New (to me) 2010 Expy. New to Ford. Newb questions...

[DesertFordRat]

I may need to go back and add dialectic grease. After cleaning my maf, throttle body, and adding new plugs my exp seems to respond much better. While not difficult, its a pain to remove all the coils so once I'm done sulking about not doing it ill go back and add that grease.

 

[MCExpy10]

I may need to go back and add dialectic grease. After cleaning my maf, throttle body, and adding new plugs my exp seems to respond much better. While not difficult, its a pain to remove all the coils so once I'm done sulking about not doing it ill go back and add that grease.

I think I might do all of the things you mentioned as well. Yesterday I found myself in a pretty dangerous situation and the truck did NOT respond in the manner that I had anticipated. I'd accept these weird quirks it has, except that this isn't some rare super-car, this is basically the equivalent to the Dodge Caravan in the minivan world.

Some lady pulled out in front of me on the road in front of my work. It's a lower speed road (45MPH), so I wasn't going that fast. It was all just unexpected though, and really dangerous. What I should've done is slammed on the brakes, but I'm not sure that would've saved us from a collision. I swerved around her and put the pedal to the floor thinking that it would boost me ahead of her, and I could safely avoid the situation. I put the pedal to the floor and literally nothing happened. It didn't even sound like it was trying to downshift. I had my foot to the floor for a good 3 seconds, and just nothing. I made it completely around this person with my foot to the floor before I said forget it and took my foot off the gas, meanwhile the truck didn't do squat.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Are there programmers out there that might be able to increase throttle response, but maintain gas mileage? This is just absurd.

 

[stamp11127]

Try this test on a straight road with no one around you so that you are able to pay attention without distractions.
With the vehicle moving, press the gas pedal to the floor in the "normal" manner - don't jam it. Just a nice easy acceleration. Note the response and response time.
Repeat the test but jam the pedal to the floor. Again note the differences if any.

This may be a problem that is inherent to the majority of the automobile industry as they increase the amount of data traffic on the data bus in each car. The specs for the data bus J1850 are 250-500 kbs. Slow by today's standards. Basically the computers are not able to handle the info in a timely manner. If you see a difference in the test above, you are giving the computer more time to respond to the input from the pedal with the slower application.

My wife has a 2015 Fiat 500L that does the same thing as yours. I just drive it differently than the cars we have with a manual trans. Slower.

Should it go back in for a diagnostic, one thing to watch is the response on the tps during a slow application and a rapid application. Their service tool will allow them to see that info - if they bs you let them know about it. All sensors(inputs) and actuators(outputs) are able to be monitored with the equipment.

 

[MCExpy10]

Try this test on a straight road with no one around you so that you are able to pay attention without distractions.
With the vehicle moving, press the gas pedal to the floor in the "normal" manner - don't jam it. Just a nice easy acceleration. Note the response and response time.
Repeat the test but jam the pedal to the floor. Again note the differences if any.

This may be a problem that is inherent to the majority of the automobile industry as they increase the amount of data traffic on the data bus in each car. Basically the computers are not able to handle the info in a timely manner. If you see a difference in the test above, you are giving the computer more time to respond to the input from the pedal with the slower application.

My wife has a 2015 Fiat 500L that does the same thing as yours. I just drive it differently than the cars we have with a manual trans. Slower.

That's what a lot of people are telling me. I kind of think it's something else though. So with your test, if they respond about the same in both situations it's just the way the computer is? Or, I guess a better question might be, what SHOULD the outcome be if everything is "normal".

I'm just having a hard time believing that this is how the truck is supposed to respond. It's ran rough at startup since I bought it, and I can't help but think it's somewhat related. I brought it to the dealership that I bought it from twice, and they couldn't find anything wrong because it wasn't throwing a code (do mechanics even really troubleshoot and diagnose anymore or do they just throw parts at CELs). The second dealership looked over a few things, but didn't want to throw parts at it if it wasn't going to fix it. So, I have to wait and bring it back when it gets colder and starts acting up more.

I know this engine has issues with cam phasers, some of the symptoms seem to line up.

 

[JollyRoger]

I find that if I am anticipating a pass (slow car in front of me) in the 30-60mph range, pressing the trailer tow button on the shifter prior to mashing the gas has helped much with downshifting quicker and giving you the right gear. As for the overall hesitation and cold roughness, I'm going to suggest replacing the coils. Some folks will disagree with me but It's always helped me. Also clean the mass air flow sensor.

 

[stamp11127]

If you Google "drive by wire poor throttle response" you will see that it has become a "normal" issue. Some vehicles will not have it while others will. Some of the threads I've read on it suggest a tuner to solve it.

 

[MCExpy10]

I find that if I am anticipating a pass (slow car in front of me) in the 30-60mph range, pressing the trailer tow button on the shifter prior to mashing the gas has helped much with downshifting quicker and giving you the right gear. As for the overall hesitation and cold roughness, I'm going to suggest replacing the coils. Some folks will disagree with me but It's always helped me. Also clean the mass air flow sensor.

Thanks for your help guys, really appreciate it! I've got that third-party aftermarket warranty that I bought when I bought my truck, so now I just have to convince the dealership(s) to actually replace parts like the coils and MAF. I'm going to see what I can figure out about these cam phasers too.

 

[DesertFordRat]

I think I might do all of the things you mentioned as well. Yesterday I found myself in a pretty dangerous situation and the truck did NOT respond in the manner that I had anticipated. I'd accept these weird quirks it has, except that this isn't some rare super-car, this is basically the equivalent to the Dodge Caravan in the minivan world.

Some lady pulled out in front of me on the road in front of my work. It's a lower speed road (45MPH), so I wasn't going that fast. It was all just unexpected though, and really dangerous. What I should've done is slammed on the brakes, but I'm not sure that would've saved us from a collision. I swerved around her and put the pedal to the floor thinking that it would boost me ahead of her, and I could safely avoid the situation. I put the pedal to the floor and literally nothing happened. It didn't even sound like it was trying to downshift. I had my foot to the floor for a good 3 seconds, and just nothing. I made it completely around this person with my foot to the floor before I said forget it and took my foot off the gas, meanwhile the truck didn't do squat.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Are there programmers out there that might be able to increase throttle response, but maintain gas mileage? This is just absurd.

My 2011 acted similar in that I would floor it and it would hesitate a lot around 3k rpm. Doing the things I mentioned helped a lot, but the 1st and 2nd gears on this vehicle seem underpowered. Its expected for the gearing and weight of the vehicle I guess. Once I hit 4k rpm this thing takes off though, it just takes a second or two to get there. I want to change all the ignition coils, but they all tested fine when I used a coil testing tool. Nice solid blue sparks. I think the next thing to tackle is the transmission fluid and filter as well as have the cam phaser/vct checked out. I have the dreaded knocking, although it is fairly quiet compared to others I've heard on YouTube.

 

[DesertFordRat]

Easing on the petal does yield better results for me. I just a tribute it to being a big vehicle and it should be driven like one.