Automatic Transmission Control Module problems of the 2008 Ford Explorer

I've had my 2008 eddie bauer Ford Explorer just over a year. As I'm driving on a local road, it starts acting like it's about to cut off. I get to a red light and as I'm about to take off, it shuts off. I placed it in park and restarted it then it sputters and then catches. A few minutes later this error message comes up on the dash with a wrench. I took it to the nearest auto store, they placed it on the machine and said it looks like my engine wiring harness or ecm/pcm. I had the harness replaced (almost $900) and a week later the wrench error message returned and the problem has returned as well.

While driving down the street my SUV completely shut off, steering wheel locked up and I couldn't steer it and the brakes locked up. The SUV stopped dead in it's tracks. I drive 95% on the highway and had this happened on the highway I wouldn't be here today to write this. Took it to a repair facility and had to pay $1200 to replace the pcm ( powertrain control module) or the brain to my SUV. This is what tells the truck to run basically. Terrified me to think I could have been killed.

The contact owns a 2008 Ford Explorer. At any given moment, whether the vehicle was idling or moving, the service engine warning indicator illuminated and the vehicle lost all power. The contact would have to wait until the vehicle's computer system rebuilt itself in order for the power to return so the vehicle could be functional. The contact's husband, a certified mechanic, rebuilt the transmission and reconfigured the wiring on the vehicle, but the failure recurred. A certified mechanic diagnosed that the vehicle's pcm needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 156,000.

4/1- a couple days before 4/1, the check engine light came on. On 4/1, I was driving the car on a side street and it shut off on me, without warning. I got it towed to a dealer near by and was told it was a faulty alternator. Dealer changed it. . . 4/10 - the wrench and the check engine lights came on the dashboard. I took it back to the dealer to have it checked. The dealer was very passive of the situation - but ultimately, he said they were old codes that needed to be cleared from the computer. He cleared them and all was suppose to be well. 4/17 - my husband and I were out running errands, when again the wrench and the check engine light came on at the same time. Moments later, the car shut off on us while we were driving in the middle on the street. Luckily we were able to get it out of the middle of the road. We called the dealer and arranged to have them check it out. We managed to get the car started and drove it to the dealer. 4/24 - the dealer told us that the pcm was busted - and that alot of 2008 Explorers were having this issue. Unfortunately, Ford did not have the part available anywhere and we would have to wait until August 2014 in order to get the part fixed. Right now, our car is sitting at the dealer - not working. Ford has done nothing to compensate or to alleviate the mental and financial stress of not having car has done.

My vehicle, a 2008 Ford Explorer with a 4. 6l 3v v8 engine, went into vehicle safe mode while in rush hour traffic on a major interstate (I-83). The vehicle was experiencing periodic misfire, which triggered a loss of communication with the transmission computer module (tcm). The vehicle engine began shuddering, all the dashboard lights lit up with a warning to service vehicle immediately and vehicle speed would not exceed 20mph. I was in heavy stop & go traffic in the passing lane at time of incident. I shut down the vehicle & attempted to troubleshoot the problem with a code reader. I received two codes, misfire on cyl 8 and loss of comm with tcm. I pulled the tcm fuse to reset the tcm and continued on my way without further incident. I immediately replaced all the cop's & then took the vehicle to a Ford dealership to have the sparkplugs replaced. I was aware of the issue with this particular model Ford engine and the 2-piece sparkplug/cylinder head issue and suspected the plugs to be the culprit. I paid the Ford dealership $420 to replace the eight sparkplugs in my vehicle. Only two plugs broke during the extraction and the cylinder head did not have to be removed. Ford is well aware of this issue as they replaced the poorly designed 3v engine midyear. They also produced a 13-page TSB, special extraction tool to replace sparkplugs. Ford refuses to acknowledge a design flaw & instead blames mechanic error for broken plugs. Ford mechanics broke two of my plugs, yet I still had to pay for their error! the vehicle runs like new again but will be put up for sale shortly. This was my first and last Ford as I'm very disappointed with Ford's response to this obviously poor design flaw. Most importantly, contrary to Ford's lame response, it is a safety issue when your vehicle suddenly goes into emergence safe mode on a 65mph interstate!.