Slow Take-off Surge/Hesitation/shudder

[DGrot777]

I've read this on a few Explorer and F-150 forums. Usually happens when I make a quick run to the store or the gas station. Shift into drive and push the accelerator a little bit and the car goes: accelerate, no accelerate, accelerate, no accelerate kinda like you're tapping the gas. Wont do it when cold, always when its warmed up and not sitting for too long. Only way to avoid this is to use more gas when pulling out of a parking spot/gas pump.

There are no codes, no abnormalities while driving. Car is stock. Anybody experience this or find a fix? Seems like the explorer guys tried replacing plugs, transmission drain and fill, throttle body replacement and nothing changes. They suspect condensation in the intercooler?

 

[yaycandy]

May not have boost maybe.
Id start by checking hoses on intake. 1 always comes off as it dont have a clamp from factory. Check couplers, clamps, hoses, boost solenoid (black box thing up top with electrical connector and like 3 hoses i believe). Also could be the bypass valve o ring being bad
In other words, welcome to owning a twin turbo. Always check couplers, clamps and hoses

 

[DGrot777]

May not have boost maybe.
Id start by checking hoses on intake. 1 always comes off as it dont have a clamp from factory. Check couplers, clamps, hoses, boost solenoid (black box thing up top with electrical connector and like 3 hoses i believe). Also could be the bypass valve o ring being bad
In other words, welcome to owning a twin turbo. Always check couplers, clamps and hoses

Hmm, I'm doubtful it's a boost leak. I'll monitor the boost pressure tomorrow see what I get. Will update.

 

[kgbpackfan]

Mine does kinda the same thing. While driving and barely putting on the gas the rpm jumps up and down. But when I put on the gas more it goes away. I did spark plugs, no luck. Maybe throttle body? And anyone have issues at times while accelerating it feels like wheel hop that makes the car shake. It does it now and then while accelerating fast. With traction control off it does it less. The rpm jumping is totally a different issue with the weird wheel hop issue I have. Maybe my tires suck and some wheels are not catching up with the others cuz of bad traction? I got the car almost 2 months ago. Would love to figure it out. Thanks to whoever points me in right direction.

 

[yaycandy]

I had the same issue but with the bovs venting back out it was psh psh psh over and over at a certain way i was cruising. My tuner saw it and said it was just a small boost leak causing it. I found a small crack in my intercooler from age in the plastic bottom and a small split in the plastic oem coupler system off the turbo. I replaced the intercooler with a mishimoto and all new solid piping to turbos and the issue went away. Splits in plastic turbo piping is common on these. They need pulled off and inspected. Not bad pricing for new ones on tasca either. Also a great reason to upgrade to epp dual intake or hotpipes.

Here is how mine looked

 

[DGrot777]

I had the same issue but with the bovs venting back out it was psh psh psh over and over at a certain way i was cruising. My tuner saw it and said it was just a small boost leak causing it. I found a small crack in my intercooler from age in the plastic bottom and a small split in the plastic oem coupler system off the turbo. I replaced the intercooler with a mishimoto and all new solid piping to turbos and the issue went away. Splits in plastic turbo piping is common on these. They need pulled off and inspected. Not bad pricing for new ones on tasca either. Also a great reason to upgrade to epp dual intake or hotpipes.

Here is how mine looked

View attachment 17496

I actually have the EPP noise maker delete and dual intake ready to get painted and put on. I don't think I worded my question quite right. I don't mean the car is slow or lacking power. I mean I have an issue when I purposefully drive off slowly. My BOV's are VTA by Boomba adapters and I don't hear anything abnormal.

 

[yaycandy]

Driving a fast car slow isnt right. Now driving a slow car fast is.

 

[DGrot777]

Driving a fast car slow isnt right. Now driving a slow car fast is.

I dont needa go 70mph pulling out of a gas pump or thru the walmart parking lot

 

[yaycandy]

I dont needa go 70mph pulling out of a gas pump or thru the walmart parking lot

Oh yea i forgot you said about that, yea thats not a normal feeling going slow. Im probably maxed out with a tune and about every part available for the platform and its real smooth. Now stock tune was ify because theres a certain spot where the Ford dead pedal is real jumpy. A tune fixes that to just make the jumpy part when you stomp it and sucks you back like you cant breathe.

Yes you will get build up in the intercooler. Dont drill into it like i did 1 time. Just pull the hose off the side and use a mini vac. Shouldnt be much in there though. This is where DI kinda failed in my eyes. A catch can will mostly prevent this, look into them. Some are cheap and some are large and expensive. The cheap jlt one will do fine

 

[DGrot777]

Oh yea i forgot you said about that, yea thats not a normal feeling going slow. Im probably maxed out with a tune and about every part available for the platform and its real smooth. Now stock tune was ify because theres a certain spot where the Ford dead pedal is real jumpy. A tune fixes that to just make the jumpy part when you stomp it and sucks you back like you cant breathe.

Would be a nice bonus if the tune fixes that issue. I'll be changing a lot stuff out very soon. I picked up an Ortiz power pack, the epp intake, noise maker delete, ppe catless dp, msd coils, AD mounts.

 

[Laser411]

Mine does kinda the same thing. While driving and barely putting on the gas the rpm jumps up and down. But when I put on the gas more it goes away. I did spark plugs, no luck. Maybe throttle body? And anyone have issues at times while accelerating it feels like wheel hop that makes the car shake. It does it now and then while accelerating fast. With traction control off it does it less. The rpm jumping is totally a different issue with the weird wheel hop issue I have. Maybe my tires suck and some wheels are not catching up with the others cuz of bad traction? I got the car almost 2 months ago. Would love to figure it out. Thanks to whoever points me in right direction.

Check your transmission fluid. I had this issue for a while, most notable in 5th/6th under mild to medium throttle. Very rhythmic and pretty predictable. Mine ended up being slightly low and/or old transmission fluid. Went away completely once drain and filled.

This is in reference to the low throttle rpm bounce.

 

[Sho2021]

Did you ever find a solution?

 

[DGrot777]

Did you ever find a solution? I have a 2013 SHO stock, the issue started w/ short / quick RPM fluctuations after a quick stop at a gas station, this is about a year ago, then it proceeded to shift hard between 2-3rd gear and catch it at 4th, and most recently getting on the throttle entry to the free way, complete loss of RPM @85 mph. With no power, I merged to the right and brought the car to a stop. zero power when pushing the throttle but the engine was spinning and the throttle was repsonsive to RPM but not turning the tranny. Put it in park, shifted back to Drive, still nothing. Powered down, waited a few minutes, restarted like nothing ever happened. No codes, nothing to go on. Have had it into the dealer several times w/ no luck, last time they changed the O2 sensors, but with no codes, I'm searching this forum to find something similar. The car has 80K, its in immaculate condition otherwise I would just say the **** w/ it and walk away. I'm afraid now to give it power and drive it! Maybe throttle body and the early RPM issue which is still here could be the initial start of the problem?

Sounds like a torque converter issue in your case. I replaced the transmission and torque converter with a low mileage and my issue still persists but my hard shifts are gone. I've learned to live with it. I'll look into it again this summer but my boost is reading 14 psi, no check engine light. Suspecting plugs or throttle position sensor.

 

[Billy VK]

The slight surging at very light throttle while leaving my driveway turned out to be.... ready?.... stretched timing chain... the car had a water pump begin leaking. Went in to have that big job done and it made sense to do the timing chain at the same time. It is an issue with these cars. Had a buddy do the work, but had multiple Ford mechanics tell me the timing chain and water pump issues happen as early as 20k miles into life. Ridiculous. Made repairs and issue is gone.

 

[SM105K]

The slight surging at very light throttle while leaving my driveway turned out to be.... ready?.... stretched timing chain... the car had a water pump begin leaking. Went in to have that big job done and it made sense to do the timing chain at the same time. It is an issue with these cars. Had a buddy do the work, but had multiple Ford mechanics tell me the timing chain and water pump issues happen as early as 20k miles into life. Ridiculous. Made repairs and issue is gone.

How many miles are on your SHO?