Central Junction Box - 2004 Expedition - Casting Defect?

[Michael Hunt]

Hey guys! JR service adviser in training from Oregon, here. We have a 2004 Expedition in our shop right now. Having issues with getting dying, getting fuel, etc.. Our techs have condemned the CJB. This is not the first time we have dealt with this, however this is the first time we were able to get parts that were yet to be made obsolete. We ordered the CJB from a local dealership, $342 and some change. The port for the fuel pump connector has a bit of plastic in the guide, you can see it in pic #2 posted here. We assumed this was an updated part, or bad casting. We exchanged the old/new one for another new one, only to find the same casting issue. After calling around and asking the right questions, I was able to get a parts guy to text me a pic of what he had in stock. That will be pic #3. He confirmed this was not an updated part #, and is very sure himself this is just bad casting. The absolute reason for this post is, I'm very curious as to how often this happens? Is it normal to get bad casted parts from the dealer? Does Ford update parts without letting the techs & dealers know? I'm just so lost and confused as to how this could happen. Any ideas?

Pic #2- Original CJB
Pic #1- Replacement from dealer
Pic #3- Correct part, from another dealer

 

[stamp11127]

I would expect that to be part of a plug that broke off and they returned the cjb when the problem still exsisted on another vehicle.
The way the casting dies are made that type of problem is almost impossible. Usually the damage to the die is severe and very noticable. The usual casting errors are from reduced plastic during the injection process leaving areas missing or excessive flashing on the edges.