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Sporadic throttle response delay/lag after engine startup

1465 Views 7 Replies 5 Participants Last post by  Jr76016
2018 Platinum, V6 3.0 Liter PowerStroke with 26K. Was curious if any one has experienced a sporadic delay/lag in throttle response when shifting between 2-3 and/or 3-4 after initial engine startup. Doesn't happen all the time but when does it's very noticeable.
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2018 Platinum, V6 3.0 Liter PowerStroke with 26K. Was curious if any one has experienced a sporadic delay/lag in throttle response when shifting between 2-3 and/or 3-4 after initial engine startup. Doesn't happen all the time but when does it's very noticeable.
How much do you let the vehicle warm up before driving? Could be a contributing factor.
2018 Platinum, V6 3.0 Liter PowerStroke with 26K. Was curious if any one has experienced a sporadic delay/lag in throttle response when shifting between 2-3 and/or 3-4 after initial engine startup. Doesn't happen all the time but when does it's very noticeable.
Mine will lag on that shift occasionally if I fire it up cold and drive away. usually just happens once and that's it.
I believe this is what mine is doing that my dealer says they can’t recreate even though I can and do every day due to the way leaving my work is setup. If anyone wants to try it out….

Only happens either the first startup of the day or after sitting for a couple hours or so. Temperature doesn’t seem to be the factor as it’s happened when the transmission has been not too far from operating temp after being parked for ~45 minutes.

1.Drive about 1/2 mile never going higher than 3rd gear (either ~16 mph in standard or ~20 mph in sport)
2. Come to a complete stop.
3. Accelerate at ~half throttle. Not hard but not slow.
4. The 3-4 shift will hang before hesitating and dropping hard into 4th.

Leaving my office I have to drive about 1/2 mile at 20 mph, come to a stop, then take off turning left. I can make it happen every day. If I let it shift with little to no throttle into 4th during the 1/2 mile drive it goes in smoothly.

Dealer tech has said twice they can’t recreate even with those instructions. They have the truck today changing a cv shaft that failed. We’ll see if they catch it today :/.

Ford has been zero help either. Kind of aggravated about their response actually. 3k miles left on powertrain warranty so it’ll probably fail in 3.5k miles….I do have a video of it showing the hang and the tach during. Dealer refused to look at that when I offered.
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@blk150tx - as software performance tester/analyst, I must say you've done an excellent job isolating & documenting the sequence required to reproduce this issue. In-house customer recreates of software performance problems are very difficult for me, but I think you've nailed the operating parameters and sequence to reproduce the problem.

From the sounds of it, you work at a large building complex with a designated speed limit before you get off the property (I had something very similar pre-COVID) where the transmission is confused because you haven't gone above 20 MPH or out of 3rd gear for more than a 1/2 mile, then when you need to drive "normally" the transmission "loses it brains" shifting out of 3rd?

Since these transmissions are self-learning (i.e. TCM adapts to your driving style programatically), I'm wondering if that first 1/2 mile under 20 MPH drops it into some sort of "farm" mode where it doesn't expect to go above 20 MPH, and then reacts violently when you get onto public roads with normal speed limits.

I think you're onto something here and it is unfortunate your dealer is not willing to react/respond, as I think you could reproduce on-command if they were willing to have a diesel or transmission tech meet you at work. I'd post the video recreate on YouTube and maybe someone from Ford Corporate will react if you get enough views.
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Software developer at a large refinery so used to trying to recreate test situations lol. The 1/2 mile isn’t a firm thing as it will do it leaving my house in the mornings, just less consistent and I haven’t noticed the pattern to force it other than stay below 4th and accelerate slightly more than normal.

The primary issue the dealer has had is they don’t seem to want to perform the steps first thing after sitting some time vs randomly getting in and driving off to no malfunction.
Spoke to the dealer this morning and they didn’t mention this. They’re waiting on a cv shaft to ship in so maybe I can stop by and soeak with the tech. They didn’t have any loaner vehicles due to them literally having no vehicles so bumming rides for a few days.
How much do you let the vehicle warm up before driving? Could be a contributing factor.
Good question, haven't timed it. I live in Texas so not much cold weather here. If I had to guess, probably two minutes before I put it in drive. I will pay more attention to that, thanks for the question.
Mine will lag on that shift occasionally if I fire it up cold and drive away. usually just happens once and that's it.
It does only happen once and always after my truck sits overnight.
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