Well, for the 3rd time since I bought my truck in late August, I've had had quite an un-nevering experience. The first time (don't remember the date of this incindent), I was in stop and go traffic and had to make an *urgent* stop. The truck felt like it was being pushed from behind and didn't want to stop. I thought to myself that it was weird, but I must not have been paying attention and been imagining things. Three weeks ago, I was making a semi-tight turn at about 10mph in a parking lot, while braking. The engine revved up to about 2000 rpm in the middle of the turn and I had to slam on my brakes to override the engine. It scared the crap out of me! After my pulse rate dropped and my hands stoped shaking, I thought maybe I'm just being careless and somehow depressing both the gas and brake at the same time. (never had that problem in my 21 years of driving though!)

SO, that brings us to today's story. To get into the left turn lane I needed, I had to speed up to pass a vehicle already in the left lane and then get in the left turn lane and brake. The left turn lane was short enough that I needed to brake a little more than usual to get stopped (oncoming traffic prevented me from just continuing the turn). Again, the truck fought my braking, and almost pushed me out into oncoming traffic! As I slowed, I could tell the engine was fighting me again, as it idled up to 2000 rpm, but it had already lengthened my stop. The only thing that stopped the engine from pushing me into traffic was locking up the brakes at the last minute (ABS did engage). As I quickly ran out of stopping space, I also panicked and shifted out of drive - tried to get netural, but it's awful hard in a panic - and into reverse at about 2-3mph. Of course, it made a nice nasty clunk, and the engine finally idled down.

I am so furious with Ford right now that I can hardly see straight!

What this feels like when it happens, is that the torque convereter is not initially unlocking as I brake. As the truck slows, the engine rpms get drug down too low and the engine computer tries to compensate and brings the revs up. The torque converter then does manage to finally unlock (otherwise the engine would stall) but the engine rpms stay stuck at 2000! It's like the computer gets in this "hung" state.

Any thoughts? ANYONE? I'm ready to drive it to the Nissan dealer and kiss it goodbye, as I don't think I'll ever be able to replicate this behavior for the dealer, FSE, DSB, or anyone else who might be able to help me. There's no way I'll let my wife and kids in this truck now!

 

Every time you get in the truck and put it in drive, hit the overdrive button and lock out the overdrive. My truck also likes to stay locked up in overdrive almost all the time. Been that way since I bought it in October and I'm waiting for the tranny to take a dump on me. Until then I'm keeping overdrive turned off and shopping for a decent transmission shop that I can trust (dealer prices are so far out of reality that they are not an option).

The throttle thing sounds like it might have something to do with Ford's drive-by-wire throttle control. I'd hit up the dealer for a reflash at minimum.

 

Yeah, I can see why you'd be a little ticked off. That makes me wonder what you would say to the dealer. If I were you I would demand someone to fix it at the ford dealership and make sure that you let them know that you didnt pay 25 g's to have this thing kill you or your family. If they dont fix it, trade in the truck. I dont think there is anything else you could do on your end. I know that Nissans are great trucks but your not going to take care of your problem by buying a Nissan. Give the f150 a chance. I know that my truck has been the best driven or seen. You might have gotten a lemon but you could be getting a new truck outa the deal. Best of luck buddy.

 

Rocky, are you out of warranty or is your problem hard to reproduce too?

tlouie, yeah the front-end of the Titan got beat pretty hard with an ugly stick, but I could live with it if I knew they have solved most of the quality issues with the `05s. In my mind it's the only decent competitor to the 150.

 

I don't have a warranty, I bought the truck used with 37K miles on it. But I have the same crappy transmission with the same crappy overdrive characteristics. I had a 3000 mile warranty that only lasted me about 5 weeks and I only had one shot at the dealer right before it expired. They replaced the torque converter and that helped but didn't eliminate the problem. By the time symptoms returned 3 weeks later, my warranty was up.

Sounds like yours might be more of an issue with the throttle control though.

 

Sooooo... all that b*tching and you have'nt even taken it to the dealer yet?! Go take it in, describe the symptoms... a cable may need some lube, PCM reflashed, etc... Don't get pissed until your dealer can't figure it out.

 

d - As I said, it wasn't until TODAY that I felt the truck was trying to kill me. The last 2 incidents I was laying the blame on myself or my perception of what happened. NOW I KNOW IT WASN'T ME.

Silly me, I guess a 6 month old truck that nearly injured myself and my son isn't worth complaining about.

 

My thoughts exactly. Why get mad at Ford when you havent even told them you have a problem? Take it in to the dealership, tell them your story and at least let them have a go at fixing it. It may have set a code in the memory so they would have something to go by. Trading in because of a problem you only have told us about is not the correct proceedure.
Also you need to complain to the right people.

 

Fordguy4 life,

I remember reading about a TSB for erratic idle speed and stalling where I think the fix was to replace the throttle body(throttle plate actuator bad). My own truck has had about 6 instances of a surging at low speed. The engine will surge from 800 to 1700 RPM or so in a rolling fashion. Dealership said they updated the calibrations a couple weeks ago(I don't believe them). Anyway the truck did it again just yesterday so it isn't fixed. Do some searching on this site and see if you come up with the TSB for the throttle body. Hope this helps. Sorry for the rambling post.

 

kd4crs - thanks! yours is the kind of help I was looking for, as I don't even know where to start to point the finger at this problem. From the response I've gotten I feel like the only guy in the world who's ever had a dealer blow off his itermittent problem, or claim they fixed it when they were taking a wild shot in the dark. This is not a problem that I want to take any chances with.

At least I can laugh at CrAz3D's post.

 

Not to sound like an a**hole, but I had a similar experience, and it turned out that my work boot was catching the gas pedal at the same time.

The two pedals are closer to one another than you think, and it's happened to me a few times.

Chandler

 

Take it to the dealer and pose the problem as a safety issue and a potential liability issue for Ford. If you don't get any results, contact ford directly and the NTSB (feds).

 

kd4crs

I agree with Osbornk, take it in to the dealer at your first chance and tell them what happend and let them know you are not happy right now and want something done about it. A 30 something thousand dollar truck should perform the way you expect, and tell them you are concerned about you and your familes safety in it if it's going to do crap like that. That truck is definately not worth huting yourself or your son. Take care and good luck.

 

My 150 is Possessed by Satan (i think you are referring to dzervit)

Man dzervit i didnt know you had the ability to control our trucks as well!

Later Trev

 

I wear boots to work and I was considering mentioning it in this thread. Since I first noticed my boot pressing the brake and the gas at the same time, it has happened two or three more times.

Yes, I know very well how to drive. The pedals are very close and if you wear boots, you might just try it and see how easy it is to tilt your foot to the right and catch the edge of the accelerator when braking.

If not, then it's dealer time for warranty action (PCM reflash perhaps).