What would cause this?

[jmcs23]

Hello,

Just joined this site, glad I found such an informative place for the Expedition community. About 2 months ago we purchased a 2000 Expedition Eddie Bauer Edition with about 110,000 miles on it.

Here's a little history of the vehicle since we bought it...
Soon after we bought it, it was having a P0301 code and you could clearly feel the misfire. So we had the dealership we bought it from fix that problem. From the looks of it, they only replaced the one spark plug. Anyway, the code and the misfire went away.

About a week ago my Fiancee was driving it (I wasn't with her) and it died on her. She says she was going about 35-45MPH and the engine just cut off. She pulled over, removed the keys from the ignition, locked then unlocked the doors with the key fob, and then restarted the vehicle with no problem. Since then, it hasn't died on her again, however she's only driven it about 30 miles or so. There's no service engine soon light on and I had a friend of mine check for any pending codes and there are none.

So, my question is, what would cause the vehicle to just cut off like that and then be able to re-start like nothing happened?

Thanks in advance!

 

[BlueOtter728]

this is a tough situation being an intermittent problem. but my first quesiton would be how the engine died? Did it spit and sputter and try to keep running or just straight cut out (like something electrical just killed the ignition)? figure those questions out and it can point you closer to the source of the problem. I would get with your wife and have her do everything she did the same way before the engine died to try to recreate the problem. Its possible it just had a hiccup in the fuel system and cut out. or could have a plugged up fuel filter. If it selectrical than it could be a list of other things.
Sorry for the long response but figure did try to help if i could.

 

[jmcs23]

She said it just died all of a sudden. She didn't describe any kind of sputtering or anything like that. But then again, she isn't the most observant when driving ;-)

I've driven with her a few times since it happened and tried to see if we could re-create the problem with no luck. I wish I was there when it happened, maybe I would've noticed something she didn't.

I guess we will just have to drive it like normal until something else happens. Especially since there's no service engine light or anything to help pin point any potential problems.

Thanks for the response!

 

[kyle_in_rure]

I've driven a 97 for several years and had it quit like that about 4 separate times in 5 years. I noticed that each time it quit it coincided with me visiting my local Kroger gas station. Each time I used that particular station it would stall at some point. Once while doing around 40 down the road, another while coming to stop at a traffic light. Not sure if there was water in the gas or some other issue, but I have never had it stall any other time.

 

[jmcs23]

I'm not familiar with Kroger. We don't have any of those in my area (Sacramento, California). We do however, have Arco gas stations and they are always the cheapest and I have heard people say they water down their gas and that's how they keep their prices so low. Maybe that's our equivalent to Kroger?

My Fiancee always goes to Arco to get her gas, so maybe the cheap gas is the problem...

On a side note, she said she was driving to work today, going about 50MPH and she said it shifted hard. Unfortunately, once again I was not with her and she isn't very good at describing what happened when it comes to her vehicles. I'm beginning to think it doesn't like her LOL. I'll just have to make sure to drive it as much as possible myself so I can gather more information...

 

[1997SCEBFEX]

if you suspect it's low-grade fuel, get a bottle, or two, of one of the name-brand fuel-system cleaners and run them through a few tanks. you could also have built up "globules" of phase separation caused by the ethanol fuels on the market that will eventually get picked up by the fuel pump and carry them through the system that can induce this phenom.

i'd also highly suggest changing the fuel filter too, if not already.

PanHandler.

 

[jmcs23]

Well... It happened again this morning. But, this time she was sitting idle at a red light when the engine died. Just like last time, she took the key out of the ignition, locked the doors, unlocked the doors, put the key back it and it started right back up with no problem. Still no check engine light :-/

Any more thoughts???

Thanks again!

 

[tojohnso]

Could it be fuel pump? It's located in the fuel tank.

 

[jmcs23]

I'm starting to think it could be fuel system related. I'm going to try to replace the fuel filter first and see what happens.

 

[stamp11127]

It sounds electrical but may be caused by a different failure.

Something to think about, since it has 110,000 miles on it. If you use 55 mph as an average, that fuel pump has run around 2000 hours. Who knows how many times it has been cycled on and off in that period. Same goes for the fuel pump relay.

As a preventative measure I would replace the fuel pump relay, fuel pump and fuel filter at one time. That would take that part of the system out of the equation. I usually change fuel pumps between 125,000 and 150,000 miles - with name brand units. Not the cheap China specials.

Should that not fix the problem, the next items to check would be all electrical connections to the pcm, battery and chassis grounds.

How much fuel is in the tank when it dies?

 

[jmcs23]

Any thoughts on what kind of electrical problem it could be?

I'll look into replacing the fuel pump relay, pump, and filter. I'll probably have to recruit some help since I've never done a relay or pump myself. Any suggestions on any good tutorials on performing this?

To answer your question, I would say there's probably around 1/4 tank when it dies.

Thanks!

 

[EddieH]

Change Fuel Filter!