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engine problem

1K views 10 replies 6 participants last post by  The Haverstraw Man 
#1 ·
My 2011 E. Limited with 3.0, 130,000 miles, lately it feels like something is holding it back. At idle, in neutral and revving the motor...smooth. While driving running a feels like not hitting all 6 cylinders and not very responsive to the gas pedal. No codes. Transmission serviced every 30,000 miles. Just not running smooth and has no get up and go. Any thoughts?
 
#2 ·
in park how does engine rev when pressing gas pedal. responsive or not, immediate response when applying gas
fuel pump? check fuel pressure.
also check for air restriction and/or throttle body operation
else tranny problems. shift lever in low gear how does it respond.
attach obd and check fuel trims/o2 data when in park and drive
check brakes
 
#3 ·
Response good in neutral. I just filled it up and added a bottle of Techron. 40 mile daily commute, 20 miles high way speed and 20 miles local (under 40mph) round trip. I did gas up, last tank, at a major brand chain station. lets see what happens. Feels like a bad throttle body again but Ford replaced it under warranty. That time the wrench light went on and you had to stop, turn engine off and restart and worked well until it did it again. I am giving it the K.I.S.S. treatment (keep it simple stupid). Will post again after tomorrow's commute.
 
#5 ·
Two thoughts... Check that you can feel / sense the transmission shift through all the gears that it is supposed to. If it skips a few... you may be having a failure that is otherwise not apparent. Almost the along the same lines, check how well you can 'coast'. If there is excessive friction or drag in some part of the brakes or drivetrain, it won't coast as well as it should, so that would uncover that sort of problem. If it has drag, it will seem lethargic and emulate a loss of power but actually power is fine, but being wasted generating heat.
tom
 
#6 ·
tomw said:
Two thoughts... Check that you can feel / sense the transmission shift through all the gears that it is supposed to. If it skips a few... you may be having a failure that is otherwise not apparent. Almost the along the same lines, check how well you can 'coast'. If there is excessive friction or drag in some part of the brakes or drivetrain, it won't coast as well as it should, so that would uncover that sort of problem. If it has drag, it will seem lethargic and emulate a loss of power but actually power is fine, but being wasted generating heat.
tom
To help this process, manually shift through the gears.

In other words D1 when you first take off, D2 when needed, d3 when needed and so on. When manually shifting like that does it still feel laggy or like there's a loss of that could be engine related like a cat.

If the problem goes away then it could be a converter or solenoid pack is failing and not locking up the converter when left to its own devices.
 
#7 ·
Thank you everyone. Half way home from my commute ( about 30 miles after putting in the gas treatment) engine smooth out and things seemed back to normal. Even hit 80mph on the bridge crossing the Hudson River (about two miles long and never a cop on the bridge looking for speeders). It is amazing how many symptoms can be the result of different problems. It is that my 2011 Explorer had a check engine light on and off for over a year. Code P4020 and nothing else (code = inefficient catalytic converter right side). Then last week it started bogging down when I wanted to accelerate. Read the code P4020 and P0301. Of course the number one cylinder is under the intake and near the fire wall. Replaced the number one coil and all new factory plugs and new boots on the other five coils (Ford now sells factory boot replacements for the Explorer, before the only way to get a new boot was to buy a Ford coil). A lot of people disagree with me that when you replace the plugs replace the boots. Cleared the codes, running like normal again and no check engine light. Then My Escape starts acting up and figure WTF. Problems moved from one car to the other. Go figure.
 
#8 ·
With the way the Escapes coil drivers get smoked, I think changing the boots is a good idea.

I replaced the boots on the COPs on my Grand Marquis a couple of times. With each plug change (100k interval, car has 320k when I donated it/junk yarded it). I could see some starting to split and one swole up from coolant leak and looked like it was starting to track up to the mounting screw.
 
#9 ·
Well after todays commute its running like a champ. Just one more word about the COP. It has been my experience that once a cylinder reports a misfire it takes the coil with it. I have never replaced an entire set of coils. Most shops will recommend replacing all the coils to ensure no future problems, good advice but not necessary and expensive.
 
#10 ·
So everything was great for about two days. Then the problem came back worse then ever. After pulling into a convenience center after getting off the high way the front drivers side wheel had smoke coming from it. Just changed the front left wheel caliper and all is well again. I ordered a right side caliper and am going to replace that one too. May not be necessary but I think I should, if one side went bad more than likely the other side is not far behind. One thing that surprised me is that it did not take out the pads and rotor. Go figure.
 
#11 ·
Well after changing the caliper the problem came back............WTF.................So after doing some research the Escapes have a front brake line problem. I did also. Replaced the drivers side front brake line going to the caliper. So after a couple of days the problem is definitely gone. Could not even blow air through the old hose. Research shows that in interior of the hose start to give off particles and clogs the hose. Now I am going to replace the other side....................................
 
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