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Shaken by power loss

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Hi,

I was doing 30 mph and accelerating slowly when the engine suddenly hesitated and lost power. Then the whole car wobbled - or wormed rather - and the AdvanceTrac warning light turned on for a second. It felt like a puncture. No CEL. The whole thing lasted for maybe two seconds and then the car went back to normal+ the tires are OK...

Could it be a misfire that caused the engine to shake, setting off the AdvanceTrac?

/Swede
 
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cloud9 said:
Welcome to my twilight zone.... :( Do you have a code reader? Would be interested to see if it's the same P0611 I am currently chasing.

Nope, but I'll get one for sure. I read your post on P0611 and it seems you are getting the wrench light whereas I got the traction control warning ???

Like you said, let's hope it was an anomaly... (though in my experience faults never go away to stay away, they just regroup and come back twice as strong :p)
 
TheSwede said:
Nope, but I'll get one for sure. I read your post on P0611 and it seems you are getting the wrench light whereas I got the traction control warning ???

Like you said, let's hope it was an anomaly... (though in my experience faults never go away to stay away, they just regroup and come back twice as strong :p)
I've also had a number of other warning lights flash with the wrench, just not always the same ones. You're exactly right about the faults.....
 
I had something similar happen to me last week. I accidentally bumped my key in the ignition with my knee while adjusting myself while driving and the engine heisitated and lost power. I saw the advanceTrac come on momentariliy. Scared the crap out of me - but that is what caused mine.

Tony


TheSwede said:
Hi,

I was doing 30 mph and accelerating slowly when the engine suddenly hesitated and lost power. Then the whole car wobbled - or wormed rather - and the AdvanceTrac warning light turned on for a second. It felt like a puncture. No CEL. The whole thing lasted for maybe two seconds and then the car went back to normal+ the tires are OK...

Could it be a misfire that caused the engine to shake, setting off the AdvanceTrac?

/Swede
 
96
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Tonywaz BOSS said:
I had something similar happen to me last week. I accidentally bumped my key in the ignition with my knee while adjusting myself while driving and the engine heisitated and lost power. I saw the advanceTrac come on momentariliy. Scared the crap out of me - but that is what caused mine.

Tony

I'm pretty sure I didn't touch the key, but I'll be keep it in mind if it happens again!
 
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Fomoco302 said:
Current and former Harley owners know the tradition of "the bell" to keep the gremlins away. Maybe the Boss needs it's own "tradition". :-\

Cool, I didn't know that :) Yeah, if all else fails, superstition might just be the answer ;)
 

Justin

Save the dawn for your dishes!!!
Was traction control on? Mine will do that if it thinks the car is going to get bent out of shape one a quick 1-2 shift. This is why I always leave it off
 
I have had the same thing happen, once with a person from Ford Racing driving the car. That time the engine stayed running but all electronics shut off and then came back on. It showed the AdvancedTrac error for a second. When the electronics returned the entire car reset, like you were starting it up, example getting the track key message.

My dealer reported the problem and they were told to a pin test in the instrument cluster. They did and found nothing wrong. Ford did not follow up and the problem was more or less forgotten. Good luck trying to figure it out, it will not be easy.

On another note: My car has gone into error mode and the AdvancedTrac message stays on five of the six times the car was in Daytona, not just at the track but driving around town. This is not the same as what happened to you but I felt both problems were related.
 

jneary

Performance Fords
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Norcal
So, I have had a similar thing happen when i was accelerating up a hill. I was not on the throttle hard at all but hit a slight bump in the road and the car just lost power for a second and I thought it was going to die outright. After about two seconds, it regained its composure and took off.

I think advance trac can feel very unsettling when it kicks in. You may have had a slight wheel spin over a slippery spot in the road unknowingly and the advacetrac kicked in.

Not sure how many of you have had traction control equipped cars before but I just came from a 1995 GT and the most compute intensive system on that car was the ABS. The only time the engine in that car hesitated was just before I ran it out of gas once.

Though some of us have bonafide issues, some might be feeling normal traction control operation?

Just my thoughts...

John
 
96
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Justin said:
Was traction control on? Mine will do that if it thinks the car is going to get bent out of shape one a quick 1-2 shift. This is why I always leave it off

Yes, it was on. Although I was driving very smoothly when it happened - apart from what I believe was the engine shaking when it lost power.

YellowBoss said:
I have had the same thing happen, once with a person from Ford Racing driving the car. That time the engine stayed running but all electronics shut off and then came back on. It showed the AdvancedTrac error for a second. When the electronics returned the entire car reset, like you were starting it up, example getting the track key message.

I might be wrong, but when the AdvanceTrac symbol flashes yellow - isn't it just a warning that the stabilization system is activated? Or is it an error?

jneary said:
So, I have had a similar thing happen when i was accelerating up a hill. I was not on the throttle hard at all but hit a slight bump in the road and the car just lost power for a second and I thought it was going to die outright. After about two seconds, it regained its composure and took off.

I think advance trac can feel very unsettling when it kicks in. You may have had a slight wheel spin over a slippery spot in the road unknowingly and the advacetrac kicked in.

Not sure how many of you have had traction control equipped cars before but I just came from a 1995 GT and the most compute intensive system on that car was the ABS. The only time the engine in that car hesitated was just before I ran it out of gas once.

Though some of us have bonafide issues, some might be feeling normal traction control operation?

Just my thoughts...

John

Well, it might be the traction control is acting up; I have driven many cars with all sorts of anti-fun/stabilization/traction control systems so I am pretty familiar with how it feels when it kicks in. In terms of the Boss, it has been a very relaxed system so far. I have done powerslides without it taking over, so I was quite surprised when this happened.

My guess is still that something caused the engine to misfire; it lost power before the AdvanceTrac lit up. The squirming motion might have been a combination between the engine shaking and the stabilization system trying to counteract. It's not likely caused by a wheel spin, since I was not doing any G's in any direction when i t happened.

Thanks for all the ideas!

/Swede
 

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