2006 Expedition - Electrical Issue(s)

[whtbronco]

The VSM is located forward and slightly above the central junction box(fuse panel) on the passenger kick panel. You have to act like a contortionist to see it, well at least I do.

There's 2 grounds behind the passenger front kick panel trim.

I think you'll need to see a dealer or a shop with a computer that can handle the VSM code. Forscan might be able to, it would be worth checking. You'd need a laptop and an OBDII adapter for it, but if it can handle the VSM code and I suspect it can it would be fairly low cost.

 

[dmned]

I've waited long enough since seemingly fixing the problem to feel confident presenting my results. First, thanks to all, and special thanks to whtbronco for the specific direction on the grounds.

Two Sundays ago (6/30) I finally got back to looking into the problem. I was becoming resolved to the possibility the VSM would be the culprit, so I began accessing it by first removing the front passenger kick panel. Immediately upon removing the panel I saw what I hoped would be the problem. The bolt for two grounds – G200 and G201, specifically – had backed itself out and was allowing the ground wires to be somewhat loose, even though the ring connectors kept the grounds from coming fully loose. The picture below doesn't quite do justice to the looseness of the wires, but I could freely spin them around the bolt. Overall I'd say the the bolt had backed out 3/16" to 1/4".



The two grounds on this bolt provide grounding for most everything on and around the instrument cluster (G200) and door locks, VSM, etc. (G201). All the functions I which were giving me issues. It seemed the loose connection was causing intermittent issues with all the things I described.

I backed out the bolt completely and, for good measure, cleaned it and the ring terminals with a wire brush, giving everything a nice shiny surface to ensure a good connection. I put everything back in place and securely tightened the bolt. While in that location I removed the connectors to the central junction box to look for any corrasion, and look over the general area to see if anything else seemed obviously out of sorts. Finally, I verified the voltage from the positive terminal on the battery to this ground connection to make sure the connections seemed ok.

I fired up the engine and checked all the things that had been malfunctioning. No issues. I turned off the engine and checked the door locks and other things. No issues.

I waited several days to post an update to be sure the fix took hold. We have had hot days and rainy days in the past week and everything seems to be working fine.

In the end I installed a new ECU and a new battery, but glad the issue seems to have been these loose grounds and anything further with the VSM or worse. At 310,000+ miles she's still going strong!

I've attached some other documentation for reference.

 

[Yupster Dog]

Always check your grounds when multiple systems are affected at once.
If I had a nickel...

 

[whtbronco]

After I clean up grounds I tend to reassemble them with a nice clean contact surfaces and then put a thin smear of dielectric grease over it to help reduce the opportunity of future corrosion. Just what I tend to do, certainly not required.

Edit: glad to see you got it fixed and thanks for reporting the resolution. It will help others down the road.