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WOT - stopped accelerating after 2nd gear

ExPlat

Well-Known Member
Joined
October 29, 2016
Messages
294
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Location
AZ
Year, Model & Trim Level
2016 Explorer Platinum
I just experienced a new problem with my 2016 ExPlat (14k miles on it) and thought I'd run it past the experts here. I rarely drive this car hard and today's event has me worried.

This morning with the engine warmed up with no traffic nearby I turned onto a long curving freeway on-ramp. As I straightened out of the turn, going about 15 mph in 2nd gear, I floored it, it downshifted to 1st gear and off we went. Not very far though.
At the point it upshifted to 2nd gear the engine sort of died and the car began slowing down, like starving for gas. I left my foot on the pedal, floored, and the car continued to slow down, the car was basically coasting. After about 5 seconds I lifted my foot from the pedal, the trans upshifted and I gently put pressure on the gas pedal at which point the car then performed normally and accelerated to the freeway speed limit. All of this happened very quickly.
There were no other symptoms and I finished my 5 mile trip home with the car acting normal but I didn't try a WOT again.
A couple months ago, under warranty, the Dealer replaced all the injectors, fuel rails and high pressure fuel pump plus the 12v battery, since all that work the car has never run better, nice and smooth. I have done a couple short rolling WOT's during that time - now this.

I haven't tried to repeat this morning's event, should I? Any thoughts about why this happened or what to do about it.
Thanks in advance.
 
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Thanks for that Peter. Mine did not have reduced power, the engine simply would not run or upshift, as in no gas to the throttle body. Next time I'm in a safe place I'll give it another try.

Just now I started the car in the Engineering Test Mode and no DTC's were logged in the dashboard display. After that I hooked up my OBDII scanner using Torque and once again no historic, pending or logged DTC's.
As we know, the Dealer can't do much without some evidence. I wonder why it would just stop accelerating like that, then run ok a few seconds later. Crazy.

Dave
 






Thanks for that Peter. Mine did not have reduced power, the engine simply would not run or upshift, as in no gas to the throttle body. Next time I'm in a safe place I'll give it another try.

Just now I started the car in the Engineering Test Mode and no DTC's were logged in the dashboard display. After that I hooked up my OBDII scanner using Torque and once again no historic, pending or logged DTC's.
As we know, the Dealer can't do much without some evidence. I wonder why it would just stop accelerating like that, then run ok a few seconds later. Crazy.

Dave
Hi Dave. It might have to do with the throttle body as this appeared to be an issue with some of the 2016 models.
http://www.explorerforum.com/xenforo/index.php?threads/2016-explorer-throttle-body-problems.444245/

Peter
 






I've experienced some weirdness on various vehicles, and it's basically been put down to 'confusing' the computer, so that it didn't know what to do, and that pause of taking your foot off the gas gives it a chance to figure it out. Mine have typically been from foot off the gas cruising towards a red light, and then stepping on it when it turned green.
 






I've experienced some weirdness on various vehicles, and it's basically been put down to 'confusing' the computer, so that it didn't know what to do, and that pause of taking your foot off the gas gives it a chance to figure it out. Mine have typically been from foot off the gas cruising towards a red light, and then stepping on it when it turned green.
Yes, I suppose that can happen, maybe this event was as simple as that, there are no obvious error codes.
Today we had some errands and the car ran great at various speeds, no WOT attempts though.
But, from the consumer side of things it is more than annoying to have such an advanced engine/transmission system that won't do a basic operation every time, like a WOT request.

This Explorer is 1-1/2 years old with 14,000 easy miles and so far it has spent an inordinate amount of time in a Dealer service bay, for jobs large and small. There are repairs pending awaiting parts, one of which the Dealer says 'is not available', hard to figure for such a new car. I am glad my wife was not with me when that acceleration 'lapse' happened, she is not very happy with this cars reliability as it is and I haven't told her about this latest hiccup yet. This was the car I just had to have...
 






I'm thinking it's related to the electronic TB.
 






I have experienced a very similar issue before. It has always happened on the downshift/upshift 1/2.

First time I was merging onto the highway and stepped on it and it hesitated like it didn't want to downshift, then it did and bang! transmission failure.

Second time it happened(after rebuilt transmission) I stepped on it in 2nd and it went to shift into 1st and it was almost like it just went into neutral and was coasting. I took my foot off the gas this time in fear of another transmission failure.

Hasn't done it since. I will say that I have zero confidence in the transmission programming of this truck. I have started to use the paddle shifters if I want to drop it down aggressively.
 






613GT500, Fentress24 - thanks for your thoughts.
Yes, it dropped to 1st, accelerated like a beast, shifted to 2nd and immediately began coasting, but it was not freewheeling, it was in gear. I let up the throttle, gently applied pedal and all was normal again - glad it didn't Bang!
So far upper gear shifts seem normal, I'll just avoid WOT blasts in the 1-2 shifts.
I'm trying to stay positive about this vehicle, but.....

I have to call to my Service Advisor about 3 other things anyway, I'll mention this event and the throttle body/trans programming possibilities, that oughta overwhelm him - haha.
 






I've had a similar problem with my 15' Sport " falling on it's face" at random times when I mat the throttle. It falls on its face and continues to sag until I let off and reapply throttle.
 






I've had a similar problem with my 15' Sport " falling on it's face" at random times when I mat the throttle. It falls on its face and continues to sag until I let off and reapply throttle.
That is it in a nutshell, 'falls on it's face', great description! Sorry to hear that your Sport does this annoying behavior too.
 












if you very rarely give it hard acceleration (Wide Open Throttle), sometimes water and oil puddle in the outlet side of the intercooler and under high boost that mix gets pushed into the engine.
Don't know if the Explorers have this issue at all but the F150s do http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...758-f150-ecoboost-drilled-my-intercooler.html
I don't drive this car very hard but after reading the posts in that link you provided it definitely adds another variable to this situation, thanks.
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From the link above: In the right conditions (high humidity, low boost), the intercooler can cool the air down enough that it will condense water out of the air and leave you with a slug of water in the intercooler. If you suddenly call for more airflow (such as when you stomp on the gas to pass someone) it can suck the water out of the intercooler and into the engine. Being as water is not very compressible, you can hydrolock the motor and bend rods if it ingests enough of it at a time.
 
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They purposely added a plastic shield on the driver side of the intercooler to make it less efficient to avoid this problem on the Exploders. I deleted mine and drilled a hole with a tiny drain hole on the IC and added a catch can and breather since I'm adding more boost, but mine doesn't have warranty so it makes no difference to me:thumbsup:
 






They purposely added a plastic shield on the driver side of the intercooler to make it less efficient to avoid this problem on the Exploders. I deleted mine and drilled a hole with a tiny drain hole on the IC and added a catch can and breather since I'm adding more boost, but mine doesn't have warranty so it makes no difference to me:thumbsup:
Many thanks for the info. I guess we're back to it 'falling on its' face' from either the throttle body or a transmission programming issue. Without DTC's it is hard to pinpoint.
 






it might not be a good idea but you can stay on the throttle and hopefully the issue happens for long enough to store a code if it happens again
 






In the last week I started hearing a 'whine' from the transmission that is rpm related, then today the trans had several moments of indecision about shifting from 1-2nd at low speed. On the way home tonight I tried the WOT 1-2 shift twice, the first time it almost fell on it's face but recovered, the second time it shifted normally.

I have an appointment tomorrow to have the Dealer take a look at this transmission problem - and 5 other warranty issues with my 1-1/2 year old car with 14,500 miles.
Wish me luck.
smileys-car-brands-618427.gif
 






In the last week I started hearing a 'whine' from the transmission that is rpm related, then today the trans had several moments of indecision about shifting from 1-2nd at low speed. On the way home tonight I tried the WOT 1-2 shift twice, the first time it almost fell on it's face but recovered, the second time it shifted normally.

I have an appointment tomorrow to have the Dealer take a look at this transmission problem - and 5 other warranty issues with my 1-1/2 year old car with 14,500 miles.
Wish me luck.
smileys-car-brands-618427.gif

Best of luck brother and let's hope your ExPlat comes back with a new transmission.
 






Got the ExPlat back, didn't get a new transmission. Getting a problem fixed that doesn't have DTC's and is not reproducible is difficult.
The Tech explains the 'falls on face' occurrence with this explanation: "During a WOT transmission upshift the computer has an engine rev-limit threshold of a maximum RPM for each gear, if by chance this RPM is exceeded the 'governor' will shutdown the fuel until the gas pedal is lifted, then resume normal operation. After testing all parameters of the transmission it passed within normal limits (WNL). Road testing did not show another occurrence and was not reproducible."
What do ya think of that clever answer? Sort of makes sense but I can't imagine Ford making/selling a car that could possibly do this in an emergency situation. I have never owned a car that did this.


This was my list for this Dealer service event. I get loan cars each time the car is in for warranty work.
1. Trans issue - not reproducible. Fail.
2. My radiator fans squeal after shutdown on a hot day, this was not reproducible in the shop, fans working as designed. Fail.
3. Driver's side folding mirror squeaks when folding - replaced. Win!
4. Passenger window stuttered when lowering, placed thin foam strip in window channel. Win, maybe...
5. APIM bezel was broken by shop personnel when they repaired my loose roof rack and the headliner was removed, replaced. Win!
6. Had Cabin air filter replaced. Wife opened grove box tonight and it fell on the floor, the side retainer string is broken. Fail! The car will go back tomorrow to get this fixed.
Edit add: showed the service manager this shoddy workmanship, they had to install a new glove box retainer strap and the entire glovebox as the plastic hinges were cracked. The service manager was really embarrassed about the bad job they did. An expensive mistake for them, and time wasted for me.
 
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We're on a trip now that passed through the California desert to the mountains enroute to Lake Tahoe, the car is pretty loaded and with 3 adults. On several ocassions I had to pass slow moving RV's and trucks on 2-lane highway. In about the second hour of the trip I had a breathtaking moment as I was going about 50mph in a desolate part of the Mojave desert, floored it to pull out to pass a 18-wheeler and on the downshift from 6th it 'fell on it's face' again. Not exactly the performance I was expecting. I corrected this Ford shifting excitement by letting up the gas pedal, applied the pedal again and resumed my hope it would accelerate, it did, we lived.

This downshift follies occured one additional time in my trip. Then there is the ocassional banging into gears and the time it would not accelerate from a stop sign while traveling up a mountain road unless the pedal was floored, then let off, sigh. Needless to say, I have adjusted my driving to compensate for the unexpected shifting of this $57k disappointment.

Trying to get any dealer to fix or repair an intermittent failure like this very is frustrating. I'll be contacting my service manager next week, maybe some codes will be stored when we get home.
 






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