2005 E-150 transient fail-safe no-start

[joey9940]

My ’05 e-150, 4.6L has occasional ‘crank but no start’ episodes. Having experienced this event many times, I pause a few seconds after turning the ignition on before cranking. When the van is not going to start, the indications I get are: a 2-second beep, the fail-safe (wrench) and check-engine (engine profile) symbols come on, the temperature gauge stays at the max COLD position, and the overdrive-off light on the stalk is on.

This occurs after the car has been driven a bit and then turned off for a few minutes (typical shopping run around town). Usually the problem goes away in less than half an hour. During the event my code reader says it can not communicate with the car; after the event it says no codes and no pending codes.

NOTE: The dealer has replaced both the PCM and the instrument cluster without fixing the problem.

I think the ONLY cause of fail-safe mode is over-heating, but then the gauge is moved to max HOT.

[knelleken]

does your security light flash during this event?