Engine shuts off while driving!!

[fullthrottle]

I have a bone stock '06 F-350 dually with about 40,000 miles on it. Until now the truck has been running great with absolutely no problems. In the past several months while driving down the road the engine would just shut off. I had to steer the truck to the side of the road and power cycle the key. It has started back up every time. Fortunately I have had an escape route away from traffic. The radio and lights would stay on so I'm sure it's not a battery problem. This has occured three times about 2-3 months apart. The last time it happened I took the truck to Ford and they couldn't duplicate the problem, therefore, returned it with a big "No Trouble Found" stamp on the ticket.

I am aware of a wiring harness issue that was common in the '03-'05 trucks. Mine was built in November '05 but is considered an '06. I looked at the harness and it is definately the newer style harness with the upgraded connector covers and thickened harness wall. The harness looks to be in great shape and does not appear to be chafing on any parts of the engine so I do not think the harness is the issue here but I do think it is electrical.

As I said, other than this, the truck has been running great. No loss of power, no loss of fuel economy, no black or white smoke, no nothing.....Just shutting off once in a blue moon. My big fear is that this might occure one time and possibly cause an accident. On the weekends I pull a '42 toy hauler to the races which won't be so easy to just whip off the side of the road.

What else could cause the engine to turn off like this?? I'm not getting any engine lights on the dash nor were there any codes in the PCM when I took it to the shop.

 

[Kleetus]

No sputter, just cold turkey it's off?

I'd suspect you wouldn't have to pull off the road, just roll the key back, to off, then restart it in neutral. drop it back in gear and go...

But there's got to be something pulling apart or grounding out for this to happen. Gotta love intermittent mechanics...

 

[Mike K]

There is a HPOP sensor right behind the turbo, if it is going bad then the injectors will not fire. But i havent seen one go bad every blue moon, i have just seen them stop working causing a crank but no start issue. That is the only thing i can think of. Also... wouldnt the sensor trip a check engine light? (just thinking out loud).

I do, however, agree with Kleetus. You shouldnt need to pull off to the side, just off, neutral, start again and back to drive should work fine. It sure would be scary going through a turn pulling your trailer then loose your power steering! I would definetly take it to the dealer every time it happens so there is a documented complaint.

Maybe even keep a log book so you can jot down when and where it happened and what you were doing (cruising, accelerating, etc) for legal reasons. Or at least that is what i would do.

-Mike

 

[Mark Hastings]

The dealer has what we call a black box it is basically like a flight recorder it has to be activated when it shuts down,I'd talk to the dealer and ask them about it and see if it can be put on but be warned there are alot of 6.0 issues out there so it could be on someone elses truck.also they are still having injector harness problems even with the 2006's I had that and it went on from May 06 to April 07 and they got tired of messing with it and the Ford Hot Line told them to put a new harness in and problem solved no more shutting down.

 

[Kleetus]

Got news for ya... they all have the little black box.

 

[fullthrottle]

Yeh, I'm going to pull the air box and eveything else so I can see all or most of the wiring. Maybe I'll get lucky and see a chafe or a place where it is rubbing.

 

[fullthrottle]

Well, I tore it all apart tonight and confirmed the wiring harness to be the new style that was installed in the late '05 models. Everything looked good all the way to the intake manifold then the chafing began. There were three manifold bolts on the driver side that the wiring harness laid on. The first two were OK but the last one, almost under the turbo, was starting to wear pretty bad. I actually had to pull it off the bolt. I couldn't really pull it off to look at it but it didn't feel too bad. It felt like it may have worn through the harness cover. As far as I could see, the wires were not chafed but again, I couldn't really see too good. I ended up cutting up some high pressue fuel hose and using it as a buffer everywhere it looked like the harness was even close to chafing. Hopefully, if the wires were chafed and grounding out on the bolt, the fuel hose will prevent any further issues. We'll see.....

If you own a 6.0, I would definately check this out. If mine is rubbing, so is yours......

 

[95_stroker]

Thats a good find, let us know if it solves your problem.

 

[fullthrottle]

Who knows, it might be another couple of months before it does it again going by the past track record, if ever. All I can do is hope............

 

[Mark Hastings]

I'm talking about the unit the dealer puts in and plugs into the OB2 port I've seen some dealers need new ones because they got broken or they have only one to put on and they could have it on someone elses truck but I'll get to the other point my trucks in the Fleet needed harnesses and there was no chaffing I think ford had manufacturing problems as to who ever made the harnesses had screwed up because one of mine had injector harness issues after it was on the road for only one month with 1000 miles on it and there was no physical signs of a harness problem at all the shop mechanic got tired of messing with it he even changed the EGR because he thuoght it could be an every so often deal and might not be throwing a code.