:censored: 2004 Mountaineer Fail Safe Mode

[ArmyWarrant]

Hey guys, I pulled into my parking spot this morning and my truck stalled on me, no biggie started it again and finished parking shut it off and went into the house. Went out about an hour or so later to leave and it started shut off and got a fail safe mode light that came on. Now all it does is crank and crank and crank and never starts. I am at a loss. I don't have an obd-II scanner, is there anyway to jumper the OBD-II connector like you could do with the OBD-I connectors? I am supposed to be driving this thing to PA to visit my family friday morning and really need to get this figured out. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Thanks Guys,
Chris

[White5.0]

has it been making a loud ticking noise recently while driving it before this happened? almost sounds like a diesel...


if thats the case, your timing chain(s) went. That's what happened to my 2002 explorer. it is VERY common on these engines and IMO ford should have recalled the 4.0L V6 for this. happens to almost every engine before 100k



but if your engine wasnt making a ticking noise, i would say first check all of your fuses. Then try checking to see if you're getting fuel to the injectors. if your not getting fuel, try changing fuel filter, its located on the passenger side of the truck under the rear door i believe. If you are getting fuel then i would try replacing the crankshaft position sensor, they are pretty cheap.

If that doesnt work i would buy one of those cheap tools you can get that you plug your spark plug wire into and it shows you if your getting spark or not...if you do that and youre not getting spark, then your coil is probably bad.

This is the tool im talking about: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=4424

[ArmyWarrant]

No tickicng noise, and its weird after I did about an hour of researching I went back out and it started. I don't know I don't have a warm and fuzzy about driving it to PA Friday. I'm gonna get my buddys scanner and see if it tripped any codes. I was looking into the crank sensor too. I think I need to trade the damn thing in before it quits completely. I hope it lasts until at least after the new year at least. Thanks for the info.

[97LaserRed]

Post a video of it cranking so we have a better idea of what's going on. Like rhino said check fuel and spark. Does it sound like it has compression when cranking? Or just like its spinning the crank and pistons with the valvetrain not moving?

[White5.0]

yeah if it started i would try to get your hands on a code scanner and get the codes

[ArmyWarrant]

Well it started but I made it about 1/2 mile away fromt the house and it died and flashed the "engine Fail Safe Mode" in the information display. I had my buddy bring his scanner and the only hard code I got was

P2106 - Throttle Actuator Assembly - Forced Limited Power.

I Also got a Pending Code of

P0606 - PCM Fault Code.

I did a lil research on the hard fault and one TSB I found said that the TPS needed to be replaced and then reprogram the PCM with the latest update from Ford.

That won't be happening until after the new year. I don't have a spare 250 laying around right now until after the new year. As soon as this thing is running right again its getting traded in!

[sweeney1030]

i have an 02 explorer with 296xxx and have never done anything to it except replace the intake manifold and two injectors, i guess its just the luck of the draw.

[ArmyWarrant]

i guess so lol, its just my luck lately. If it wasnt for bad luck i'd have no luck at all lol

[sweeney1030]

join the club ,sorry to hear hope u get it worked out.

[ArmyWarrant]

nothing some grren backs won't fix lol but this will be the last greenbacks it sees from me. its down the road when its running again lol

[ArmyWarrant]

So I finally got to check this thing out and read that the crankshaft position sensor could cause this same issue. I stopped and grabbed a cheap replacement from advance and when I was taking it off I looked up at the belt and seen it was riding on the rubber from the center of the harmonic balancer. The actual pulley separated from the center and the belt somehow didn't fly off and was riding on the rubber. The pulley had slid back and rubbed a 3/8" groove into the crank sensor. I am gonna pick up a new balancer thursday and hopefully it will be all good after that.

[2001GTTT]

i have the same truck...mines out of commission at the moment : (

[ArmyWarrant]

I hope that this harmonic balancer screwing up didn't cause any other damage besides the crank sensor. I don't want to put to much into this thing just to sell it.

[INSANELY CRAZY]

hopefully that fixes it... didnt realize you were in town over xmas, was talking to chris (hoss) and he said you stopped by. next time your in ill stop by.

[ArmyWarrant]

I hope so too, it had been a while since I had seen Hoss. I am gonna try and come back up to the area in a few weeks. I am gonna be trying to get my mustang back down to Va from my parents house in WV.