Dealer says PCM is fried?

[Ehamann86]

Driving in the rain last night the truck shuts off on me. Says "engine over temp" even tho it was running at normal temp. Then when I try to crank it "starter circuit something bad" lol doesn't let it crank. Towed to dealership and they claim PCM is fried. I find it hard to believe. Then he says the steering computer may also be affected and I may need that too!? I think he is full of shit and there's a bad wire somewhere

Honestly this truck is the biggest mistake I've ever made. I've had it for almost 3 years. Has 186,000 miles. And I'm constantly messing with electrical crap. From the useless traction control stopping me from making it up my driveway in the snow, it won't let you burn tires, it won't let you play in the snow, you can't haul a trailer with it, the back window never worked, cigarette lighter never worked, side airbags go off when they didn't need to, Too much electrical stuff.

 

[Hockster]

Time to move on

 

[Msb.19d]

186k is kind a lot,.

 

[tmd11111]

One post wonder telling his tail of misery.

 

[Gilligan]

Yeah sounds like it’s been a real *************, I mean only 186k? Mind boggling...

 

[Ehamann86]

So what you guys are saying is that a truck thats 5 years old is time for the scrapyard???

I've run older Ford's from the early 80's and 70's that never gave any problems but common mechanical wear. So new Ford is a waste of money?

 

[Canuck714]

Driving in the rain last night the truck shuts off on me. Says "engine over temp" even tho it was running at normal temp. Then when I try to crank it "starter circuit something bad" lol doesn't let it crank. Towed to dealership and they claim PCM is fried. I find it hard to believe. Then he says the steering computer may also be affected and I may need that too!? I think he is full of shit and there's a bad wire somewhere

Honestly this truck is the biggest mistake I've ever made. I've had it for almost 3 years. Has 186,000 miles. And I'm constantly messing with electrical crap. From the useless traction control stopping me from making it up my driveway in the snow, it won't let you burn tires, it won't let you play in the snow, you can't haul a trailer with it, the back window never worked, cigarette lighter never worked, side airbags go off when they didn't need to, Too much electrical stuff.

Not knowing the back story on an almost 200,000 mile truck makes it hard to know the extent of the issues... What happened to it before you got it?
This is one of the first times I've heard of a "steering computer"...lol
I think you may need to get a new dealer before saying the truck is junk

 

[Jimbo]

That's what happens when you buy a truck with 150k on it to start, and have no idea of the maintenance history.

 

[Ehamann86]

I put most those miles on lol so they just called and said they changed the computer and it.runs now... Still seems strange, and I can't find a single case online anywhere of someone else having one go bad. The only abuse it sees is very frequent off road use, occasional dips into river crossings, but not that should affect the pcm

 

[EricM]

Not sure what your plugs and coil change interval looked like, but the PCM can get fried by running the plugs and coils for too long. A large plug gap makes the coils, and in turn, the coil drivers work harder. The coil drivers are in the PCM and can damage the PCM.

I just did all the coils and plugs at 60K miles on my wife's Edge to prevent exactly what I described. It's a very common problem on the 3.5L engines. Fortunately Ford has a tune up kit with 6 new OEM Ford coils, six new OEM iridium plugs and intake manifold gaskets for only $142. Just one single coil is generally around $80 for Ford parts. It's quite the deal.