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Don't know quite what happened, but damn my car is running great! Maybe it was the fact that I moved those knock sensor wires away from the metal (don't know if they were worn through though), but it seems that as soon as I did that, it was like a switch was flipped. She is pulling very hard! Well, anyways, I hope I did not jinx myself!

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Don't know quite what happened' date=' but damn my car is running great! Maybe it was the fact that I moved those knock sensor wires away from the metal (don't know if they were worn through though), but it seems that as soon as I did that, it was like a switch was flipped. She is pulling very hard! Well, anyways, I hope I did not jinx myself![/quote']

 

Could very well be that the knock sensor wires were shorting --- If they were your timing would be severely retarded.

 

Might be advisable to confirm that and wrap them so that they won't short again. I'm sure the dealer would be glad to help and be familiar with the issue.

 

Glad to hear the SHO is running like it should.

 

Enjoy,

 

C.

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I second that...there is no TSB out for this issue... It made a real difference for me when I fixed it last summer.

 

 

But remember' date=' Ford does not have any bulletin out on the knock sensor wiring problem, it is really only known about by our members so you may have to show them where the wires are rubbing.[/quote']
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Was there a picture somewhere showing where the wires were rubbing? Is this problem on certain years?

 

Ask, and thy shall receive....

 

Before (notice the knock sensor wires laying a top of the metal):

before1.jpg

 

After (knock sensor wires pulled away from the metal that caused the chaffing to begin with):

after1.jpg

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The excerpt below was taken from a member of another community and are not my words.

 

However, I did take the liberty of searching for this info, locating it, and posting here for the benefit of EB Members who will also find this information useful.

 

That being stated, here 'ya go:

 

 

"So I got a call today from the service manager with some "news" on my situation. The data that he sent up to Ford was analyzed and they noticed that just preceding the opening of the wastegate one of the knock sensors was reading about 500 ticks more than the other knock sensors. What does the computer do when it detects excessive knock? It cuts power to the engine so that it doesn't go BOOOOOM!!!! Interesting. So, the engineer told the service manager to inspect for a chaffed wire. If one could not be found he was to replace the knock sensor giving the excessive readings.

 

So I immediately headed over to the dealership so we could start looking. After giving the engine 10-15 minutes to cool we started digging. And what did we find? If you said a chaffed wire then give yourself a cookie. The wires go to one of the knock sensors below the intake manifold. You can see that wires that come up into a connecter and were not wrapped in any electrical tape or in any type of protective plastic shrouding and it was resting right on a 90 degree edge on the engine.

 

This would explain how my issue started as a once and a while issue and degraded into a full-time issue as the chaffing progressed and got worse.

 

First remove the engine cover just to make sure it's out of the way so you can get a good look from all angles. Look down between the 2 intake pipes.

 

Go Digging - Big Picture

 

We saw a connector with wires that were not wrapped in any extra electrical tape or plastic shrouding.

 

Chaff - Big Picture

 

From this angle you can better see the wires resting on the engine.

 

Chaff - Big Picture

 

The chaffing is on the sensor side of the connector which means that they will have to replace the knock sensor. In the meantime we have put a piece of foam insulation on the engine where the wires rest to prevent it from further chaffing and giving false knock readings. I must say that performance is starting to come back. Since we didn't reset the KAM memory, it is taking some time for new values/averages that the PCM uses to run the engine are being used and faded out as new values are factored in and averaged. Power is coming back, the erratic RPM's are fading, the wastegate is bleeding off less and less air with every mile I go.

 

The new knock sensor should be in Tuesday but depending on what time it comes in I may not get my car back in there till Wednesday. I will have them reset the KAM and also check to see if there are any more software updates available to get me all up to date on everything.

 

I'll report back Sunday/Monday as I put more miles on my car to let you know if the condition continues to get better as well as what it's like when I get the new sensor in. I will be taking a road trip tomorrow so I will get to get a good like to see if my HWY MPG's are improving. With this issue I was only getting 21 - 22 MPG tops on the HWY when I used to get 26-27 (while driving 80MPH - 90MPH).

 

Now I would suggest that all of you go out and check for those wires. If they are exposed I would inspect them for any chaffing and then I would recommend wrapping them up in some electrical tape or other means of protection."

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Those wires are on what side of the engine? Do I need to remove the intake boot. Finally is there just one sensor wiring that's the problem? Thx

 

OK I can help with that:

 

Standing in front of the car (of course) and looking down at the engine you need to take of the engine cover. Simple but if you've not done it here's what to do: remove engine oil filler cap, lift up on the front of the cover to release front side then lift on either rear corner of cover to release the 2 rubber grommets that hold the cover onto the engine. Notice to 2 large posts that the grommets go on.

Now it gets harder but if yours is like mine just look for the front side valve cover and the holddown bolt on the top right corner.

 

From that point look down a little further, about 2 inches, to see a black connector on 2 wires. If the wires are not exposed they will be covered by black plastic wire cover about the thickness of a pencil. I can see about 6" of mine total but the section causing the issue is toward to big connector where the wires are not covered by the cover and thereby allowing the wires to possibly rub on the engine.

 

I say possibly because all are not exposed. Mine is ok and the black plastic if doing it's job and not allowing chafing. Some have these wires exposed and as explained can chafe on the engine causing a dead short circuit and poor performance.

 

The fix is to cover the exposed wires (if they are not too badly damaged) with electrical tape, extend or replace the thick black wire cover making sure it covers all the wire's length AND to carefully lift those wires off the engine so they won't rub any more.

 

I believe from what some of the guys have said that there is enough wires to make a slight loose part at that point to allow more clearance thereby preventing the possible chafing and rubbing of the wires.

 

If you're not comfortable with the fix or there just isn't enough room to work, go to the dealer and explain what you've found out and I'm sure he won't mind helping you with it (warranty of course).

 

Hope this helps, G/L

 

Colin

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Well, when I took the car in yesterday for 30K service pointed and pointed out the wire for them to check. While they did not find any chaffing they did write that the wire "usually doesn't have any shield plastic on them. And no chaffing or damge". They also wrote that they zip tied the wires to be more secure. (They actually didn't, I did when I discovered them to be resting on the metal). Well, whether the wires resting on the metal caused a lack of performance or not, my car is running great! Now I have to check if they replaced the fart filters (seat filter) under the seats. :P

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  • 1 month later...
  • 4 weeks later...

Those are on the right side of the engine block. It is easiest if you remove your air box so that you can get to it and reposition it. Although, if there are visible signs of chaffing and exposed wiring I will say that you should tell the dealership to replace the sensor/wires. The wires run all the way into the sensor so they must change the sensor it itself.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks to everybody here for the pics and explanations. I put a wire loom around mine this weekend as a preventative measure. Took about 10 minutes and it is now separated from directly touching the block. I did not see any chaffing at all or notable wear. BUT, the car simply seems to be running better, smoother. Weird. I don't know if I am imagining it or not. I would have to have had some wear or exposed wires to actually notice a difference, right???

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Thanks to everybody here for the pics and explanations. I put a wire loom around mine this weekend as a preventative measure. Took about 10 minutes and it is now separated from directly touching the block. I did not see any chaffing at all or notable wear. BUT' date=' the car simply seems to be running better, smoother. Weird. I don't know if I am imagining it or not. I would have to have had some wear or exposed wires to actually notice a difference, right???[/quote']

 

Could have been an unseen crack or bare wire. Congrats on taking the time with it -- Sounds like it paid off in spades.

 

C.

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Thanks, I did not think the car was running bad, but it just seems to be better (smoother) from a cold start this morning. The idle also seems to be smoother. Again, I am not sure if I am imagining it or not. I am going to press it a little later today and report back.

 

For those doing this, I got 14 feet of 1/4" black wire loom at the autoparts store for 3 bucks. I used about an inch of it. Simple to slip around the wires and then a little trickier to try to get some electrical tape in there. I am pretty sure the result would have been the same even without the tape and it would have stayed in place.

 

I may have missed it in the instructions/pictures (which are great), but for those doing this, the engine cover just pulls off, no tools needed to remove it. Again, I might have just missed that, but I was looking for bolts to undo. Start at the back side of the cover, near the windshield, and give it a good yank. On the MKS, there are 3 connections to yank out. Goes back in just as easily. :)

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Three connections on the SHO engine cover too. I feel like you did, when I put some gorilla tape around the wires and a little loop to prevent the wires from getting to touch the metal on the head, it seemed that the engine just ran a tad better. I don't know if it is possible but maybe with the wires touching the metal it could be conducting some of the electrical signal from the wires, even though there is no chaffing of the wires.

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I know, it sounds crazy, but I swear it is running smoother. Just doesn't make any logical sense, in light of the fact that I looked pretty close but could not see or feel any cracking or exposed wire. I am Ooosimply not going to question it. I'm just going to be thankful that it is repaired and thankful that I found this forum.

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  • 3 months later...
Guest K4u2luz2

Thanks to everyone for the posts about this. I just had the worst experience with this. At Livernois Motorsports drag strip track rental last Friday I took six runs down the track and the best run was a very very very pathetic 15.09. That's right folks a 15 in a 2010 SHO. I could have not been anymore mad or embarrassed. So after not sleeping very well I went out and starting digging into the car after reading many topics on this forum. And what did I find...the white wire from the knock sensor was bare and the wire was rubbing right on the engine. Incredible!

 

After fixing I took car for a ride and holy smokes. I now own a twin turbo car again. Oh, and today i noticed the gas mileage started climbing. At one point over the last two weeks I was down to 21mpg and that is 95% highway miles at 80mph.

 

So thank you for this forum and EVERYBODY please check those wires!

 

Keith

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Guest K4u2luz2

YES it is. I actually had an appointment with Rick to get the tune last Friday morning before the event but had a client meeting that sprang up and I was called into work for it. It will be done shortly.:RpS_razz:

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