Hey guys, thanks for your help in advance. Bought this truck off my dad just under a year ago, been running fine up until a week before Thanksgiving. It's a 2016 SuperCrew Lariat with the 3.5 Ecoboost and 79k miles.

It started out with a stutter and stumble under light acceleration, like you do when you hit a slight grade and want to maintain speed. Then it went nuts, flashing warnings of all kinds, and the accelerator quit working. Shut it off, turn it on again, and the truck would run fine.
Borrowed a friend's OBDII scanner and it revealed cylinder 3 & 4 misfires and Throttle Body stuck off codes. So I replaced the throttle body and cleared the codes.
After a couple days driving the check engine light came on again. Used the scanner and cylinder 3 & 4 had misfires again. Swapped cylinder 3's plug and coil with cylinder 1, and 4's plug and coil with cylinder 5. Couple days driving and cylinder 5 threw a code again. So I ordered new coil packs (whole set). My dad had replaced the plugs at 65K miles, but didn't do the coils, and the four plugs I looked at while swapping cylinders looked fantastic.
Threw the new coils in and reset the memory by jumping the positive cable and negative cables (battery disconnected) and test drove again. After a couple hours of driving with rough idle and poor performance the check engine light came on. Scanned the codes and got five:

APIM U3000:04-08 Control Module
FCIM B1082:07-08 Right Temp Damper Motor
IPC U0140:00-08 Missing Communication with Body Control Module
PAM U0131:00-28 Lost Communication with Power Steering Control Module A
PCM P0354:00-EC Ignition Coil D Primary Control Circuit/Open

It's running like crap, rough idle, no acceleration, etc. I half expected a misfire code or two for not putting fresh plugs in with the coils (kind of against the rules, I know), but this whole mess has me suspecting more computer related problems; or electrical issues. I'm off to check connectors and try clearing codes. Maybe I'll swap that #4 coil with #5 just for giggles.

Thanks again for any help you guys can provide.

 

When multiple electrical issues and codes pop-up all at once, it seems like it usually boils down to a couple of culprits. A weak battery, or moisture / corrosion in a wiring harness connector somewhere. Or both. These new vehicles are basically a bundle of electrical connectors and a battery wrapped in pretty sheet metal!

Always start the diagnosis by checking battery acid level (if applicable) and resting voltage. Battery voltage should be a minimum of 12.4 volts after sitting awhile and 12.5 – 12.8 volts or better soon after driving the vehicle. If its below 12.3 you have a parasitic draw or a weak battery.

Battery voltage with the engine running should be 14.5 or better. If it’s less than that, the alternator / voltage regulator may be the issue.

Check battery connections and cables for corrosion, damage, or loose bolts.

Check all body ground connections and cables for corrosion, damage, or loose bolts.

Step two is to disconnect battery and let any static electricity bleed off for 10 minutes or more before reconnecting and starting vehicle. If the battery is old, start by replacing that before chasing your tail.

Once you have determined that the battery and charging system are not the culprits, it’s time to start checking the wiring connections.

One problem that seems to creep up more than it should, is water getting into the main fuse panel (Ford calls it a junction box) under the hood on passenger side behind the battery. When this happens, the dashboard lights up like a Christmas tree with fault lights. Quite often the lid has not been snapped down tight and water and dust gets in there. From there water can get into the connectors on the bottom side of that box. If there is evidence of water having been in the junction box or corrosion on any of the contacts in the box or connectors below, it’s best to replace the junction box.

Another common problem is water / moisture getting into the wiring harness connectors under the truck in the rear surrounding the spare tire and rear bumper including the trailer wiring 7 pin plugs. Pull apart any / all connectors you can get your hands on and clean the contacts. Then apply dielectric grease to the female side of the plug pins to keep the water out. Reassemble.

Another area of potential concern is when the windshield leaks or the sunroof drains send water into the interior fuse panel located in the passenger side footwell. When that happens, typically the carpet will be wet in the surrounding area. Sometimes the water will continue past the floor and pool in the door rocker panels and create issues in there. Pull the plastic doorjamb panels up from the floor and look in there for water. Obviously that water will need to be drained and the area(s) allowed to dry out.

Obviously, there is potentially much more to diagnose, but these are all good places to start based on many of the comments from this forum. Good luck and let us all know what the problem was!

 

Jake nailed it.

Also, any coils other than Motorcraft will cause you issues, even when new. Avoid the so called "upgrade" coils from Accel or any other performance company and those that the big box parts stores say are OEM equivalents with "lifetime" warranties.

 

Thanks guys for the help. I had an 07 XLT before this, and a 00 Ranger before that. Sometimes all the added tech feels like just more crap to go wrong. BUT; we seem to have a fix. I took the truck into a shop to have the battery tested. It's from late 2020 and tested out good, but the guy didn't like the look of the negative terminal clamp. (I didn't either) So he ordered me in a marine clamp from Standard, and I got that replaced this morning. $6 later I drove two hours for my kid's dentist appointment this morning with no codes. Truck ran smooth, was able to accelerate and pass cars on the highway, and generally run like it always should have.

My theory is the wimpy stamped clamp stretched with disconnecting/reconnecting the battery multiple times with the throttle body cleanup and replacement, and then coil replacement. I couldn't get it good and tight. Almost tight, but not quite. After removing it, it appears that there's really just a small contact patch at the base of the connector stud and if there's any corrosion (none was visible) it's going to make for a weak connection. Weak connection (maybe intermittent as the truck bounced along) caused all the various codes and component faults.

Such a basic issue to cause so many problems.

Thanks again,
Jim