Flashing check engine light

[Russael]

Well, I've had my first unusual, significant concern with my ride.  26k miles on it, bought new 2013.  In general, I've never had a problem with the car aside from some annoyances, such as having the FCIM take a crap on me.  Replace, update, done.  Calibrations are all up to date.

 

I have never put the car under heavy acceleration before today.  Was at a rest stop with 2 lanes of traffic closed, so not much of a re-entry ramp.  I saw an opening, hit the gas while in EV Later mode (about 80% of wide open, didn't even reach the yellow part of the power meter), got up to about 35MPH and heard the engine RPMs go way up while feeling the car reduce acceleration speed, and had the MIL or check engine light start flashing at me.  I had too much traffic behind me and no place to pull off so I continued to accelerate to speed.  No warnings about stopping safely, etc.  Once I hit the needed speed (for me, 65MPH), the ICE returned to normal RPMs, and it behaved as normal.  After a few cycles of hybrid and having the ICE alternate between EV and running, the MIL went dark, which took about 3 minutes.  This was all in EV Later.

 

I'm sort of wondering if the battery was reaching the bottom threshold of hybrid, so therefore it came out of power depletion mode while under heavy acceleration.  That would explain the reduction in power... however... it doesn't explain the flashing MIL.

 

I'm going to try pulling codes from it tomorrow and see if anything is stored.  I was reluctant to try it again since I was about 90 miles from home, but now that I am home, I'm going to wind up destroying my driving score to try to get it to do that again.  If it does, off to the dealership I go.  Yay for a 5 year powertrain warranty and Ford Premiumcare.

 

The car has been babied... usually no more than 2 1/2 bars of acceleration... ECO cruise used... never really travel faster than 65.  I love the car and I know and understand issues happen.  Now the fun part of trying to get it to do it again, especially while in dealership hands.

[muzicman61]

Good luck! Keep us posted on the outcome.

[Russael]

Code was stored... cylinder 3 misfire.  Very strange...  I didn't notice if the engine stumbled when that happened, but it ran smoothly aside from the heavy acceleration (and when the RPM went way up).  I'll have to keep an eye on it and maybe pull the spark plug and check to make sure the coil isn't loose.

[Russael]

Took it on the freeway again, same conditions... accelerated at about 80%, no problem.  Pushed it to the floor, no problem.  Took it up to 80, no problem.

 

Next step is to pull the engine cover off and check the plug and coil pack.  If all is good there... may have just been a fluke.  I've seen weirder!

[murphy]

Could have been a piece of dirt or some water in the fuel injector.

[jeff_h]

My 2010 FFH had a couple misfires when I really mashed the gas - got the same flashing light, which was gone soon after.

[chancelperry]

Code was stored... cylinder 3 misfire. Very strange... I didn't notice if the engine stumbled when that happened, but it ran smoothly aside from the heavy acceleration (and when the RPM went way up). I'll have to keep an eye on it and maybe pull the spark plug and check to make sure the coil isn't loose.

So I was pushing my 2015 FFE coming back from Austin to Oklahoma City keeping up with a Shelby Mustang. Pushed it a little too hard but didn’t think anything of it until the check engine light started flashing and noticeably loss in power. It went off after a few miles but ever since then I feel the loss in power, especially in the get up and go. I’ve also noticed a significant drop in fuel mileage on EV later. I only get like 32-33MPG using fuel only, speeds around 50-65mph. Any thoughts? It’s not throwing a code and the dealership won’t even look at it. 67k miles.

[Russael]

So I was pushing my 2015 FFE coming back from Austin to Oklahoma City keeping up with a Shelby Mustang. Pushed it a little too hard but didn’t think anything of it until the check engine light started flashing and noticeably loss in power. It went off after a few miles but ever since then I feel the loss in power, especially in the get up and go. I’ve also noticed a significant drop in fuel mileage on EV later. I only get like 32-33MPG using fuel only, speeds around 50-65mph. Any thoughts? It’s not throwing a code and the dealership won’t even look at it. 67k miles.

 

I haven't had any noticeable reduction in fuel economy or how it performs.  Seems it was a fluke... hasn't done it since.

 

I now run the car on premium fuel; the compression on the car is quite high (over 12:1) and even the manual says a slight knocking or pinging is normal... Well, I know knocking is BAD, and premium isn't that much more expensive, and I don't gas up that often, so it's worth the extra 5 dollar investment.  No idea if this has any impact on that one misfire incident I had.

 

I still get near 50MPG putzing along at 65 in EV Later mode.

 

Only other thing I can think of is possibly something is slipping inside the eCVT...  I can't remember if 2015s were a part of the engineering bulletin for a transmission fluid leak (mine had this too; caught it while changing my own oil a few years ago), but if your tranny isn't making any funny noises, vibrating, you don't feel the car lurching, etc, then that's probably not the case.