Well this bites. We were 45 miles from home pulling our fiver to Tennessee for vacation. I didn't buy gas before leaving so I pulled into a gas station and put in about 25 gallons. I made it about 50 feet and the thing wouldn't go above a very rough idle. I see the obvious possibility of bad gas but it seems strange I didn't make it out of the parking lot before it all went south. I was given the opportunity of a lifetime to watch people buy gas for a couple of hours waiting on a tow and they all made it out fine. Needless to say the vacation is toast but look at all the money I've saved. If it is indeed bad fuel there will be the upcoming heavy-weight championship fight with the gas station. Anyway, does someone have any other ideas on what it might be?

 

I've just had my fuel pump replaced, I don't know if it's relevant to your truck, because mine ran, but it was very rough and wouldn't really pull more than 3500rpms no matter how much I pushed the throttle.

 

This is great. I just talked to the dealer and got the "we can't find anything wrong." I guess me, my wife, tow truck driver, and a couple of good Samaritans were all imagining this. Should have kept my 01 diesel. Now I own a $45,000 casino. Place your bets on when this will happen again.

 

maybe you had a little water that worked its way out, or vapor lock...if this can even happen on this type of fuel system.

No stored codes in the computer??

 

I think some Fords have little quirks sometimes. I was getting on the freeway with my 99 Ford Crown Vic & about 74 mph it started vibrating like a flat tire. As I pulled over the CEL started flashing. Got out check to see if the tires were OK. Got in the CEL was off & we drove off. That was two weeks & 2000 miles ago & it has been OK. We are on our third trip out of town all is good.
The big difference is my Crown Vic cost me $400.
But I have had other funny things happen that were just weird & only once.
It could of been anything & may never happen again. Maybe when you turned off the key it cleared. With computer vehicles I don't loose hope & call for help until I try a few times & the vehicle continues to act up.
Hope it was just a weird quirk.

 

No stored codes. If this happens again does disconnecting the battery for 15 or 20 minutes help reset the PCM any more?

 

YES. It will

 

This may sound stupid, but we had all kinds of problems with a ford car a few years back. Same kind of thing that went on for months until we finally went lemon law and won. It ended up being the simplest stupidest thing in the end and the garage just over looked it the whole time. The fuel filter was plugged and it was a new car. We started having severe problems at around 8000 miles. Who would have thought it possible? The car would stall, run rough, buck and jerk. It was so frustrating and we loved the car. Just food for thought.

 

I just returned from a lesser distance trip than the original I had planned. Only went about 400 miles round trip and the truck ran fine pulling my 30 ft. fiver. During my initial trouble I tried shutting it off and restarting a few times but it made no difference so we shall see.