69DropTop Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 I have a 2017 Transit Connect with the 2.5L engine. It has 63k miles on it. Recently it developed a stutter that just randomly happens. I don't have a check engine light but my neighbor did a scan on it with his new Snap On scanner with the engine running and at idle. It said cylinder 3 misfired 2 times while he was scanning it. This weekend, I replaced all of the spark plugs with Motorcraft replacements and the coil for cylinder 3 with a Motorcraft coil but it still does it. It might not be quite as bad with the new plugs but it's tough to say for sure because I only test drove it and did drive it for a full day of work yet. Is this a common problem these are known for and if so what is the cause? I was thinking it could possibly be the O2 sensor or may the MAF sensor needs cleaned? Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Do you feel the shudder off Idle under power? Does it affect the drive-ability? Have your friend scan it again and see if the miss is still no 3 If so a compression test is in order and a good dose of injector cleaner in the next tank of gas. Cleaning the MAF sensor will not hurt. The O2 sensor would affect all the cyl not just no3. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 HI GBL, Thanks for the reply and info. I do not feel the shudder at idle, only when driving. It doesn't really affect drivability; it just shudders for about a second or less then drives like normal and might not shudder again for 10 minutes of driving. Ok, I'll have him rescan and see what it says. Fuel injector cleaner is a good idea! What is a good kind to use, Sea Foam? I guess I should use spray electronic cleaner to clean the MAF sensor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Ridley Posted March 7, 2022 Share Posted March 7, 2022 Have your friend scan and plot the relevant signals as your drive around. Note when the shudder occurs and view the plots. It may be something electrical and seemingly unrelated to fuel delivery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 7, 2022 Author Share Posted March 7, 2022 33 minutes ago, Don Ridley said: Have your friend scan and plot the relevant signals as your drive around. Note when the shudder occurs and view the plots. It may be something electrical and seemingly unrelated to fuel delivery. I was thinking also it would be best to drive around and log it rather than a quick scan with it at idle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 9, 2022 Author Share Posted March 9, 2022 My mechanic friend came over and spent about 30 minutes looking at everything his tool would let him see with the engine running and not running. He couldn't come up with any codes and everything looked normal. We went for a test drive, it did the shudder thing but he didn't see anything and nothing came up on his tool when it shuddered. He said he is not able to plot with the tool he has. He did get a couple misfires when we were driving but this time on cylinder 2. We put some dielectric grease on all of the cop to spark plug connections but i haven't had a chance to drive again since then. He said it's likely a mechanical problem that the computer can't pickup. He suggested to start off by replacing the fuel filter, if it has one, then to run Sea Foam in the gas. Any thoughts or suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 15, 2022 Author Share Posted March 15, 2022 The dielectric grease didn't do anything so I bought a bottle of seafoam fuel injector cleaner and put it in. I have since used about 2/3 of that fuel but it is still doing it. We were thinking possibly the crank sensor but it starts fine and has never stalled on me. Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas on what to look at next? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabasigh Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 I believe i got the same thing and think it may be the torque converter. Do you notice it really bad going uphill under steady throttle? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 16, 2022 Author Share Posted March 16, 2022 12 hours ago, sabasigh said: I believe i got the same thing and think it may be the torque converter. Do you notice it really bad going uphill under steady throttle? We were wondering about transmission or lock up feature of the torque converter. It does seem to do it more going uphills with steady throttle. Mine will also do it on flat ground or slight inclines, does your only do it going uphill? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sabasigh Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 i just bought mine used with 162k miles. While driving an hour on the way home, felt slight shudder/hestiation mostly flat highway. Had dealer do a trans flush on it and overall seems to drive better but on some uphills felt some real bad shuddering but couldn't get it to reliably to repeat. Almost like it wanted to downshift but couldn't? Kinda hard to describe. The van is laid up currently waiting on stereo parts before i start driving it again. I'm just gonna have to budget for a trans rebuild i imagine sooner than later. just critical to pick the right shop and rebuild or reman option i suppose. Good luck with yours Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted March 16, 2022 Share Posted March 16, 2022 9 hours ago, 69DropTop said: We were wondering about transmission or lock up feature of the torque converter. You need to get a scan with either a high end scanner that covers the transmission or get forscan that will also give you the information. You can test drive the car and record all the shifts and converter lock ups. Keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 4 hours ago, G B L said: You need to get a scan with either a high end scanner that covers the transmission or get forscan that will also give you the information. You can test drive the car and record all the shifts and converter lock ups. Keep us posted. Ok, I'll update the thread when I get a scanner that sees in the transmission Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 17, 2022 Author Share Posted March 17, 2022 I posted this in a thread about checking and changing the transmission but thought I would post in this thread also. I removed the full plug, it was full but the fluid was dark. I can't say for sure but I might have even seen a little sparkly on the paper towel. I am debating if it's even a good idea to flush the trans now because you hear people talking about when you put new fluid in a transmission with old bad fluid that it can cause the trans to go out. I was thinking of just going ahead and doing one drain and fill cycle, driving it, and then seeing what things look like. Any thoughts or suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted March 20, 2022 Share Posted March 20, 2022 I have changed the fluid on mine (a 2014) 4 times in 130000 miles, the fluid on the first two drains was very dark both times. The next two were done with Triax Global. The fluid was in much better condition. Drain and fill 3 times gets over 90% of the fluid to exchange. windguy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
69DropTop Posted March 22, 2022 Author Share Posted March 22, 2022 Do you think the Triax fluid is better than the Motorcraft Mercon LV and maybe that is why it wasn't as dark the 3rd and 4th change? How often do you think the fluid should be changed, every 30k miles? I was thinking of doing as someone suggested and doing one drain and fill every oil change. I know one thing, I definitely don't want to wait 60k+ miles again. I was definitely nervous when I saw how dark the fluid was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G B L Posted March 22, 2022 Share Posted March 22, 2022 Yes I have used both and the Triax is definitely better. The first change was Mercon LV, the next was Valvoline and both were dark at the change. The Next two were Triax and it was in much better shape at the drain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fifty150 Posted March 26, 2022 Share Posted March 26, 2022 Mercon LV is a specification. The conventional wisdom is to use a fluid which meets specification. In the case of a dealership, they will use what the manufacturer recommends. A Ford dealer will use Motorcraft Mercon LV. The next option is using a licensed product. The wording is where it gets tricky. Some brands actually say that it's a licensed product. Other brands simply say "approved for use"., or "recommended for". And then there are ATF formulations which are suppose to be "multi vehicle". Multi-vehicle formulations are typically used by lube shops, where they have to service all sorts of different vehicles. These formulations are not specific to your transmission, or anyone's transmission. That doesn't make it better, or worse. Some people report that their vehicles run fine with a multi-vehicle ATF. Look around. Do your own reading. Then decide for yourself what you want to do. GBL has reported good results with Triax. My own history of various ATFs include using boutique brands, and "house brands". I cannot with any certainty say that any brand has outperformed another brand. Royal Purple, Redline, Lucas, Wal*Mart SuperTech, Motorcraft, O'Reilly's........and more. All of these fluids have gone in and out of my transmissions. With automatic transmissions, just like engines, regular fluid changes will yield better results than trying to see how long you can keep using the same fluid. You really would not want to use motor oil for 15,000 or 20,000 miles. You really would not want to use ATF for 100,000 or 200,000 miles. What I can say, relevant to Ford Transit Connect 6F35, is that my van currently is using Valvoline MaxLife without a problem. Just check out what's available. Read the data sheets. Read the reviews. Notice how Valvoline is licensed by GM, and recommended for use with Ford, but not licensed by Ford. And Phillips 66 lists the licenses and license numbers. Whereas Peak says, "recommended for use" with the license numbers, but doesn't actually say that it is licensed. Maybe it means something. Maybe not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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