00Formula00
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2021
- Messages
- 19
- Reaction score
- 51
- Location
- Bay Area, California
- Current Ride
- 2021 F150 Tremor
This is a long post, story-style...
I'm very upset to be posting this, guys, but I'd love input & to alert you of an issue that left me & family stranded. Also, I'm very self-aware and am open to all criticism regarding lack of planning here, I want to learn from this one.
Situation:
My in-laws rented a cabin in the foothills of Northern California (mountains have experienced the most snowfall in 50 years). Arrived Sunday night, the truck was phenomenal driving through the snowy roads. Through a series of wild events: immense snowfall, downed trees, needing medicine for my 11-month old I needed to leave the cabin before the roads were plowed. The driveway into the cabin was long and steep (10-17% - my estimates), but on day one I was able to drive up and park at the top.
On the morning we wanted to leave, I started the truck in the flat, snowy spot it had sat for two days - it fired up without any issues. I drove forward and wanted to back up to a spot that was easy to load the bed. However, the tires were spinning (in reverse, uphill) and I was with my in-laws who are relatively incapable (not saying that I am) in snow situations, so I was impatient and left the truck running, pointed downhill (Mistake #1). It's important to note that the truck had 1/3 of a tank (36-gal) when I began the exit (Mistake #2). I went inside to help my family pack, when I walked outside after 5-10 minutes, the truck was off and my inlaws noted that "it just died" - I blindly excused the comment as I was rushing and figured that it had hit the 15 minute auto-shut off (Mistake #3). During this time the truck oddly continued to run all accessories on battery alone, I thought that was the issue later, but I don't think it was.
Roughly 15 mins later, the truck is packed and I'm ready to go. I Remote-Start the truck, fires right up, I enter, Push Start and the truck sputters and dies. I attempt to start the truck 2-3 more times with the same results: Starter works for 2-3 seconds, truck fires, no throttle response, dies. It ultimately gets to the point where it doesn't fire, Starter is still working. Also important to note that I am not mechanically inclined (had an LS1 Firebird in high-school and wrenched on that, but nothing since) and not to mention the underhood of these trucks look more like a robotics factory than I remember. I briefly attempted to look up potential fuel-related fuses, but unfortunately was without enough service to load any useful pages. I need to admit, I was stressed out and the primary priority was getting the baby out and home safe. So, we'd thankfully dug my father in-laws Chevy Tahoe out earlier in the morning and left it at the top of the only plowed road - we hiked the baby and limited items out and drove home. Left the Tremor at the cabin.
Next Steps:
I need to figure out how to get the Tremor out.
After reading several other forum posts, it seems like fuel delivery issues due to the slope of the tank may be an issues, see here:
https://www.f150forum.com/f118/f150-failure-start-incline-412262/ -- "Well documented on the forum. It’s happened to me as well. Typically it occurs if you park on an incline nose down. I’ve never had it happen parked nose up."
The road to the truck is currently unreachable for any local tow services, likely to be a couple of days before the situation improves.
Plan of Action:
My plan is to drive back in two days with a buddy (who is a mechanic, with F250 Tremor) with the following:
15 Gal of fuel
Spare Battery
Jumper Cables/Jump Pack
OBD2 Scanner
Misc Fuses
Hope #1: Adding an excess amount of fuel will allow the pickup tube to pull enough to keep me running and get me down the driveway
Fall Back #1: Attempt to get the truck in Neutral and muscle it down the driveway -- someone please tell me if this is too dangerous
- - How do you get these new trucks into neutral without it running?
Fall Back #2: Hope that the roads are clear enough for a flatbed to hook me up and take me to a local dealer.
As noted, please send suggestions, ideas, "you're an idiot" comments.
I'm very upset to be posting this, guys, but I'd love input & to alert you of an issue that left me & family stranded. Also, I'm very self-aware and am open to all criticism regarding lack of planning here, I want to learn from this one.
Situation:
My in-laws rented a cabin in the foothills of Northern California (mountains have experienced the most snowfall in 50 years). Arrived Sunday night, the truck was phenomenal driving through the snowy roads. Through a series of wild events: immense snowfall, downed trees, needing medicine for my 11-month old I needed to leave the cabin before the roads were plowed. The driveway into the cabin was long and steep (10-17% - my estimates), but on day one I was able to drive up and park at the top.
On the morning we wanted to leave, I started the truck in the flat, snowy spot it had sat for two days - it fired up without any issues. I drove forward and wanted to back up to a spot that was easy to load the bed. However, the tires were spinning (in reverse, uphill) and I was with my in-laws who are relatively incapable (not saying that I am) in snow situations, so I was impatient and left the truck running, pointed downhill (Mistake #1). It's important to note that the truck had 1/3 of a tank (36-gal) when I began the exit (Mistake #2). I went inside to help my family pack, when I walked outside after 5-10 minutes, the truck was off and my inlaws noted that "it just died" - I blindly excused the comment as I was rushing and figured that it had hit the 15 minute auto-shut off (Mistake #3). During this time the truck oddly continued to run all accessories on battery alone, I thought that was the issue later, but I don't think it was.
Roughly 15 mins later, the truck is packed and I'm ready to go. I Remote-Start the truck, fires right up, I enter, Push Start and the truck sputters and dies. I attempt to start the truck 2-3 more times with the same results: Starter works for 2-3 seconds, truck fires, no throttle response, dies. It ultimately gets to the point where it doesn't fire, Starter is still working. Also important to note that I am not mechanically inclined (had an LS1 Firebird in high-school and wrenched on that, but nothing since) and not to mention the underhood of these trucks look more like a robotics factory than I remember. I briefly attempted to look up potential fuel-related fuses, but unfortunately was without enough service to load any useful pages. I need to admit, I was stressed out and the primary priority was getting the baby out and home safe. So, we'd thankfully dug my father in-laws Chevy Tahoe out earlier in the morning and left it at the top of the only plowed road - we hiked the baby and limited items out and drove home. Left the Tremor at the cabin.
Next Steps:
I need to figure out how to get the Tremor out.
After reading several other forum posts, it seems like fuel delivery issues due to the slope of the tank may be an issues, see here:
https://www.f150forum.com/f118/f150-failure-start-incline-412262/ -- "Well documented on the forum. It’s happened to me as well. Typically it occurs if you park on an incline nose down. I’ve never had it happen parked nose up."
The road to the truck is currently unreachable for any local tow services, likely to be a couple of days before the situation improves.
Plan of Action:
My plan is to drive back in two days with a buddy (who is a mechanic, with F250 Tremor) with the following:
15 Gal of fuel
Spare Battery
Jumper Cables/Jump Pack
OBD2 Scanner
Misc Fuses
Hope #1: Adding an excess amount of fuel will allow the pickup tube to pull enough to keep me running and get me down the driveway
Fall Back #1: Attempt to get the truck in Neutral and muscle it down the driveway -- someone please tell me if this is too dangerous
- - How do you get these new trucks into neutral without it running?
Fall Back #2: Hope that the roads are clear enough for a flatbed to hook me up and take me to a local dealer.
As noted, please send suggestions, ideas, "you're an idiot" comments.
