Last week after lunch, I went to pull my 2011 Super duty power stroke (6.7) into traffic from the curb where I was parallel parked. Just as the truck fully entered the traffic lane, the engine shut off and the message center display the following "STOP SAFELY NOW". I mean stopped dead and would not even crank.

Luckily, there was no oncoming traffic that was unable to avoid smashing me so I dodged the bullet this time.

After a few phone calls, I was able to get towed in to the dealership, and the next morning I was informed that a defective exhaust temp sensor registered a temp of 2200° and thus shut the engine down.

Does anyone else think that a system that shut you down with no regard to where you are in traffic is a safety nightmare at best? I mean, what if there had been a large truck barreling down on me when it happened, or what if I were negotiating an S curve at high speed on the highway?

I was told by the dealer that they "Had been seeing a few of these" of late. Has anyone else had a similar experience? I thin kthis design is a very good cause for a recall before someone gets hurt or worse.

Your thoughts please.

Tim

 

I agree with you, seems there could be a warning when the temp hits 2100 or something not just a complete shut down.

 

I think that sensor is in place to protect the motor. I am no diesel expert but i think too high of egt's will kill one quick.

 

Definately don't want to hurt the motor but a flashing warning light to get you to back off the throttle seems like it would be a better idea than killing the engine on you no matter where you are

 

Allaboutmpg. I agree %100 with you but like i say i am no expert. Ford prob. has a reason for doing this. Hopefully someone chimes in so i can learn!

 

When I got my Mark LT, i knew it neede a rear sway bar......checked with every mfg, either no one built one or i was not pleased with the design or quality. I spoke to the guys at FRP, they were very candid....basically the Ford Engineers belive the "black box" (traction control system) with a host of other goodies will take care of everything........now the guys at FRP lol when i said......
ok, let me get this straight.....
"Let's wait until we get into trouble, then rely on a couple of black boxes to save us", so I built my own rear sway bar assembly......above the axle, clean, using existing oem hardware.

While I agree the black box system can really prveent a lot of maintence & other type failures, when you take away 100% of the human elements ability to make the final decision, you're in trouble.

 

EGT sensors are there to protect the motor. Yours registered 2200F that is not the set point. Just where yours read at.

Normally you'd get the message to stop safely now and it would give you a bit of a notice to pull over.

these sensors have failed but truely it is a rare failure.

It is designed to protect the motor.

Normally if you let it sit for awhile you can ever start it up (after it has cooled down). Not sure how long you'd be able to run it before it did it again but it may allow you to move the truck a bit.

08-10s you can by pass this but you really need to know it is just a bad sensor and not something else.

 

I am thinking that you were probably below a certain MPH, had you been at like 30MPH or something, I dont know if this would have happened. Either way, even going 60mph, you should still have time to safetly get to the shoulder. I had a fuel pump die at 80mph, I had time to get across 3 lanes safely, and come to a stop.

 

OK, first off, it was not hot. I had just started the motor. the sensor was defective and that is why it read hot. It would not even crank once it shut down. It didn't give me any time to do anyting, it just shut down.

Speed really hasn't got that much to do with it. If I had been pulling out of the parking lot at my office from a dead stop during traffic, I could have been killed.

It may be designed to save the motor, but I would much rather lose a mootr (especially under warranty) than to lose life or limb.

IMHO, this is a very dangerous design flaw.

Once again, has anyone else encountered this issue? I have instructed my family that, should I end up dead pulling into traffic or something similar, thay need to have the exhaust temp sensor checked.

 

whew... that's pretty scary.

Seems like the on board software should be smart enough to catch a sensor failure in this situation. I mean, if you just start the truck up from cold/cool and one of the first readings is 2200deg then it should know that's unrealistic.

 

This is why there are warranties.

 

I would try to contact someone at Ford if that's at all possible. Like you said, if this happened to someone in the wrong place at the wrong time they could end up dead. I guess that's what it will take for Ford to change it.

 

If 2,200F shuts off the engine, an EGT of 2,199F on a 2011 O.K.?

 

Per my understanding the sensor malfunctioned in split second. Would that be actual engine overheat, getting to 2200 F would take time and you'd get warning, but evidently the software was programmed to shut off the engine at 2200 and it did what it was programmed for. Rare failure and that is probably why programmers didn't make back up program for it.
Welcome to the digital World

 

A lot of manufacturers set their trucks to cut off in instances when a sensor detects vehicle killers. Usually those are coolant temp, coolant level, oil temp/level/psi, turbo speed and here lately exhaust temp. My first experience with the exh temp was in a 40 ft detroit diesel powered bus loaded with passengers and it cut off going up a hill. Some of these parameters can be adjusted to just throw a light but most fleets want the vehicle cut off to prevent driver from killing it. I think Ford does it for the same reason to save the engine and to prevent setting the carpet on fire if the exhaust was 2200 degrees. . Usually u get a warning first and then it will reduce power to allow you get off the road. In your case, the sensor fried and instantaneously hit the threshold to disable the truck.
Fortunately, you were not hurt and was able to get it fixed.