Power loss when accelerating on freeway (Finally fixed)

[gbub]

My Bronco is going in to the dealer on Friday to determine what is wrong with it. I have not had a chance to see if it threw a code but I am sure it did. I searched this website to see if anyone has experienced what I did and I found nothing about it..

Last evening when coming home from work I was merging on to the freeway. At one point I floored it to get up to speed to blend in. When I did the Bronco kind of hiccupped and I could not maintain speed with the check engine light flashing. I pulled over to the right lane incase I lost all power. I had to be very light on the accelerator pedal to keep the engine from misfiring. The flashing engine light would go steady sometimes but as soon tried to accelerate it would start flashing again. I eventually exited the freeway and when I could stop I shut off the engine and restarted it to see if it would reset. That did not help.

I stayed on side streets and limped home. It seemed to get progressively worse. I did manage to get it home and immediately called the dealer for an appointment.

I am just curious if anyone else has experienced this and may know if it is serious or not. I have less than 1900 miles on it and it has been working flawlessly until now. I have been so happy with it and now am concerned about its reliability. I have been a Ford man all my life and have not had issues like this with any of my Fords.. I am now diving my 2002 Ranger with 305K miles on it until my Bronco gets fixed. Seems odd my old Ranger has to relieve my brand new Bronco.

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[PWillette]

Hard to diagnose without knowing what it was throwing for codes...turbo issue maybe. @flip may be able to help.

 

[Ducati1098]

Flashing check engine light is caused by misfires. What caused that or if it’s something else also will depend on diagnosis.

 

[SWLABRONCO]

Ducati1098 is the expert, I'm just a tinker. I could be the fuel pump though.

 

[5111]

I had a hiccup like that once. I pulled the battery and then reconnected. It has been fine since then.

 

[gbub]

I am suspecting that it has something to do with the turbos. I was watching the boost gauge and is seemed the misfire would start when boost gauge went above zero. The odd thing is, boost seemed to come on when it normally would not. Maybe the misfiring was activating the boost.

I am going to let the Ford dealer service department do the diagnosis. I just posted here hoping to get some information with anyone that may have encountered something similar. I may still check for codes tonight just to get an idea of what is happening.

I am so used to doing my own diagnosis but I am new to the Ecoboost era and complexity that comes with it. I just signed up last week for the Premium Care Extended Warranty for 10 years and 100,000 miles. I will still do a lot of my own work but the dealer will be doing the more complicated stuff.

5111, that maybe a fix and I would try it if I had no other recourse. Since I have the appointment with Ford Service, I will let them do their thing. Thanks for the information though.

 

[Brian_B]

Your next purchase should be a code reader. Get the right one and it can double as Forscan adapter too

Interested to hear what the dealer says

 

[gbub]

Your next purchase should be a code reader. Get the right one and it can double as Forscan adapter too

Interested to hear what the dealer says

I have a code reader. At least I do if the code reader for my 2002 Ranger works on the Bronco. I also have Forscan and I am pretty sure I can read codes with that too.

 

[CarmeloS]

What code did you get?

 

[Poppavein]

Probably too many doors.
Verily, your Ranger has no problem.

 

[gbub]

I did pull the codes with Forscan. My code reader for my 2002 Ranger would not connect. Apparently it is VIN locked because it also has my performance programs for reflashing the computer.

I got nothing that was helpful. The codes indicate random misfire, #1 cylinder misfire, #2 cylinder misfire, #3 cylinder misfire. I really already knew most of that. I didn't try any diagnostics and will let Ford Service take care of that.

I accidentally clear the codes but took it for a drive to see if it still had the problem and yes, it did and the same codes came back. I just hope it doesn't get worse and totally quit on the way to the dealership. It is only a couple miles so I can probably limp in.

 

[wjtinfwb]

My Bronco is going in to the dealer on Friday to determine what is wrong with it. I have not had a chance to see if it threw a code but I am sure it did. I searched this website to see if anyone has experienced what I did and I found nothing about it..

Last evening when coming home from work I was merging on to the freeway. At one point I floored it to get up to speed to blend in. When I did the Bronco kind of hiccupped and I could not maintain speed with the check engine light flashing. I pulled over to the right lane incase I lost all power. I had to be very light on the accelerator pedal to keep the engine from misfiring. The flashing engine light would go steady sometimes but as soon tried to accelerate it would start flashing again. I eventually exited the freeway and when I could stop I shut off the engine and restarted it to see if it would reset. That did not help.

I stayed on side streets and limped home. It seemed to get progressively worse. I did manage to get it home and immediately called the dealer for an appointment.

I am just curious if anyone else has experienced this and may know if it is serious or not. I have less than 1900 miles on it and it has been working flawlessly until now. I have been so happy with it and now am concerned about its reliability. I have been a Ford man all my life and have not had issues like this with any of my Fords.. I am now diving my 2002 Ranger with 305K miles on it until my Bronco gets fixed. Seems odd my old Ranger has to relieve my brand new Bronco.

Haven't had any issues with my 2.7 Bronco, 16k miles without a hiccup. But, our '16 EcoBoost Focus ST did the same thing. Turned out to be a defect in the intake manifold allowing a massive ir (vacuum) leak that was flooding the engine with excess air under throttle. A new manifold and gasket solved the problem. Totally different car and engine, I know. But the symptoms sound identical.

 

[BroncoChallenger]

Since you're under warranty I would definitely let the dealer take care of it, but there are several things that can cause random misfires on basically the front half of the engine. The first I'd be looking into would be a vacuum leak, which can be tested by spraying WD-40 around the intake with the vehicle running - if the RPMs change then it's leaking.

I'm not entirely certain how the turbos are plumbed but IIRC there is only 1 entry point into the intake plenum (through the throttle body) so I wouldn't think it's a turbo issue since you'd have more than 3 cylinders misfiring.

With 1900 miles I highly doubt it would be plugs or a fuel pump unless you got SEVERELY contaminated fuel. It's possible you have bad/old fuel but it would have to be pretty bad/old to make it THIS bad.

Personally I'm leaning toward an intake leak as suggested above. But again, it's under warranty, make them fix it.

 

[gbub]

I considered the possibility of it being bad fuel but I had been driving for at least two days on a fill up before this happened. Unlikely it is bad fuel. With just one side of the engine misfiring, I think a bad intake is a good guess.

I am hoping to find out tomorrow from Ford Service what the problem is.

 

[Ducati1098]

I considered the possibility of it being bad fuel but I had been driving for at least two days on a fill up before this happened. Unlikely it is bad fuel. With just one side of the engine misfiring, I think a bad intake is a good guess.

I am hoping to find out tomorrow from Ford Service what the problem is.

Did you check for rodent damage? Or at least take a look under the hood at all?

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