drastic loss of power with bad missing

[Zeke]

There's an old thread on this called, from memory, "dangerous loss of power" or similar.

I'm amazed that people just lost interest in the issue after it was discussed months ago. I now leave more passing room when I have to go on the wrong side of the road in the T than I ever have in any other car. Bloody ironic as it's probably the fastest accelerating car I've ever owned.

In the past, I've driven faster and slower cars, but I trusted all of them to keep accelerating when overtaking more than I can trust the T. Probably the biggest single reason I would consider another car when I trade in about 12 months.

Imagine for a minute that an aircraft engine had the same propensity to go "out to lunch" without warning when needed the most. Well, you'd be just as dead hitting a semi head-on at high speed as crashing on take-off.

I don't know what the answer is, but it occasionally makes me wonder about the advantages of having a turbo if, like me, you're not into dragging people off at the lights. I thought part of it was safer overtaking, but this issue makes that a potentially tragic joke.

Everytime I get a chance to use the acceleration, eg going from a 60 to 100k zone at the beginning of the SE freeway to the Adelaide Hills each day, I flatten it (and usually overshoot the 100kph)....partly because it's an opportunity to enjoy the acceleration I paid extra for..... and partly to reassure myself that it will respond when I step on the loud pedal......but this shouldn't be in doubt!

PS Has only "died on me" twice - both over 8000k's ago, but other people's experiences make me a bit nervous.

[Zeke]

One further thought...

Surely it wouldn't be too difficult fo Ford to set the computer software so that the car couldn't go into "limp mode" or similar under sustained acceleration especially WOT. In the right (wrong?) circumstances that could be as bad as having the computer turning off braking power under emergency braking situations.

After all, if you're on the wrong side of the road during a passing manouvre, you want to decide if the engine should go into some protection mode, not some bloody dumb computer that has no idea what's going on out there. I'd prefer to worry about any potential engine problems after I've got safely past and I'm back on the right side of the road.

[XR6_ED]

on the last cruise I experience zero throttle twice....foot flat to the floor and nothing happens to bring it back to life I've released the accelerator and reapplied..but I have also had the pedal make a large crack sound three times now...she is going in on friday for some warranty things so I'll see what they say or do

[Guest BennyXRT]

I think there are two separate issues here.......

I have had both problems with my car:

Firstly, my car was intermittantly dropping onto 5 cylinders and running like a pig. It first started doing this when starting up, there after 10-30secs it would right itself. Then it would do it when driving normaly and would right itself when I re-started the car. Anyway, took it back to the dealer and they found that one of the ignition coil packs was faulty and not firing properly - they replaced it and everything was fine after that.

A few months after that, I would be driving along and when the accelerator pedal was pushed to the floor the car wouldn't accelerate, and in some cases the engine would stop - it would usually right itself when you restart the car. Anyway, Ford replaced the potentiometer on the throttle body and then replaced the throttle body assembly the next day when it wasn't fixed. Since then the car has been great.

I have never experienced overboost though.....

Benny.......

[aaronmihe]

Mario Mendoza, that's a perfect description of what mines doing! To the letter.. It happens pretty much any time in Canberra - but given temps are rarely above 12 degrees when I'm driving it could be temp related as well.

Fordtech, would it be possible that a dealership popped out and checked plugs at the 15000km service point? Becuase just after that is when all my trouble started? (well after the reflash that happened after the service, before that it would cut out randomly once every blue moon)

A.

[FORDTECH]

Aaron,

If you had your service recently then there is a good chance that the dealer could have checked them.This procedure to find out the root of the problem is still in it's infancy and maybe they're just clutching at straws.They have however had a high sucess rate by carrying out this procedure,but obviously (judging by the posts here) it's not fixing all of them.At least they're acknowledging that they have an issue(even if they havent made it public)and are working on a more definate fix.Unfortunately as WhiteTee has said this is far from over and it's not going away.

One thing that everyone that is experiancing this sort of problem can do to influence a hasty solution is found is to make sure that the dealer you are using is submiting this kind of complaint through the dealer EDSR system(Electronic Dealer Service Reporting).When an issue is submitted as an EDSR they are reveiwed with the utmost urgency.The more cases that are reported the more urgent the issue becomes.Unfortunately most dealers dont report these things and the end result is what you are all experiencing(Lack of resolution).

[Buf-Phoon]

FordTech

Thanks for the response. EDSR it is. good tip.Is there a particular fault code to look out for ?My car went into limp on start up tonight for the first time ever, engine warning light on. Restart and all was OK again.

Would appreciate your thoughts

Cheers

WhiteTee

[XR64T]

I couldn't believe it, my car has been running well since the last service (over 10,000kms) and I read this thread last night.

This morning I give it a boot full down the M5 onramp and guess what... the bas*ard just dies on me, misfiring like a bas*ard... backed off a little and it seemed to clear and then went like train all day.

I hope this isn't the start of something...

[aaronmihe]

Thanks Fordtech. When I pop into the dealers today to book in for a handbrake retension (they left it slack when replacing the diff) and get them to have another play with it I'll ask if after 3 trips to to them its worth escalating the fault up to HQ to see if the bright sparks there have any clue

Can't be seen to know the insider terms.... It's interesting to note that Chrysler and Renault delaerships I've dealtwith in the past are far more proactive in escalation than Ford dealers appear to be....

A.

[profrat]

Back from trip to the mountains last night.

I can now sometimes accurately predict exactly when it will drop out:

Going up a hill with an overtaking lane at between 80 - 100kays. In 5th. Pull out to overtake. Use more than half throttle. Bingo!

Happened twice in just this situation. On the third time my wife said 'put the foot down a bit, this is taking too long". I replied that I reconed that it would die if I did. I tried it and sure enough it did!

This could be an miss/overboost thing as the engine was over 2500rpm each time. Will be able to talk to the dealer this week armed with a bit better info. Sounds like it could be what Fordtech has described. Thanks for the insight.

It jhappened a couple of other times. Always when accelerating, but those times in lower gears with a few more revs on.

dangerous!!!!