Continuation of the debugging phase

Gilm2113 · 06-13-2015, 09:02 PM

My wife and I left yesterday for one of our bigger trips of the year. We made reservations last December for this great place. 230 miles into the first day I get ready to pull in for gas and I have no speedometer, no trip odometer, a lit check engine light, a little wrench idiot light, a brake and ABS warning light and the Low fuel warning light. What the heck!
I know I have 1/2 a tank of fuel, the engine is running fine and it seems that the brakes are operating just fine. I pull in for gas, shut it off and top it off. I did have 1/2 a tank left of fuel as I suspected and my gauge indicated. After refueling I started it up and everything was gone except the check engine light. I began looking for a Ford dealer but the closest one was 70 miles away.
I did find an authorized Ford service center but they did not work on RV's. They were nice enough to put a scope on the rig for me and found about 5 errors all of which they believe lead back to a rear optical speed sensor. The codes indicated a loss of signal which they believe triggered everything else. I called several of the closest Ford dealers all of which said it would be the middle of next week before I could be "squeezed" in. When I left the service center that scoped my RV all the lights listed above had returned! We drove about 5 miles and all of a sudden the lights were gone!
So my choices were continue on not knowing if I was going to break down somewhere in the middle of eastern Washington farmland and ultimately be over 550 miles from home or head towards home ~200 miles away. We called our local Ford dealer and he could get us a few days earlier, so we through in the towel and headed home. Now here is the part that gets me. The damn thing ran perfectly all the way home! Not one single warning light!
My question for all of you is - Since this seems to be intermittent problem what can or will Ford do if they can't experience the problem first hand? We have a lot of other trips planned is summer many of which we have our very young grandkids with us. Do we just head out and hope nothing happens and risk being stranded? Not a fun feeling, we will see what Ford says next week!

GL1800Rider · 06-14-2015, 06:47 AM

Sounds like a computer glitch. After you drove a few miles it reset. For peace of mind and hopefully it won't ruin you vacation with the delay, I would get it checked by your local Ford dealer. May be a sensor getting ready to go.

Gilm2113 · 06-14-2015, 08:22 AM

I agree GL1800rider. Sitting home having some breakfast now. I believe it is a loose wire or bad sensor. We will see what they say on Wednesday and move on.

Sagecoachdriver · 06-20-2015, 08:45 PM

Gilm2113- So what was it? Could you have kept going?

Gilm2113 · 06-21-2015, 08:33 PM

A few points since the last email. I had an appointment that I made for the following Wednesday that made myself. On Monday I made a call to the Ford Motorhome Assist number to see if one of the "closer" Ford dealers handled motor homes for future needs. I explained to the customer service rep what was going on with my motorhome. He was very apologetic and said he thought he could help me out. He said he wanted to make a call and would call me back. Ten minutes later I had an appointment at my local dealer as soon as I could get there.
We dropped off the MH Monday afternoon and they indicated it would be later in the day or Tuesday before they got to it. I got a call from them saying they were 'seeing' the issue but had contacted Ford Tech Help to assist with troubleshooting the issue. After several more days and a some phone calls back and forth they believe the problem was a bad "output shaft speed sensor". A faulty sensor would cause all the other lights to fire off. On Friday afternoon the dealer thought I should put a few miles on it to see if the issue would repeat itself. They had driven it for 30-40 miles with no issues.
We had a 400 mile, "short" trip planned for this weekend so when I mentioned this to the Service Manager he wasn't that confident. I figured I drove ~250 miles the last time, so we decided to give it a shot. I honestly think it ran better than ever before and after 450 miles we had no issues. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we are done and can confidently head down the highway any time we choose.
I do highly recommend giving the Ford Motorhome Assist a call when you have any issues. It is free to us for 3 years, 36,000 miles and it includes free roadside assistance and towing, 24/7 to a local Ford dealer along with assistance for quicker service appointments.
Safe travels to all of you.

n-e-d · 06-22-2015, 05:31 AM

Thanks for the post on Ford Assist. Sounds like a real resource that could come in handy.

steverkemp · 06-22-2015, 09:02 AM

Yep, good to know on Ford Assist. I'll have to look into this more because if it is good for 3 yrs then I probably don't need Good Sam or Allstate Motorclub until after 3 yrs.

Sagecoachdriver · 06-22-2015, 10:33 AM

I did a Google search of Ford Assistance and put in 2015 E-450 and it says 5 year/60,000 miles. Is it really FREE? As Steverkemp says, you won't need Good Sam or AAA.

Gilm2113 · 06-22-2015, 09:24 PM

I will have look again as to whether it is 3 or 5 years but remember it is for the chassis only. Any issues with the coach portion will still some other warranty. Not surprising that the dealers don't mention this while trying to sell you roadside assistance. I was very happy with the service so far.

You may also like: