AggieJustin

Looking to get some expert second opinions on this one to see what I might be missing....

This is on the '01 in my sig. 326K total mileage. VP44 was replaced 6.5 years ago and now has ~82K mile on it. APPS was replaced with a Timbo unit probably 12 or so years ago (don't have my records back that far).

The issue is that I'm getting a dead pedal that only seems to occur on the highway running 72mph or more. I haven't been able to isolate a specific set of criteria that will cause it, but that's the range that it happens most frequently. The issue first popped up on Easter Sunday when I was on the highway. At a normal cruise, you just feel it lose power like you lifted off the pedal. Sometimes it's just a quick drop out then it comes right back, other times it may last a couple of seconds. When it happens, no major change in fuel pressure is shown on my mechanical gauge. If anything, it might pick up 0.5psi as it drops out. After that Sunday, I changed my fuel filter just as a precaution and the problem didn't reoccur in the past few weeks while driving around town. Last night I was on another highway trip and the problem came back again. I'd hit stretches where it cut in and out so often I'd have to drop my speed back down to 65, then it would do fine for another long stretch. No codes are ever present when scanning with my Smarty. On Easter, I had a P0602 during the middle of that trip, but it never came back after clearing it.

I'm looking at these as my causes:

APPS - I know this can cause the dead pedal if it gets some bad spots in the range. I'm thinking this may not be my issue since I had instances last night where I could move the pedal up and down while the power was dropped out and it made no difference. At one point, I pushed the pedal down further and held it with no change, then it came back in. So this seems like it's more than just a bad reading coming from APPS.

VP44 - Before dropping the cash on a new one, I would like to verify this. Since I'm not getting any codes at all, I'm hesitant to just throw a new one on.

Fuel supply - This doesn't seem to be my issue. The pressure holds steady when the problem occurs. Last night, I had 17-18psi on the gauge at all times while running down the road. I do think I have a sticking check ball on the regulator for my Raptor as sometimes the cruising pressure will drop down to 15 while the idle pressure always stays consistent at 20psi. But each time this problem has happened, I've had a consistent 16-19 reading on my gauge. And it's backed up by a low pressure light as well just in case the gauge goes bad.

Alternator AC voltage - In my reading last night, I saw some mention of AC output from the alternator causing some interference. I've heard for this before for auto trans issues, but wasn't aware it had an impact on VP44 as well. I'll have to test this one. The alternator was replaced last year with an Ultima unit from O'Reilly. I've found two methods online for testing the AC output. Is it better to check between the output lug and the alternator case? Or check at the battery?

What else am I missing? It's a bit frustrating since I can't reliably replicate it, so letting a shop diagnose the problem might not yield much if they can recreate it. And I don't have the time right now to just start swapping parts hoping to find the magic one.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can provide!

NMSUAGGIE

I had a similar issue a few months ago. When traveling at highway speeds the truck seemed to "stall" but would not kill the engine entirely. The truck didn't react to the accelerator pedal when this happen. After a few seconds of coasting i would use the pedal again and truck would run like it should. I ended up checking my air filter and it was pretty clean, but upon further inspection, rats had actually climbed in the fender and crawled into the air filter. I hadn't checked the filter in months, but it was enough time for the rats to block the air passage with trash. You may try inspecting the air filter and making sure there is nothing underneath, if you still have factory air intake. Hopefully its that simple, I haven't had any intermittent issues since.

AggieJustin

No restriction on the air side. It will still build boost like normal.

i checked the alternator this morning. I was getting reading of 0.03-0.04 at idle, with an occasional jump to 0.1. At 1700rpm, it was reading 0.04 at the lowest. So I’m going to get it checked out to see if it can be swapped before my next highway run.

AggieJustin

UPDATE

O'Reilly tested the alternator on the truck and the handheld tester said it was all normal. Since I wasn't looking forward to the idea of another 4 hour trip with the dead pedal, I went ahead and picked up a new alternator and swapped it in. When I tested at idle, the numbers were still about the same. No issues on the trip home yesterday. So now the question is whether it was because of the new alternator, or the APPS re-calibration once I hooked the batteries back up. Going to take the old alternator back to my local O'Reilly and see if it bench tests out differently.

high bid

Any updates on this?
Similar issue: fuel psi is good 10+ and good acceleration up to about 73mph. I usually run 73-78mph. When I reach that speed, it's like it stumbles and mostly maintains that speed but gradually slows to below the desired speed of 73-78mph. I let off the pedal all the way and am able to accelerate again back to the speed of 73-78. The pedal seems dead in the speed range I usually run, 73-78mph.
Is it possible there is a dead spot in the APPS? I did the reset (disconn batteries, turned key on, waited 5min, turned key off, re-connected batteries, turned key on and depressed the pedal 3x slowly up/down.
Alternator is not even 1yr old and the wire is wrapped w/aluminum foil and tape to eliminate any cross-over voltage or elec issues.
Is there something else I should be checking??? Any help would be appreciated.

AggieJustin

The new alternator cleared it up for me. The old alternator didn’t bench test as bad. But ever since the new one went on, I haven’t had the issue reoccur.

AggieJustin

And here we are almost 2 years later and the same problem is coming back. Still no codes thrown, so I'm hoping it's not VP44 related. Going to do an APPS reset and if that doesn't clear it up, seems like it might be alternator time again.

AggieJustin

Closing the loop on this one again. Turns out, I had one bad battery. When I pulled the cables for the APPS reset, I figured it was an excellent time to throw the load tester on each battery to check it. The passenger side battery would show 11V when connected but dropped to 2-3V as soon as I threw the load switch. The driver's side battery was still good and shouldering all the load. I fully disconnected the passenger battery and only used the driver's side for a few days till I could get the new ones in—no more dead pedal issues.

Fordzilla

Just like in the detective stories, sometimes the least obvious turns out to be the most suspicious......Ben

AggieJustin

Exactly. Not sure how long this battery has been bad. Been a while since it was cold enough to need a grid heater on startup, but it hasn't had any issues starting lately and the gauge reading was always right on 14V. They were Optima Redtops that had 10 years on them.