2003 EB stalling, 2wd, 5.4 - nightmare

[Hamfisted]

They're integral to the alternator. A new Motorcraft 130 amp one is only $145 at Rock Auto though.


https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog...411119,electrical,alternator+/+generator,2412

 

[1955moose]

2002 was the last year of a replaceable voltage regulator. Your stalling problem is not your alternator though. If it were, you'd see the charge needle drop, and you wouldn't be able to start back up so easily. I'd look into the fuel pump relay connection. If the solder is weak on the relay, it can and will cause your problem. Always kills me how Ford and other manufacturer take a great fuse box design and screw it up. The only biggie was the sealing of windshield from Ford, on the first edition. Apparently, they used a mini 10amp relay for the fuel pump, instead of a heavy 30 amp one like 97-02 did. Well as the saying goes, it's always something!

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[RichardH]

You guys are going to laugh and cringe at the same time. I just got off the phone with my service adviser.

He said, Rich, I'll be brutally honest with you. When they did the alternator harness rebuild the other week, they didn't tighten a nut for a connection. It came down to a loose nut. At a dealership. Alternator is fine, it came down to tightening a very simple nut. It was only hand tightened and lost connection.



This deserves 2 emojies....

Blew another $30 on Lyft for two rides.

Thank you all for the feedback on repair. I'm still going to look into the PCB as mentioned before...

 

[Hamfisted]

Really ? That's about par for a dealership repair these days ....

 

[RichardH]

Really ? That's about par for a dealership repair these days ....

No joke, but I smell something fishy maybe.

If it was a loose nut, why wasn't it ready today? They said tomorrow about 3pm. Does not compute. They must have screwed up on something else. I did gripe about the inline fuse without the cover. Maybe they are replacing that too.

I better get a free car wash and vacuum out of it.

If you think the dealer was bad, I won't bore you yet with the three stories of the other three shops I used to try and cure this. Yet.

I'll get my car out of the dealer tomorrow and report back.

Only explanation I can fathom is he did say they want to take for an extended test drive and I gave the nod, over the phone. Drive it all day. Fix it darn it.

 

[RichardH]

OK, the saga continues. Truck stalled on me several times within span of 15 minutes. Odd, CEL is on but the scan says P1000, more driving needed or something like that. CEL is on.

I have driven at least 200 miles since I got truck back from the dealer so it should be reading codes.

I'll chew them out tomorrow morning. This is getting crazy.

Third time to service for the same problem.

 

[riphip]

Feel for you, glad I've not had any of your problems. Really like my 2004EB

 

[RichardH]

Feel for you, glad I've not had any of your problems. Really like my 2004EB

Thanks.

I came up with this great idea to have them give me one of their used cars as a loaner. Service Mgr. said the GM would never go for that.

He did say they will reimburse me for my rental car. Only good thing coming from that dealer so far. And they didn't wash it the other day, lol.

I met with the Service Manger and their Master Mechanic/Foreman for about half hour describing my experience there and the symptoms of the stalling. Service Mgr. expressed he had a much better understanding of the issue now.

Let's see if they can do what a Ford Dealer service department should do - fix it right.

BTW, I also do really like my 2003 EB, 2wd, w/ LSD. It is great on the freeway. Nice 5.4 too.

They have to fix this stalling and I'll be happy as a clam under three feet of water at high tide...

 

[RichardH]

I forgot to mention that they said my truck had a mix of two variants of the this year model build. What does that have to do with it? I have no idea. They were saying there should be some fuse in the junction box (I forgot the position #), but it wasn't there - so it's a Frankenstein factory build. That's really weird. It's in between two builds.

I'm glad I went in armed with some knowledge about these trucks and these types of problems, and thanks for the input.

It's got 146k miles so it made it this far, no reason it shouldn't go further for several years.

 

[Plati]

I forgot to mention that they said my truck had a mix of two variants of the this year model build. What does that have to do with it? I have no idea. They were saying there should be some fuse in the junction box (I forgot the position #), but it wasn't there - so it's a Frankenstein factory build. That's really weird. It's in between two builds.

I'm glad I went in armed with some knowledge about these trucks and these types of problems, and thanks for the input.

It's got 146k miles so it made it this far, no reason it shouldn't go further for several years.

I think what they meant is the fuse box (or whatever its called) by passenger footwell. I'm no expert (by a longshot) but I recall reading many times that there were two different assemblies during the year and you have to get the right one. Bdrk knew but he's not around to clarify anymore. RIP

If you searched the Forum you would find the answer to this. Lots of info about that on this Forum. Unless I'm off track wrong which is possible or likely.