Taking bets - lets see who wins armchair diagnosis!

[rd618]

Ford dealer is at least a week out until they will even look at it - and I will wait for the codes and check engine before bringing it in again.

Details:
Ford 2019 exped platinum bought used with 94000 mi. Now at 98k. Outstanding condition all around - looks like a 20k truck.

No audible noise at startup except the turbo rattle from cold start that lasts about 1 to 2 minutes. Subsequent starts have no rattle and no noticeable phaser noise.

PROBLEM:

-Yesterday had rough idle at a light and then poor accelleration, and whoop whoop noise when attempting to accelerate - noticed a bit of turbo boost wavering at this point.

-drove ok but lack of accelleration. made it to destination. after an hour I drove home.

-On drive home I had Check engine light come on and experienced same rough idle, bad accelleration , no noticeable whoop sound.


FORScan at home: P0011 Camshaft bank 1 over advanced
P0016 Cam Position Correlation Bank 1 sensor A

Today I cleared and did relearn - It drives like a champ right now without any issues.

What is your best guess that the Dealer will find?


PS - I do have extended Fordprotect
PPS - I have had the rough idle 2 other times since I've owned it but it cleared up right away.

Lets see who wins the Diagnosis!

Did you get an oil analysis back from your used car purchase? Especially with 90k+ miles you should have done one.
The code issue you have should be taken seriously, especially if not the first time you can have an issue with oil flow due to poor maintenance.
These engines are rough on oil.

 

[shelties-rock]

This

Well I had codes of “power train malfunction “ and “reduced power”. The FORD dealership saw those codes and kept my car 1 1/2 weeks and gave it back to me saying they couldn’t replicate the problem so it was “operating as designed”. THEN I had to pay the entire car rental of over $600 since my car was “operating as designed” which was over $600. I have to wait until I break down in the middle of nowhere b4 they will be able to diagnose the problem. Btw, it is still under warranty w/45k miles and just now 4 yrs old.

 

[Calidad]

Bad battery can trigger lots of odd behavior with modern vehicles start there.

 

[BP 09]

If you don't have cold start phaser noise (if you did, phasers could cause your issue), then I'm going to bet a dirty or failing VCT solenoid, betting the last owner did 6000 mile oil changes with crap oil. Just know that pretty much any fault in any major engine system (VVT, ignition, fuel) can cause limp mode like your describing.

 

[BP 09]

Well you cleared the error so dealer might say don’t know and send you packing. How old is the battery? Old or bad batteries can easily cause electrical issues with various systems and sensors even tho it starts up. When my 4yr old battery got soft I noticed goofy shifts and unresponsive throttle inputs randomly about 4 days later I noticed the sun roof wouldn’t open. New battery and all was fine again.

Used unknown history truck? Also possible it was run with a aftermarket tune and you now are seeing issues with various systems as a result. The aftermarket tune BS doesn’t play nice with Ecoboost engines.

Issues from an aftermarket tune? I have yet to see anyone with a gen 2 3.5 ecoboost like this to have mechanical issues from a tune unless they are running some back woods homemade tune. In fact, most good ecoboost tuners can make these engines and transmissions run better and more reliably with better fuel trim management and better transmission strategy.

 

[2018ExpyPlatinum]

betting the last owner did 6000 mile oil changes with crap oil

6000 miles!? I go one year or 10K (whatever the DIC says) and use that fine Ford quality oil. The big girl runs fine, no issues. IDK, let it blow up. Flame away.

 

[Calidad]

Oil quality definitely differs between brand and oil type. Nothing was more obvious in this when Mobil 1 euro spec synthetic stopped shipping to the US. US Mercedes dealers literally were scrambling to find an alternative that met the same standards. Three vehicles I ran on it went from zero measurable usage to 2-3 quarts used in 3000 miles literally from one oil change to the next. All three vehicles did exactly the same thing at the same time and my Mercedes buddy knew why. US oil quality spec requirements were dumbed down some time between 2005 and 2010 can’t recall the yr. At which point the higher quality Euro spec oils like the Mobile 1 everyone swore by became cheap filler high volatility junk oil. This did cause additional issues for several auto makers who were also transitioning to new types of hardened metal surfaces and direct injection engine designs which further complicated the problems.

Basically the gap today between quality motor oil and cheap garbage oil is quite big. Vs say 15yrs ago the gap was much smaller.

So yes quality oil vs cheap garbage especially in these turbo engines many driven hard by people who are just clueless can definitely lead to issues.

As for aftermarket eco boost tunes yes most have had various issues most being fuel mapping and things like mucked up combustion chambers etc. These modern DI engines even with as perfect as possible fuel mapping still are not great at keeping things clean in the combustion cycles.

The good news is most people doing tuners don’t own the vehicle bank typically does, and they rarely keep them long enough to ever see the problems. However 2nd owners get to deal with the trash later.

 

[Dice Roll]

The cam codes are concerning, but how many miles on the plugs?

 

[BP 09]

6000 miles!? I go one year or 10K (whatever the DIC says) and use that fine Ford quality oil. The big girl runs fine, no issues. IDK, let it blow up. Flame away.

Ouch man your brave!! I'm over here changing mine every 3-4k but I'm tuned and drive like an a$$ so i play it safe

 

[LokiWolf]

A few misnomers in this thread, and clarity I think is needed. There is some good advice, and some questionable/misdirected in my opinion.

Those that said VCT Solenoid, are probably spot on. Easy swap, and not an expensive part. The symptoms are spot on for it going bad.

Other advice that was given like replace the battery if OEM, and replace the plugs(ESPECIALLY if OEM), are spot on. You will notice an improvement in behavior from both. These motors are hard on plugs, and the Motorcraft batteries are meant to get you to 36K.

Now, for the oil discussion. @Calidad is correct, that there are major separations in oil out there. That being said Ford puts Semi Syn in these motors. The Motorcraft Semi Syn has tested well in many 3rd party tests, so it is a good solution, as long as changed regularly. As far as the time frame, it is based on how you drive. Many cold starts, lots of idling, towing, driving like a bat out of hell, all of those mean you should probably do it sooner than the recommended interval. That being said, the ECM does take A LOT of those factors in to play on the oil life meter. Sooner is ALWAYS better than later, but those saying they are doing 3K, and drive normal, you are indeed wasting money. There is a balance.

Tuning...can it cause more wear and tear on the Motor/Trans, simple answer, YES! Done right, that additional should be VERY minimal. Running larger turbos, E85, and flogging the crap out of, well DUH, things are going to break. Enjoying some extra power and doing maintenance, like regular oil changes, and changing the plugs, you aren't going to have any issues. In some cases at 60K/100K it could run better than one owned by the average Soccer mom that did the bare minimum in maintenance and upkeep.