Updated 7/29 [Engine Seized, Full Replacement Under Warranty] My Bronco shut down after sand dunes run

[Efthreeoh]

Agree. The most hilarious part is the fanboys have no clue on how ridiculous they actually sound. Shocking how they not only seem to expect to be given crap, they seem to like it.

I'm giving $40K to Ford in trade for a new Bronco, and I sound ridiculous for liking the company?

Lol.

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[85_Ranger4x4]

What I posted was the brand reliability rankings, not the CR review of the cars.

And I was just giving an example of why I have little to no faith in their company.

 

[FlyingBronco]

Not only "the thing", but a first year, newly designed, supply chain constrained, covid blasted, tops-gone-bad thing.

Yes, I was being facetious. I have a problem.

Dude, it's a Consumer Reports ranking...

I am aware. Was being facetious.

 

[MrJoe]

hopefully the cup holders survived.... engines can be fixed.

 

[markregel]

Update 7/28
Spoke with the dealer, current indication is that the engine actually seized up. I'm not exactly sure how that relates to the ABS/AdvanceTrac/Trailer Brake system warnings, but I guess that does explain why the engine would not turn over. Being a brand new vehicle, dealer opened a hotline with Ford Engineering to investigate further, understand exactly what happened, and propose next steps. Should hopefully know more in the next few days.

Original Post
Took my Bronco (Badlands, 2.7) to Silver Lake ORV Area in MI last week and spent a couple of hours tooling around the dunes. It was our first time on the dunes, I didn't baby it out there but also didn't do anything crazy that would land me on YouTube. Kept it in sand mode the entire time, had plenty of power, handled great, didn't get stuck. Overall, my family had a great time!

Made it about 80 miles down the road when this fault popped up on the dash. Was running fine on the way home up until then. No strange noises, temp levels normal, no noticeable leaks or anything. Next thing I knew, the engine stopped and we coasted to a halt on the side of the highway. Tried starting it a few times after letting it rest, but it would not even attempt to turn over, just kept displaying this error and the "Service Advancetrac" fault. All interior electronics were working fine, but ended up having to get it towed to the dealer.

It's still being diagnosed, but dealer mentioned a lot of sand underneath and that I might need to file a claim with my insurance which took me by surprise. Am I out of line thinking it should have been able to handle a trip to the dunes?

Hoping it's just a bad sensor or something minor. Love my Bronco but can't help feeling disappointed that it didn't make it back from it's first trip off-road.

Some more info / Q&A from thread:


Doors on the entire time.


The yellow check engine light came on about 5 seconds or so before the trailer brake fault and loss of power from engine. Will definitely keep this thread updated as I hear more.



Yes, I have the factory trailer towing package. Haven't towed anything yet. That would be interesting though because as you've mentioned we've seen a few ABS/Service Advancetrac errors pop up over the last few weeks.

You heard no noises and it was running fine before stopping. When you attempted to start it didn't attempt to turn over. It sure doesn't sound like an engine seize to me. With an engine seize there would almost certainly be some drama before the engine quit. This sounds like a computer issue.

 

[mmcq]

You heard no noises and it was running fine before stopping. When you attempted to start it didn't attempt to turn over. It sure doesn't sound like an engine seize to me. With an engine seize there would almost certainly be some drama before the engine quit. This sounds like a computer issue.

Agreed, and I still have some hope that's the case! Just going by the information I received from the dealer. For what it's worth they did not definitively state that was the issue, just that it was the current indication based on what their tech saw while performing diagnosis. I also know that it's very likely the first time their tech has worked on the Bronco so prior expertise in troubleshooting is limited or non-existent. Hoping the Ford Engineering team will be able to provide some more concrete answers as to the issue and cause.

 

[71to21-2DR]

Agreed, and I still have some hope that's the case! Just going by the information I received from the dealer. For what it's worth they did not definitively state that was the issue, just that it was the current indication based on what their tech saw while performing diagnosis. I also know that it's very likely the first time their tech has worked on the Bronco so prior expertise in troubleshooting is limited or non-existent. Hoping the Ford Engineering team will be able to provide some more concrete answers as to the issue and cause.

Maybe they meant “ceased” nor “ Seized”?

 

[markregel]

Agreed, and I still have some hope that's the case! Just going by the information I received from the dealer. For what it's worth they did not definitively state that was the issue, just that it was the current indication based on what their tech saw while performing diagnosis. I also know that it's very likely the first time their tech has worked on the Bronco so prior expertise in troubleshooting is limited or non-existent. Hoping the Ford Engineering team will be able to provide some more concrete answers as to the issue and cause.

Looking forward to hearing what the resolution ends up being. Please keep us posted. Thanks

 

[rdass623]

100%. CR gives the Hyundai Palisade the best SUV rating. I can tell you right now I will never buy another Hyundai again after this current car. 120k miles and 10 years old and the thing is disintegrating. I wonder how many of those Palisades will be on the road in 8-10 years.

consumer reports is an advertising based magazine. if you advertise with them somehow your product rates better... it is an extortion racquet...

 

[mpeugeot]

I don't trust CR to rate microwave ovens, why would I trust them to rate a car???

The things that CR relies on as comparison criteria are often almost as bad as many health care system metrics (and trust me, those have about 0 validity too).

 

[CJ428]

mechanical things can fail, it just sucks when it happens so soon. Hope it gets better for you.

 

[Lakelife36]

10 years is a decent amount of time - yes - but not especially when you live in a hot/dry climate and only drive on average 12k miles per year.

My Hyundai is the redesigned Sonata with the top trim level and turbo engine. The interior has completely fallen apart despite protection, there have been multiple recalls on mechanical and electrical systems that I paid out of pocket / then waited months to get reimbursed for (even with their warranties in place), and I was lucky to not have some of the catastrophic failures like the metal shavings in the engine that killed a lot of them off (yet...). That combined with proprietary dealer codes which require me to go to the dealer for fixes and the latest issue which was the ABS module failing (a part that costs $1,700 baseline) - I just don't think they are built to last past 5-7 years at all. In this day and age that isn't a long time to keep a vehicle. The resale value even in this market is embarrassing.

In contrast, my wife's 2015 Toyota Sienna is nearly bulletproof. It is 5 years newer but has almost the same mileage and has been taken on many cross country road trips with two boys beating the hell out of the interior (plus my wife's driving style). The difference is staggering with the Toyota.

Bottom line for me is that the Hyundais look and feel great when new and have a ton of luxury options for a good value, but I am not convinced they hold up.

My point about Consumer Reports is that they don't seem to look at past brand quality and contradict themselves - while they rate the Palisade and Telluride extremely high, their used value ratings for Hyundais are all "F"s. I was gifted a subscription so I read their reviews, but take anything they say with a grain of salt.

My 10 year comment was meant to mean it's long enough for car makers to fix issues with design or manufacturing that create problems in some models. It really.sucks.to.hear about your Sonata too, especially if it was a high-end trim. Hope the Bronco.works out better for.you.

 

[centra28]

Update 7/28
Spoke with the dealer, current indication is that the engine actually seized up. I'm not exactly sure how that relates to the ABS/AdvanceTrac/Trailer Brake system warnings, but I guess that does explain why the engine would not turn over. Being a brand new vehicle, dealer opened a hotline with Ford Engineering to investigate further, understand exactly what happened, and propose next steps. Should hopefully know more in the next few days.

wow I'm sorry man. Hoping that you get your Bronco back asap!

 

[Derby]

Agreed, and I still have some hope that's the case! Just going by the information I received from the dealer. For what it's worth they did not definitively state that was the issue, just that it was the current indication based on what their tech saw while performing diagnosis. I also know that it's very likely the first time their tech has worked on the Bronco so prior expertise in troubleshooting is limited or non-existent. Hoping the Ford Engineering team will be able to provide some more concrete answers as to the issue and cause.

The vehicle may be new but the engine and transmission are not. I am sure there are control system differences, but the bones are the same. I hope they find an easy fix and get you back on the road.

 

[Derby]

Some light reading. https://tuningpro.co/the-4-most-common-ford-2-7-ecoboost-engine-problems/

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