Tow Vehicle Down Again

[HangOutdoors]

Unbelievable...... Finally it looks like a good day to go fishing tomorrow morning, after the repeated 11 days we have had of heat and storms, and during the day today when I was going up to the store I started up the truck and the Sync screen went black, All it would blow is hot air on full and the display and gauges would turn off and then back on with all warning lights briefly. Then every 8 seconds they would do this again.

Saw some corrosion on one battery terminal, not much, and the battery looked like the OEM original one so I replaced the battery with a nice new one and cleaned the battery terminals. Checked the fuses all good. Still the same thing is happening.

The odd thing is everything else in the truck runs fine and it drives fine. All other electronics work, doors, windows, etc. Just the Sync is black, the Heater is on full Hot Heat through defrost vents, no lights on the climate controls and the gauges come on and go off after 8 seconds and repeats.

Really makes me want to get a new SUV but they have lost their minds with prices and if I did, I would definitely have no chance of a boat change.

If anyone has seen this before or has any advice, let me know. I have been nosing around all afternoon, but not sure what I was looking for.

Otherwise it will get dropped off at the Dealer on Monday for warranty work (at least I hope it is), where ever I can get an appointment. It is probably something simple. Really miss my F-150, never had an issue.

2017 Ford Expedition Limited
84,000 miles.

 

[watdog]

Tried this?

 

[HangOutdoors]

Thanks. I just tried and it didnt work or do anything. Was very hopeful though.

 

[octavio3311]

You say that she starts and drives fine. Right? How far away from the lake are you.

 

[HangOutdoors]

20 miles or so. The problem is, what if it is just the beginning of something bigger electrically and I go down while towing the boat, or the boat electric brakes don't work or something. No gauges, no speedometer, no A/C. Also what if it won't start when I need to pull out of the water.

SMH...

 

[octavio3311]

20 miles or so. The problem is, what if it is just the beginning of something bigger electrically and I go down while towing the boat, or the boat electric brakes don't work or something. No gauges, no speedometer, no A/C. Also what if it won't start when I need to pull out of the water.

SMH...

I completely get it. Our East Coast boating season is so short as it is - tow vehicles issues are not f’n needed. It just adds to the frustrations. Luckily for me - I’m 1/4 mile from my ramp, and we have 3 tow vehicles. My Chevy Colorado (7200lbs capacity) my wife’s Subie (3500lbs) and my daughter’s MB GLK (6800lbs). Of course I’m not pulling it with the Subie. But if something were to happen to my truck, I am fully prepared to yank my daughters keys. I bought it, I insure it, I maintain it.
Yeah yeah - I bought my girl an MB. Haven’t heard the end of that 1 from my buddies.
But Whenever I buy a vehicle, I make sure the bitch comes with a tow hitch.

 

[HangOutdoors]

Admiral has an Acadia so without hitch, even so not going to be able to pull the boat.

On the Ford Expedition Forums, someone mentioned that they think one of my Grounds is lifting or having issues. They mentioned to do a Voltage Drop Test. I have multi meters, I just never did one and I am not sure where to do it to track down which negative is having an issue.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[Dixemon]

I've had similar issue with my z71. Most the time wonky stuff starts happening it is s
A bad ground either loose or chaffing in to something. I had a main ground going from battery box down tk engine block routed in such a way that it had chaffed through on the strut stud in the engine bay. Once I isolated that I haven't had a problem since. Also it the terminal ends are corroded it will play hell with the computers. Check all your grounds, chase them to where they go and make sure they are tight and not rubbing through on anything. My .02

 

[HangOutdoors]

@Dixemon Thank you. Sound Advice. I watched a couple of Video's on how to use my multi meter on a Voltage Drop Test on the Positive and Negative wires as well. Think I will check the terminals and wires with the VD Test first. If that looks good, I will hunt down all the negative cables, which I looked for diagram but can't really find one I can read, and see if I see anything evident, rubbing or loose per your recomendation. If not than I will test battery negative post with VD Test to each negative end to see if it shows a negative drop.

If not of that works or shows me something, Last but not least, I will drive the thing into the Detroit River and go find another tow vehicle

I will say working on my boat is dream compared to the truck...

 

[RobbieO]

Unbelievable...... Finally it looks like a good day to go fishing tomorrow morning, after the repeated 11 days we have had of heat and storms, and during the day today when I was going up to the store I started up the truck and the Sync screen went black, All it would blow is hot air on full and the display and gauges would turn and then back on with all warning lights briefly. Then every 8 seconds they would do this again.

Saw some corrosion on one battery terminal, not much, and the battery looked like the OEM original one so I replaced the battery with a nice new one and cleaned the battery terminals. Checked the fuses all good. Still the same thing is happening.

The odd thing is everything else in the truck runs fine and it drives fine. All other electronics work, doors, windows, etc. Just the Sync is black, the Heater is on full Hot Heat through defrost vents, no lights on the climate controls and the gauges come on and go off after 8 seconds and repeats.

Really makes me want to get a new SUV but they have lost their minds with prices and if I did, I would definitely have no chance of a boat change.

If anyone has seen this before or has any advice, let me know. I have been nosing around all afternoon, but not sure what I was looking for.

Otherwise it will get dropped off at the Dealer on Monday for warranty work (at least I hope it is), where ever I can get an appointment. It is probably something simple. Really miss my F-150, never had an issue.

2017 Ford Expedition Limited
84,000 miles.

I don’t know what the failure is, but I do know the climate control goes full defrost/full heat when there is a malfunction. It does that for safety. See if you can find the fuse for the sync and do a reset.

 

[motomandan]

20 miles or so. The problem is, what if it is just the beginning of something bigger electrically and I go down while towing the boat, or the boat electric brakes don't work or something. No gauges, no speedometer, no A/C. Also what if it won't start when I need to pull out of the water.

SMH...

The only thing electrically that would effect the "Surge" brakes would be the reverse brake bypass solenoid. Easily bypassed using the supplied lockout key.

 

[HangOutdoors]

I don’t know what the failure is, but I do know the climate control goes full defrost/full heat when there is a malfunction. It does that for safety. See if you can find the fuse for the sync and do a reset.

Checked the fuses they look good. Heading out to it with a Multimeter now to poke around.

 

[Fordman]

Checked the fuses they look good. Heading out to it with a Multimeter now to poke around.

Sorry I just saw this thread. 99% of the time it is a bad apim. That's the module bolted to the back of the touch screen. They run usually between $400-$700 for the part alone and usually charge around 2 hours to replace and program. Last thing you can try is unplug positive and negative battery ends and leave them unhooked for 10 minutes. This does a full power reset. Sometimes it brings the apim back to life, it's worth a shot anyway. Let me know if you have any questions about these. We replace them all the time. The first generation of sync 3 had the most apim failures.

 

[RobbieO]

Checked the fuses they look good. Heading out to it with a Multimeter now to poke around.

What I meant was remove it for a few minutes and reinstall and see if the sync resets. I had mine overheat on my 2015 Ford Edge because it was sitting in the sun and got too hot. I got lucky, it came back to life. I've had issues in all my sync cars (Fusion, Edge, Explorer)

 

[HangOutdoors]

Ok here is the update and where I am at right now.

This morning while it was cooler out I went outside and started the truck. All the gauges came on and the Sync come on. I sat there and waited. Everything kept working. Except for the radio and the navigation which said no GPS.

I shut off the truck and used a multimeter to check the battery, and drop tested all the positive and negative cables I could find. Everything came out fine. So I started the truck up again and the gauges are fine and the Sync comes on except for the radio and navigation, no GPS, again.

I go out to the battery and remove the negative and positive cable and wait 10 minutes. I put the cables back on and restarted the truck. This time everything came on and the radio and GPS navigation worked. All gauges and climate control working as before. So I figure I am going to run it on the freeway and back and then over some rough road. Passed with flying colors. No issues. Then I took it through the JAX car wash, and brought it home, everything works fine.

Yesterday it was close to 100 degrees with 80% humidity and the truck was sitting in the bright sun. Maybe something overheated or condensation, etc.

I am not convinced things are good, as things in my life don't magically FIX themselves ever. I would have rather found out or seen the problem.

So I think I may just call the dealer tomorrow morning and get an appointment for them to run diagnostics and drive it till then. I have the full extended premium warranty so hopefully if they find something, it will be covered. If not I can determine what I want to do, depending on what it is. Although I will probably just end up paying the diagnostic fee and they will tell me that everything is working fine. We will see.

Perhaps I was not meant to go fishing today...... Storms will be rolling in soon, meh. Will finish painting and stuff in one of the rooms the Admiral wants done...

 

[RobbieO]

Ok here is the update and where I am at right now.

This morning while it was cooler out I went outside and started the truck. All the gauges came on and the Sync come on. I sat there and waited. Everything kept working. Except for the radio and the navigation which said no GPS.

I shut off the truck and used a multimeter to check the battery, and drop tested all the positive and negative cables I could find. Everything came out fine. So I started the truck up again and the gauges are fine and the Sync comes on except for the radio and navigation, no GPS, again.

I go out to the battery and remove the negative and positive cable and wait 10 minutes. I put the cables back on and restarted the truck. This time everything came on and the radio and GPS navigation worked. All gauges and climate control working as before. So I figure I am going to run it on the freeway and back and then over some rough road. Passed with flying colors. No issues. Then I took it through the JAX car wash, and brought it home, everything works fine.

Yesterday it was close to 100 degrees with 80% humidity and the truck was sitting in the bright sun. Maybe something overheated or condensation, etc.

I am not convinced things are good, as things in my life don't magically FIX themselves ever. I would have rather found out or seen the problem.

So I think I may just call the dealer tomorrow morning and get an appointment for them to run diagnostics and drive it till then. I have the full extended premium warranty so hopefully if they find something, it will be covered. If not I can determine what I want to do, depending on what it is. Although I will probably just end up paying the diagnostic fee and they will tell me that everything is working fine. We will see.

Perhaps I was not meant to go fishing today...... Storms will be rolling in soon, meh. Will finish painting and stuff in one of the rooms the Admiral wants done...

Like I said in my earlier post I had the same problem in my vehicles when the system over heats from sitting in the sun it shuts itself down. Use a good quality Sunshade on your windshield and you won’t have that problem anymore. As @HangOutdoors would say, I know what I’m talking about

 

[HangOutdoors]

Current Status. Everything this morning with the Truck works fine. Drove it into the office. I called the dealership and explained everything. They said the earliest they could get me in is 10 days. But, he also indicated that if it working fine now it may be hard for them to diagnose unless the problem is occurring. He told me to keep driving it and see if the issue reoccurs and if it does, don't try and resolve it, since it is under the extended warranty, just call him up so they can see the problem and diagnose it.

Planning to go fishing at least once this week!

 

[HangOutdoors]

On the way to the office this morning same electrical issues reoccurred. Found a dealer and pretty much begged them to look at it and get me in today, so I dropped it off. Perhaps the in the grand scheme of things I am not supposed to go fishing.

 

[scbruet]

Damn....I've got the expedition on my short list of a new tow vehicle this winter.

 

[adrianp89]

Honestly, if this is going to take a long time, or not be covered under warranty, I would switch out the radio to aftermarket. Pretty easy DIY job, and can probably get the parts in 1-2 days. Ford radio's are some of the worst in the industry.