Help! Expedition went belly up.

May 26, 2004 5 Replies

Hi folk, sorry if this is not the right group to ask an Expedition question, and I'll further apologize for not yet having searched the archive (which I will in a moment), but I'm hoping one of you mechanical geniuses will be able to help.



On the way home from work tonight I stopped at Lowe's and several things happened in rapid succession... I turned the key off, started to open the door, saw that I needed to pull forward a little more, turned the key to restart (with the door ajar), got the barest beginnings of a start (starter barely made one revolution), then... nothing.



The engine will now not turn over at all. Not even a click. The dash guages will suddenly max out (speedometer to 100 mph, etc). The remote key lock will not lock the doors. If I manually lock them, it will unlock them, but does nothing toward locking them. No horn honk, etc.



There is a relay under the dash (Relay 2) and it was clicking something like a turn signal. This continued whether the key was on or off or even in the ignition. I turned the hazard lights on and this set the relay off almost like a buzzer, it was clicking so rapidly.



I unhooked the battery in hopes of "resetting" something. No luck. I removed Relay 2 (labeled as the 'battery saver relay' in the manual). Didn't help.



Now I'm lost. Obviously I will have it towed to a shop tomorrow, but I was hoping someone can tell me that it's a loose connector or something before the shop tells me it's a $500 computer.



Any advice appreciated.



Thanks,



Curt


Well, I have keyless entry, but not remote start. Not sure how advanced the security system is. Has those nasty $150 keys, but no alarm or anything. Sigh.

I will venture to guess that your alternator went out, and you were running on battery power when you got to Lowes. Had you not stopped, you may have been stranded in the road soon enough. You will probably find out you need a new alternator, and maybe a battery, if it (the battery) was overheated during the rapid discharge, it can be damaged also.

But that is only a guess, just from your info. Usually, the battery or charge light will come on when that happens, though.

Spdloader

Eggs wrote:

||I will venture to guess that your alternator went out, and you were ||running on battery power when you got to Lowes. Had you not stopped, you ||may have been stranded in the road soon enough. You will probably find ||out you need a new alternator, and maybe a battery, if it (the battery) ||was overheated during the rapid discharge, it can be damaged also.

A set of jumper cables would determine if that is correct.

My first thought was ignition switch. Texas Parts Guy

WHAT was the problem? Mine just did this 30 mintues ago, really would like to know what the problem is!

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