[72CSTC5]

Originally Posted by bwood

I'm with the Autozone scanner idea. They check it for free, but do take their advice with a grain of salt (the guys around here do more guessing and up sells than trouble shooting). I picked up a middle of the road Actron OBD II scanner for around $90 at Sears (on sale for 99.99 from 129.99 and 10% off that for in store sale. How could I pass it up. I have had the same back and forth with a Ford Dealer on one of our work trucks:
-cylinder misfire, tune up, IAC valve
-Oxygen sensor, bad coil
-MAF, CTS

Finally I said screw it and did the MAF and CTS myself. Everything good for about 2 days, came on again, had it scanned again some of the same stuff and some new ones. While trying to leave it wouldn't start, jacked with the cables and it started. Got back to work and started cleaning cables and found bad corrosion about 8" down the jacket on the positive cable and the short negative about 3". Replace both cables with OEM style set from NAPA and the codes cleared (because the battery was unhooked) and it has been 5 weeks and no codes.

You are correct my friend, you would be surprised what a low or bad battery or dirty connections will do.