Short lived blinking CEL on acceleration

[longliveSHO]

Hi all, recently got my 2011 SHO home and I have to say I love this thing so far... except one glaring issue:

Whenever I give 'er the beans there is a decent chance that the check engine light will come on and start blinking. The first time it happened I pulled over, shut the car off, and when I turned it back on 30 seconds later it was gone. Happened again, same results. Last night, however, I was not able to pull over when it happened and instead coasted for 20-30 seconds and the light went away all on its own. I have not been able to get a code reader on it yet since it doesn't last but I have reason to believe it's a misfire. The car stumbles when it happens but comes right back and behaves normally when I get off the gas.

Of course, this does not happen every time either. Sometimes it will rev right up into the higher registers without question and never stumble or trigger the light. The three times its happened were pulls starting in second gear from about 20 up to 60mph.

I have opened up the CAC and drained the (very) small amount of fluid out of it, didn't help though. Any suggestions to alleviate this issue? I would rather not cause any permanent damage... Thanks in advance!

 

[rubydist]

you don't need the code reader while the cel is on - it will store the code(s) for later retrieval.

I just picked up a Panlong bluetooth code reader which works with a free android app called Torque Lite (or paid Torque Pro) for like $12 on Amazon. It seems to read the codes just fine. At $12, we each should have one...

 

[wraitherx]

Hi all, recently got my 2011 SHO home and I have to say I love this thing so far... except one glaring issue:

Whenever I give 'er the beans there is a decent chance that the check engine light will come on and start blinking. The first time it happened I pulled over, shut the car off, and when I turned it back on 30 seconds later it was gone. Happened again, same results. Last night, however, I was not able to pull over when it happened and instead coasted for 20-30 seconds and the light went away all on its own. I have not been able to get a code reader on it yet since it doesn't last but I have reason to believe it's a misfire. The car stumbles when it happens but comes right back and behaves normally when I get off the gas.

Of course, this does not happen every time either. Sometimes it will rev right up into the higher registers without question and never stumble or trigger the light. The three times its happened were pulls starting in second gear from about 20 up to 60mph.

I have opened up the CAC and drained the (very) small amount of fluid out of it, didn't help though. Any suggestions to alleviate this issue? I would rather not cause any permanent damage... Thanks in advance!

Blinking check engine light usually means misfire. I would pull go to your local parts store to pull the codes and then see. Then if if it is a misfire find out which ones misfiring and check the plugs then swap out the COP with another to see if the code follows that COP. If it does you’ve got the culprit. Good luck.


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[SHOdded]

Welcome to the forum!

Misfires are the most likely culprit, I would start with spark plugs, especially if no definitive codes are present. We advise owners of nused SHOs to get routine maintenance like this uptodate for this very reason. Plugs, fluids, filters, etc.

Could be a traction issue but that usually lights up the dash. Flashing CELs are screaming misfires

 

[brucelinc]

A bad or weak COP is another possibility for misfires. I have seen them show no misfires except under heavy load like WOT.

 

[longliveSHO]

Well I pulled a stored misfire code for cylinder #3 as well as a stored ABS yaw rate sensor code... a project for another day. I see in the service history that a "tune up" was performed at a Ford dealership 14k miles ago (at 114k currently), not sure if that includes plugs/coil packs or what else... probably will just replace plugs to be safe. Any recommendations for plugs for a 2011? No tune to my knowledge. Interested to see what's currently installed.

Thank you all for the responses! Coming from the XJ Jeep Cherokee scene, it is good to see such a lively community on another platform.

 

[longliveSHO]

https://www.fordflex.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12308
Found this as well... points to an injector rather than the plug/coil. I'll swap the #3 coil with another one, any other decent way to test an injector?

 

[longliveSHO]

Plugs looked fine, but I replaced with an identical set of SP534s gapped at 0.030". Swapped coil #3 with coil #6. The code still shows up, as Cyl #3.

Threw a bottle of Lucas injector cleaner in yesterday afternoon, now the thing runs like dirt in the upper ranges, feels like it's very low on power and pulses ever so slightly through the 3-5k rpm range. The tach shows this and you can feel it in the pedals.

Checked for the knock sensor chafing issue, none present. There is some thicker insulation down below the exposed black and yellow wires that has absorbed the brunt of the potential chafing. Still re-routed the wiring so it would be nowhere near the engine block just to be safe.

Pulled the negative battery cable for about 2 minutes to reset the computers, no dice. Same symptoms...

I'm running out of ideas! Hoping it's not an injector but if it is I will be ordering one soon... I welcome any input!

 

[Johnbigdog]

Single cylinder misfire is going to be ignition, fuel or a base engine failure on that one cylinder.

Ignition is going to consist of the coil and injector (ruled out by swapping) circuits or the P.C.M. (hint, it's never the P.C.M.)

Fuel is going to be a mechanical injector fault, circuit or P.C.M. (see above about the P.C.M.) Fuel pressure is not at fault as fuel pressure is the same for all cylinders.

Base engine can be an air restriction cause by a valve train failure or restricted intake/exhaust. But really what's the chance one cylinder is restricted that much. Carbon deposits from pcv vapors isn't going to pick on one cylinder. You could have a piston/ring/wall fault. To rule out some of the base engine you can complete a manual compression test and cylinder leak down. The compression of the lowest cylinder should be 75% of the highest. Cylinder leak down max is 20%. Hard to do a running compression test when driving and you can't measure intake vacuum under boost so those are out.

If a manual compression test is good, I would say a safe bet (or at least the most cost effective part to rule out) is the injector.

You could test the coil/injector circuits for shorts/high resistance. Only high resistance won't set a dtc.

You may know some of this, but it seems like people can lose focus on a single cylinder vs whole engine misfire.

 

[SHOdded]

You have to disconnect the battery for 40+ minutes to reset it. OR jumper the +ve and the disconnected -ve cable for a few minutes as a shortcut.

Would be very wary of injector issues. They do go bad on these engines, and with all the work involved in replacing them, best to replace all 6 at one time.

 

[longliveSHO]

I had thought about doing a compression test; what is the best practice to perform one on these vehicles with push to start and individual coil ignition? Is it as simple as pulling the harnesses off the coils and pressing the start button twice? I would also be concerned about filling the cylinders with fuel during this process, should the HPFP be disconnected as well?

@SHOdded thanks for the tip on the battery, I just tried that and it was apparent that everything actually reset this time. Still have the code come up but the funky shifting and hesitation is gone.

Well it's looking more and more like an injector problem... I agree, I will probably replace all 6 while i'm in there. That way it's fresh, and hopefully good for another 100k miles and a tune down the road...

Going to keep poking, but will keep this thread updated with what happens.

 

[Johnbigdog]

If you pull the crank signal (disconnect the crank sensor) you won't have spark or fuel injection.

 

[Johnbigdog]

It's probably easier to enable clear flood by holding the accelerator pedal to the floor and cranking. Be sure to have a charger on the battery.

 

[StealBlueSho]

FWIW my 2010 had the exact same issue at 62K miles. Would ride fine until you get on it and then CEL would blink. I can’t remember the codes but there was 3... one for an injector stuck open code, AFRs stuck rich bank 1, and excessive knock cylinder 3 I think...

Now... mine ended up washing down the cylinder and I had rod knock afterwards..... but I was pushing a lot of power with a meth tune when it got stuck....


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[wraitherx]

Replace the injector if you haven’t already done so


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[longliveSHO]

Well I am happy to report the injector replacement was a success, took me about all day going slow but the code and light have been alleviated! Runs much smoother now.

New issue though, now that I can actually hear the turbos spooling and building boost the blowoff valves are pulsing during acceleration, resulting in the car surging until I let my foot off. I see F-150 owners have experienced this and had some luck with replacing a wastegate solenoid but I cannot find any information pertaining to the Taurus.

I am confident I hooked everything back up correctly but I will check again.

Would love to stop throwing parts at this thing and start enjoying it... Any suggestions how to go about diagnosing this further?

 

[geophb]

Well I am happy to report the injector replacement was a success, took me about all day going slow but the code and light have been alleviated! Runs much smoother now.

New issue though, now that I can actually hear the turbos spooling and building boost the blowoff valves are pulsing during acceleration, resulting in the car surging until I let my foot off. I see F-150 owners have experienced this and had some luck with replacing a wastegate solenoid but I cannot find any information pertaining to the Taurus.

I am confident I hooked everything back up correctly but I will check again.

Would love to stop throwing parts at this thing and start enjoying it... Any suggestions how to go about diagnosing this further?

Make sure you got all your hoses hooked up, seeing as you just had it all apart. Especially the one going to the wastegate solenoid.

 

[longliveSHO]

This hose was my culprit. Hooked it up and went straight to the store. It now has a clamp and the car runs just how I would expect it to! Thank you all for your suggestions and advice, onto saving up for a tune...

 

[shaker281]

Good job. I appreciate the follow up and video. Mine has 111,000 so I am waiting for such things to bite at any moment. Probably after the temp drops to -10 where I reside!

 

[SHOdded]

Awareness and having a good towing plan comes in handy