproduce the problem easily.

yeah I mean if you have like an Xcal or some other type of device that can read and clear codes for you.

 

[jsbaker]

If the car dies for any reason, pats, out of fuel, battery issues I believe the lights are going to come on. The engine light is only coming on to tell you there is an issue there ( umm yeah it died) and the check gauges light is coming on just to tell you to check the gauges. I don't think either of them have anything to do with your problem, they are a result of the engine dieing. If you have another key I would try it for a while. A friend had an Isuzu Axiom that had similar issues, she took it to the dealer and all they had to do was clean the key blade to fix the problem.

 

[raseshkumar]

Thanks jsbaker. I did the same thing. The previous owner gave me the second key which is basically brand new, never used. So, now I am using this new key and I have another appointment with the Ford servicing station for this Friday to relook at this issue. Lets see if they are able to determine something. I will post the findings next week.

 

[raseshkumar]

It happened again (third time)

I have been using the new key since the last engine stoppage and the problem did not occur since then. Today, in the morning, I went to the Ford Service station (coz I had an appointment with them) and asked them if they can identify what the problem was, and they said all they can do is to run a diagnostics on the vehicle and let me know. But then I asked the guy at the counter "since the chances are that the problem would not occur again during diagnostics, do you suggest that I spend $100 (deductible under my warranty coverage) when the stoppage has not happened since I started using the new key." He said that "may be it was the key" and I should not spend $100 until the car stops even with the new key. So, I did not drop my car off at the service station and headed for the train station where I park my car while commuting to work. Coincidently I had to drive thru the same road where the car had stopped once earlier. That part of the road is a little downhill and curves to the right as well. And as soon as I hit that path the car stopped again. I took the key out, put it back again and started the car and turned back to the service station right away. Since I was using a new key this time (though it had a lil black liquid substance on it from inside of the keyhole) this was indicative of some other problem. And my problem now seems very similar to what 'GregV8' faced. Same spot, downhill, not pushing gas much.

God knows what the problem is. Since, it is not something that is easily re-producible, I am not too optimistic of the money that I am gonna be spending and the efforts Ford Service guys are gonna be putting in today. Lets see what comes out of it, I will update the thread when I hear beck from Ford.

 

[GregV8]

Thanks for the update.
My engine didn't shut down for a long time. I drive THAT road very often and everything is fine. touch wood
Now, the only difference since the last occurence is that I installed HID lamps. Why is this interesting? Because it's a 35W system as opposed to standard 55W halogens. I remember clearly that when my engine stopped, the first warning light that came on was "check charging system". And EVERY time my engine stopped the headlights were ON.

If your "magic road" is not far from you I suggest you go for a few test runs with and without headlights. Maybe also with additional current load (AC, etc.)

Because when you're not pushing the gas and the car is coasting, the charging current is obviously very low. Maybe it got to a point where the car decided "OK I'm not getting enough electricity, emergency shut down".

just some food for thought


Greg

 

[raseshkumar]

Spoke with Ford Service

GregV8, I just spoke with the Ford Service guy, and told him the points you mentioned (electrical system), I also told him that the left side break light had some water in it from the rain and that cud have shot something in the electrical system. He said, first any problem (specifically short-circuit kind of a thing) in the electrical system should not stall the engine. Second, if something was getting shot then we would see something not working at all (which we don't). He is still looking into the problem, hasn't found anything yet. Will update the post once I finally hear from him.

 

[raseshkumar]

Ford couldn't find the problem

Just heard back from Ford Service. They ran all sort of diagnostics but could not find the problem (coz the engine never stopped when they were running it). I don't know what to do with this.

Any suggestions?

 

[jsbaker]

SO check this one out talk about dejavu.

We stopped at the bank on the way home, went through the drive though. We have not been to this bank in this explorer (2005) before today but had been there plenty of times in my 02. We go to leave the drive through and pull out on the street get a little ways down the street and the person driving presses the cruise button and then the damn car dies. He finally got pulled over to the side of the road and stopped and was able to start it right back up. We went a ways and tried the cruise again after taking off from a complete stop and the car did not die but this whole thing is just to weird.