Today was a very strange morning...

I got in the truck and it started perfectly. It ran smoothly until I was ~3 miles up the road (engine was warm by now). All of a sudden both my M ans S LED's are flashing (along with the D on the selector) and the dashboard is 'dinging' at me!

OK, I mutter a couple of expletives and pull to the side of the road and shutdown. I mull on what just happened for a moment and try the key. It turns over (fast - lots of battery juice) but no fire. So I pop the hood and hit the inertia switch (it gives an audible 'click') and try the key again; she fires right up!

So I am feeling pretty good about myself and I carry-on up the road and stop for gas (Shell Premium). I then carry-on my way to work. All is looking good, sounding good, feeling good - no issues... 6 miles later the CEL comes on! What the F!!!

Well, there was nothing to do then; middle of nowhere without a code reader and the truck is still running smooth (not even a hiccup). So I carried on and checked the codes when I got home tonight. This is what I found:

1. P1300 - Random/multiple cylinder misfire detected - Catalyst damaging level of misfire on more than one cylinder
2. P0304 - Cylinder 4 misfire detected - Injector 4 excess emissions/catalyst damaging level of misfire
3. 0305 - Cylinder 5 misfire detected - Injector 5 excess emissions/catalyst damaging level of misfire
4. 0307 - Cylinder 7 misfire detected - Injector 7 excess emissions/catalyst damaging level of misfire
5. 0308 - Cylinder 8 misfire detected - Injector 8 excess emissions/catalyst damaging level of misfire
6. P0335 - Crankshaft position sensor a circuit malfunction - Reference mark outside search window for more than two revs, with engine speed above 500 rev/min
7. P0300 - Random/multiple cylinder excess emissions detected - Excess emissions detected on more than one cylinder
8. 0304 - Cylinder 4 misfire detected - Injector 4 excess emissions/catalyst damaging level of misfire

Questions:

1. What single cause could be doing this?
2. Was the incident with the inertia switch related to CEL incident?
3. Was/is there a single cause for both?
4. Are the codes above a possible result of a bad tank of gas or are they related to the CPS? (if CPS was bad, I didn't think the engine would start)
5. Am I possibly having an electrical issue that is causing all the symptoms?
6. Is there some other answer possibly involving aliens?

 

BTW - I checked the battery and alternator with a DVM. The battery shows 12.5V and the alternator is putting out 13.8V.

 

And It's still running smooth now? Did you clear the codes and drive it again? Have you checked for bad ground around the engine compartment? Were there any strange unidentified flying objects in the area around you at the time?

 

Yeah, cleared the codes and let it run at idle for a while. Still really smooth w/o any codes. Checked the battery leads and the ground (all tight), but not the whole engine compartment.

 

are you having loss of power? are you losing coolant? whats your mileage?

 

No loss of power or coolant. No smoke. Mileage is 120K.

I am leaning toward the CPS and wires/plugs (thery are original).

 

have you done the HG yet? if you are not losing coolant of power i would get yourself some 8mm wires (i prefer magnecore from Apexperformance.net) and some plat plugs (i use bosch +4's) I would also get a new battery I run the sears DH plat 34m.

 

No I haven't done the HG's, but I don't have any of the symptoms either (i.e. coolant loss, oil consumption, smoke, power loss, stc.) I am looking at ordering a set of wires and plugs today; probably STI 8mm wires with Bosch +4 plugs.

 

OK wires, plugs and CPS on order from BPU. Wish me luck...

 

consider it wished!