Harrison Funke

My 2011 FX4 Ecoboost has 63k miles on it. I've experience the dreaded acceleration stutter/lag/limp mode on several occasions during the 18 months I've owned the truck. I did not, however, do any dealer or DIY mods (IC drain hole) to address it...big mistake.

A few days ago it was raining on my commute to work and I had to punch the gas getting on the highway. The truck shuttered badly and the check engine light flashed like it occasionally had in the past during these conditions. Then it went into limp mode so I pulled over to turn the car off and on again which had fixed the issue in the past. This time the light stayed on with a P0306 (misfire 6 cylinder) code. Since then I have no power over 50 MPH on the highway. Any downshift to accelerate causes severe hesitation and shaking. It's a dangerous situation when you have to drive 70-80 MPH on the highway everyday. I also can't get over 4,000 RPM when reving the engine in park.

Any ideas what damage was caused? Could it just be a spark plug/coil pack issue?

By the way I did drill the IC drain hole last night. Got several ounces of oil but no water.

maplelakeduckslayer

Plugs and coils, and by you continuing to drive the truck like that you are damaging the cats. If the motor went bang you'd know. Do not accelerate heavily with it misfiring like that you could blow the engine

Harrison Funke

I've been driving like a grandma as much as possible. I didn't really realize the issue wasn't going away until last night. I will change plugs and coils tonight.

Thanks for your response.

130428

FWIW, when my '11 did that, I found that downshifting manually instead of just pushing the go pedal and wait for the truck to downshift would alleviate / eliminate the issues...
temporary fix anyway to be safer...
then it got into the shop, spend over a month there and then I quit my job... as far as I know it's running good now, no idea what was done to it though

winchested

Ya if you're misfiring you are sending raw fuel into the CATS which destroys/plugs them and you end up with more issues.

safetypin

The factory ECM tune won't allow for revving past 4k in neutral.

Tothemax

Go drill the hole in your intercooler.

Cord

There is also a TSB to replace the coil boots. I'd keep the coils for now and just do plugs and boots.

redcelica

get a catch can. If you're feeling froggy, take the intercooler off (piece of cake) and look at all the crap that drains out of it. While the catch can will not catch any actual condensation itself forming in the intercooler, it will grab the slug that aids in detonation. If you are really worried about it, change the intercooler out with a full-race CAC and intake. Also, regap your spark plugs (or replace them as you stated) to .030.

The actual source of h2o condensation entering the closed system is "theorized" to be the intakes, but that is yet to be actually proven.

tetvet68

Just had the same problem with my '11 FX4. Has new plugs, boots and the carbon cleaning. Was on a hunting trip 275 miles from home. Rained for three days and had the critter go into limp mode. Got a check engine on the 2nd one. Babied it home and accelerating into freeway traffic close to home and it happened again. This time couldn't get over 50mph without a nosedive and misfires. Got it to a close dealer the next day (it had re-booted and was running okay with the light still on ). Talked with the "driveability" tech and he was up on his stuff. He checked it over and found basically nothing and then decided to flush out the charge air cooler (intercooler) and the intake lines and when he opened it up a fair amount of "sludge" dripped out and the tube was filled with watery/oily sludge. I have a picture for future reference if needed. He flushed the system out and it's like a new truck. Accelerates like it used to, no misses and gas mileage appears to be back like when it was new. The tech told ne two things: 1) DO NOT drill the hole if you alter it and something bad happens, Ford may not back it) and 2) Blow it out at least once a week to keep the crap from building up in the intake system. I tend to drive it for gas mileage and the engine doesn't seem to like that on a constant basis. Having said that, I'm thinking the intercooler intake is a poor design that allows water and sludge to build up and then be cycled through the engine when you get the boost up. I am also concerned what effect all this crap going through the engine will have in the long term.


This dealer also said the plugs/boots should have been replaced under warranty but the other dealer said it was normal maintenance and $142/hr. This dealer did all the work and the charge was $0. They said the 5 Yr/50,000 mile engine/drivetrain warranty covers it. I just extended my ESP warranty out to 2020. It was $2500 but that's cheap insurance for the next five years if something major happens. Turbos and engines are very expensive. I'm documenting everything.