First off, let me say hi to all and I hope to be a helpful participant at this site. We bought our daughter a 2010 CPO Escape (3L) 2WD and she loves it. I have long been a Ford dude.

Anyways, here is my issue. On Monday my daughter calls me and says that while driving down the highway her Escape would not speed up. She would press on the gas pedal and nothing would happen and it just seemed to idle rough. She managed to pull over onto the shoulder and while I was talking to her she said the little wrench light was on and it was idling rough, but when she pushed on the gas pedal the truck did nothing. I asked her to turn off the key and re-start it and see what happens. BANG, that fixed the issue. I didn't think much of it.

Tonight I get the same phone call, but she was right down the street and was able to coast down the street and into our driveway. I went out and saw what she was talking about. She was correct. The gas pedal has no effect on the car and the wrench light comes on. When I parked it I tried to push the gas and nothing would happen. I popped the hood and could see nothing wrong. I turned the key off and on and started the car up and we were back to normal?????

The weather has been warmer the last few days and she has had the A/C on, but really that shouldn't cause this. Has anyone seen or heard about this happening. Sort of scarey to have your daughter driving with this type of issue. We have about 40K miles on this, so the warranty is out now (of course).

Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

 

The PCM is unhappy with something. It's throttle-by-wire, so the PCM commands an electric servo to open/close the throttle. There is no mechanical connection between the gas pedal and the throttle plate in the throttle body.

Codes need to be read from the PCM to find out what is stored.

The Bumper to Bumper Warranty is 3 years/36,000 miles.

The Powertrain Warranty is 5 years/60,000 miles. so you are in-warranty.

Next stop - Dealer service dept.

 

I have read of other similiar problems which turned out to be a the throttle body end of the DBW system.

 

The APP could also be at fault.

 

I have an older model ODB II reader, so I cannot hook up to this car and pull the code. I have a buddy bringing me his this morning, so I can hook up to the daughters truck tonight. I will see what the code is, and looks like I'm off to the dealer for a hopeful repair. Hopefully it's just the throttle body being sticky or just in need of being swapped out.

Also, I guess its time to get a reader that can work on a CAN system. I hope the code is stored still; by tonight. I have read stories where the codes are not there. We shall see..


Thanks for your help and I will report the resolution when I get it.

 

Well, my fear came to reality. No codes stored on the PCM. I checked for current and stored codes and it came up with "none found".

I have an appointment tomorrow morning with the local Ford dealer, but I'm guessing they are going to say there is nothing found. This could turn into a long drawn out issue. I hope not!

 

My first thought was the Drive By Wire system. Especially when it 'corrected' after cycling the ignition & power. The gas pedal has a pot that varies depending on pedal position. The computer gets that info, and moves the throttle plate open to 'match' the demand, and of course, closes as needed.
If it doesn't get a signal due to wires, connections or faulty pot{potentiometer}, the PCM won't command the throttle to open. Viola. The vehicle won't move.
I would think that NHTSA would want to know about the condition where you cannot get the vehicle to move ... such as when you are crossing train tracks, or pulling onto a highway or through an intersection.
tom

 

Well I'm sitting at the dealer waiting for them to show up. The on thing that I hope works in my favor is that I forgot we purchased the Premium Extended Warranty for this truck; thinking our daughter was moving to AZ for school. With that bring said, I hope they figure it out or I'll be making lots of trips back. Get to know them on a first name basis.

 

Well, as I suspected. The dealer could not pull a code for this truck. It apparently resets the code when you flip the key off and on. Weird????

Anyways, they test drove it a few times throughout the day and could not reproduce the issue. I wonder if it was heat related, as we ran into the high 90's and low 100's earlier in the week, and no we're in the 70's? Maybe temp related???

Anyways, I guess I keep the code reader nearby and when she goes into LIMP mode, I plug in and read the code before it gets reset.

Any better ideas???

 

Read the first 6 paragraphs. Hmmm...

U.S. reviews request to investigate 1.6M Ford Escape SUVs | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

We had a Mopar minivan with the 41TE "UltraDrive" 4 speed auto transaxle. This was their first 4 speed auto for FWD, which was used for many years. Years of production from the beginning all failed. We had the 7/70 factory warranty, and used it right before 70k miles. It would bump-shift intermittently after some years, and finally went into 2nd gear limp mode. Shut it off an restarted, and it stayed out of limp mode. Had the shop manual with me, and read that the Mopar computer would keep all codes stored for 50 ON-Off cycles of the ignition key (using FIFO-like algorithm). Took a bunch of cycles to get home due to distance away when it happened. Took it to the dealer and told them NOT to shut it off till someone read the codes. I followed the car through the garage, told each person not to shut it off and why. I wanted to be sure that I didn't lose the opportunity, especially so close to the end of the warranty. They read it, said oh boy, yeah, we will be rebuilding under warranty, we'll schedule it with the trans guy. A little over a week later, got it back, they did a very good job. Latest updates, never had trouble with it again, kept it for many more years.

It's odd that the Escape codes are "reset by key" just like that, gone!
So odd, that I wonder if that is WRONG!
It goes against design of computerized systems. If you have the capability to store trouble info, store it so it can be used for troubleshooting. I wonder if the dealer person didn't know what they were doing, or if the codes are in some certain address area that they were clueless about.

 

Torky, what timing. Thank you 100% for that info. I will keep my eyes and ears open for future info on this.

As for code reading. I also tried reading the codes myself, using a Pro style code reader. Pretty self explanatory on how to grab these new, or stored, codes. I read on other websites where others have seen this too. It may be a bug in the software code, whereas it doesn't move the error log to a non-volitile memory area. Or, the error is set up to trigger the Limp mode, but not really an event that should be covered in that codes parameters. I've dealt with high tech equipment over the years and software code writers can get it wrong at times.

Thanks again!

I'll keep you all posted on updates

 

[QUOTE=Torky2;12343859]Read the first 6 paragraphs. Hmmm...

U.S. reviews request to investigate 1.6M Ford Escape SUVs | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com

QUOTE]

Pretty bad PR for the Ford Escape, but think about all the other vehicles out there from other car manufacturers how had as many, if not more, recalls than the Escape.

 

My purpose in linking the DetNews article was in the first 6 paragraphs, its synergy with the problem under discussion.

 

From what I've read there are a few codes can't be cleared even by a dealer, only by the PCM ciircuit that set the code. Others are cleared by the PCM after x amount of following tests, starts, idle time, speed, drive cycles, etc. Wrench codes are different than SEL/CEL codes and need a high end scanner to read.

 

Totally understand. It was just very timely for me. Keep us updated if you hear anything more. Thanks!