[GaryGem]

I have a new 3.0 lt diesel with a no crank condition. Truck has about 2000 miles. The condition is as follows:
cool morning 50 - 55 degrees, high moisture content specifically in light drizzle or mist, only first thing in the morning, only first start in the morning. Once the truck is started, it starts fine all day.

Enter truck, foot on brake, start button - nothing. Screen ends up as if you shut the truck off with two choices for type of alarm. Usually takes two or three tries, eventually the truck starts.

No crank started last Monday. Occurred again on Wed. Dropped truck off on Friday to dealer, only to have tech say the truck starts fine.

Monday morning same thing. 55 degrees, misting no crank. Twice. removed foot and put back on brake pedal - now the truck does a very slow crank and stops. Foot off brake and back on again, start button, about a 1 second delay, truck starts normal.

I've told the dealer I'm not going to put up with this. Any ideas from the members of the forum?

 

[jmperlik]

garygem - Wow! All I can say is Wow! My 2018 F150 Diesel Platinum is only 10 days old and I just flipped 300 miles today. The weather conditions here in NY State have been similar (I have awoken to at least 5 mornings with similar conditions) to when you are encountering this "no crank" situation, but alas my F150 has been starting without any issues. (Knock-on-wood!)

I agree with you that this is an "unacceptable" situation for a brand new vehicle and needs to be remedied given the price you paid for one of these high-end models PLUS a $3000 engine upcharge (really more like $5000 due to incentives being yanked) for the luxury of a 3.0L V6 diesel that intermittently starts?!?

Maybe use the free Ford Roadside Assistance every time it happens to get their attention? Not really optimal, but your dealer's first attempt to resolve this was effectively a blow-off... They would be getting a visit every time this happened, but then again my dealer is less than a mile from work, so might not be an easy option for everyone.

Maybe check your state's Lemon Law?

 

[FordTuff]

I have a new 3.0 lt diesel with a no crank condition. Truck has about 2000 miles. The condition is as follows:
cool morning 50 - 55 degrees, high moisture content specifically in light drizzle or mist, only first thing in the morning, only first start in the morning. Once the truck is started, it starts fine all day.

Enter truck, foot on brake, start button - nothing. Screen ends up as if you shut the truck off with two choices for type of alarm. Usually takes two or three tries, eventually the truck starts.

No crank started last Monday. Occurred again on Wed. Dropped truck off on Friday to dealer, only to have tech say the truck starts fine.

Monday morning same thing. 55 degrees, misting no crank. Twice. removed foot and put back on brake pedal - now the truck does a very slow crank and stops. Foot off brake and back on again, start button, about a 1 second delay, truck starts normal.

I've told the dealer I'm not going to put up with this. Any ideas from the members of the forum?

Really disappointed to hear that you are already running into issues like this Gary, especially so early on in your ownership. It does sound like your problem is related to moisture, which to me suggests an issue at the fuel pump connection or maybe even something as simple as fuses.

 

[jmperlik]

Really disappointed to hear that you are already running into issues like this Gary, especially so early on in your ownership. It does sound like your problem is related to moisture, which to me suggests an issue at the fuel pump connection or maybe even something as simple as spark plugs.

Spark plugs?

 

[fharrison]

Really disappointed to hear that you are already running into issues like this Gary, especially so early on in your ownership. It does sound like your problem is related to moisture, which to me suggests an issue at the fuel pump connection or maybe even something as simple as spark plugs.

Spark plugs?

Can't tell if serious.

 

[GaryGem]

No crank. Spark plugs in a diesel?

 

[GaryGem]

Is Ford monitoring this Forum?

Dealer wants to wait until weather conditions are similar again which means a week before I take it in. If they can't get the no CRANK issue to repeat, what will they do?

Dealer wants to be able to experience the issue. Intermittent no CRANK, first thing in the morning. That's it. So let;s see, tech gets in truck, it does not crank the first time - hopefully and then cranks and starts normally - Who you going to call? WTF

 

[GaryGem]

Like your suggestion of fuses - I'll be pulling and reinserting them tonight

 

[jmperlik]

Gary - this definitely seems electrical related caused by moisture in the air. With a vehicle this new, I would be very surprised at culprits like corroded battery terminals/cables or something along those lines. If there is nothing "at all" when you hit the starter, another thing could be safety interlocks, with your foot on the brake pedal being the only one we as end users know about. Unknown variable could be the computer, as they seem to have taken over everything in the vehicle.

I guess I'm holding back on any sort of mechanical or electrical diagnosis, as we should not have to be worrying about issues like this with a brand new vehicle! This is the one of the points of buying a new vehicle: To AVOID intermittent starting issues an older vehicle might develop.

I would be talking to the Service Manager by now with the next step being the dealership's General Manager.

 

[Stonedragon2002]

I have a new 3.0 lt diesel with a no crank condition. Truck has about 2000 miles. The condition is as follows:
cool morning 50 - 55 degrees, high moisture content specifically in light drizzle or mist, only first thing in the morning, only first start in the morning. Once the truck is started, it starts fine all day.

Enter truck, foot on brake, start button - nothing. Screen ends up as if you shut the truck off with two choices for type of alarm. Usually takes two or three tries, eventually the truck starts.

No crank started last Monday. Occurred again on Wed. Dropped truck off on Friday to dealer, only to have tech say the truck starts fine.

Monday morning same thing. 55 degrees, misting no crank. Twice. removed foot and put back on brake pedal - now the truck does a very slow crank and stops. Foot off brake and back on again, start button, about a 1 second delay, truck starts normal.

I've told the dealer I'm not going to put up with this. Any ideas from the members of the forum?

We are having similar conditions in Seattle right now low 45-50 high and light rain. I am just shy of around 1700 miles and park outside.
So far I haven’t experienced anything like this yet but will keep an eye out if I see anything similar and keep you updated.

 

[GaryGem]

Well the saga continues. The truck started normally for a full week. Weather conditions were nice for this time of year. After a cold front moved through yesterday, this morning was 36 degrees no rain. Truck did not start. It does recognize the start button being depressed, but appears not to see the brake pedal as the dash indicates to start truck, step on brake. I recorded this mornings attempts and have another piece of information applicable. After depressing the brake pedal twice completely with no start conditions, the third attempt of pushing the pedal found the master cylinder not releasing. The pedal was free floating. I was about to get out and call the 800 Ford number and decided to try one more time. This time the pedal was normal and truck started as it should.

I'll be at the dealer tonight armed with my video and discussion. Time for Ford to fix it or give me a new truck. This is unbelievable. I'll upload the video later after I download from my phone.

 

[jmperlik]

Gary - keep at it, as you are starting to zero in on the culprit. I'd focus in on the brake pedal mushiness/floating, as that sounds like a bigger safety issue with the brakes. Maybe issue with brakes is manifesting itself thru the brake pedal starting interlock? Not sure how the weather comes into play with a hydro/mechanical system like the brakes though. Would hope that the computer is logging some ref codes by now...

Good idea taking the video, as that is irrefutable evidence that the issue is occurring. Please keep us posted with what the dealer finds.

 

[GaryGem]

So yesterday was another no crank first thing in the morning. And I caught it on video. The one thing I did not explain very well in the video is that the master cylinder near the end of the video stays engaged, while the brake pedal is free floating. Not on video also is I made a decision to call the Ford 1 800 number, but then tried one more time. The master cylinder had released, applied the brake pedal and started normally. After reviewing the video it appears the truck is not recognizing the brake pedal being applied. I shared the video with the dealer last night, I'll be getting a loaner this weekend so they can have the truck next week. I hope Ford engineering will get a copy of that video. This forum does not allow video to be posted. The video can be viewed at

 

[GaryGem]

Thanks - I most certainly will. Also discussed with the dealer that this is most likely an issue specific to this one truck, otherwise Ford would be hearing this from all sorts of customers. And I most certainly will update if and when this gets resolved,

 

[kdjasper]

I think they got to the real issue. Ford issued a field service action 18N04, POWERTRAIN CONTROL MODULE REPROGRAMMING

I have not had any start up issues with my truck so far, but have only had it now about 3 weeks and most of the time I remote start the truck from the FordPass app to give it a little more warm up time since I am up north in Minnesota. I do have that Field Service Action 18N04 as showing up in my FordPass app on my phone.

Has anyone else besides GaryGem had their truck's PCM reprogrammed for Field Service Action 18N04 yet? Curious if others have received this notice on their trucks and if they have had this fix applied yet.

Thanks

 

[jmperlik]

Has anyone else besides GaryGem had their truck's PCM reprogrammed for Field Service Action 18N04 yet? Curious if others have received this notice on their trucks and if they have had this fix applied yet.

Field Service Action 18N04 applied on my 2018 F150 Diesel Platinum on 11/12/18 after receiving notice on MyFord app:
=> No starting issues before FSA 18N04 applied
=> No starting issues after FSA 18N04 applied

 

[kdjasper]

I did some more research on this Field Service Action 18N04, and found the following post on another forum:

"I stopped by the dealer, they let me read the entire message on their description from Ford to Dealer. It is solely to meet a CA Emissions requirement. It said the current program was on a “temporary compliance agreement” with CA It said the dealer must reflash any vehicle that comes in for service in order to be compliant. I didn’t need my truck in for service so I just thanked them and left. Read to me like you couldn’t even get an oil change without them do the reflash."

I found similar as above in other forum posts as well, so this FSA 18N04 would not have anything to do with GaryGem's starting issues in this thread.

 

[GaryGem]

KDjasper

you will most likely not see it remote starting. Possibility the truck will not start. The control system was not firing the pre-heaters. The way to know if your truck is starting correctly is the be in the cab first thing in the morning, foot on brake and touch the start button. If you get a message on the dash indicating the start of engine is delayed, it is firing the glow plugs and you will not have an issue.

 

[wreedsvt]

KDjasper

you will most likely not see it remote starting. Possibility the truck will not start. The control system was not firing the pre-heaters. The way to know if your truck is starting correctly is the be in the cab first thing in the morning, foot on brake and touch the start button. If you get a message on the dash indicating the start of engine is delayed, it is firing the glow plugs and you will not have an issue.

I have only got that message a couple times down here in Houston when really cold (in the 30s) otherwise it just starts right up.

 

[kdjasper]

I have done some starting without the remote start recently, and have yet to experience any starting issues.

I played poker last Friday night with a PowerStroke Diesel mechanic from the Ford dealer I will do my servicing at, and mentioned to him Field Service Action 18N04. He pulled it up on his phone on his internal Ford mechanic info access, and it pretty much stated exactly as my research found as posted above. He said the Safety recalls would have an "S" instead of an "N" in them. He didn't have a strong opinion either way on having that applied or not, and he said that even though it reads that dealers must apply it to any vehicle that comes in for service is not true, at least at his shop...he said they may or may not apply it, but would at the customers request.