Apr 24, 2023
I have a '23 Badlands 4 door, 2.7 engine, 10-speed. Just shy of 4K miles. Has been pretty rock solid till today.
I was out in the country on a gravel road driving very slow, looking for photo opportunities. I was in ECO mode, which I rarely use. I heard a warning chime and looked at the dash. There was a message to the effect of "put vehicle in park to restart engine". Restart engine? Looked at the tach and it was at zero. So I stopped, put it in park, and hit the starter. It cranked for 4 seconds but did not start. I shut the vehicle down completely (rebooted?) and tried again. It started. Asked me if I wanted to resume ECO mode and I hit yes. So I started off.
About 100 yards later, slowing for a turn, the gas pedal felt mushy. Looked down at the tach and watched it tick down to zero. Again got the message "put vehicle in park to restart engine". Stopped, put it park and it restarted. This time did not go back to ECO. Drove back 20 miles to town with no problems. Parked for a couple hours visiting friends. Drove home in normal mode, no issues.
Decide to take an evening drive before a week of rain sets in. At one point I decided to try and replicate the problem. Found a big church parking lot, put it in ECO and drove very slowly across the lot. No issues. Buuuut, when I stopped to exit and turned on to the street it was dead, with the same restart message. This time it took about six tries to get it to restart, with me dead in the middle of the street. When it did restart it seemed to run fine (I was able to drive 5 miles to my garage) but now has a check engine light on.
What I've read here and on Bronco6g is that this usually happens at a total engine failure. But the engine seems to run fine, when it runs, albeit with a check engine light now. I'm calling the dealer in the morning.
Any thoughts?
(a little update... talked to service this morning and taking it in tomorrow. The service writer said he had not heard of this issue before, and also, it's ok to drive with the service engine light on as long as it's not flashing.)
(another update... monday morning (4/24) Bronc is dead in driveway. Died. Won't start. Towed to dealer. 1 day later diagnosed with loose connector C140. That is fixed. Driving home check engine light comes on again. Code concerns catalytic converter "efficiency". Can still drive but have to return in a week and leave the Bronc for a day for detailed inspection of exhaust.)
I was out in the country on a gravel road driving very slow, looking for photo opportunities. I was in ECO mode, which I rarely use. I heard a warning chime and looked at the dash. There was a message to the effect of "put vehicle in park to restart engine". Restart engine? Looked at the tach and it was at zero. So I stopped, put it in park, and hit the starter. It cranked for 4 seconds but did not start. I shut the vehicle down completely (rebooted?) and tried again. It started. Asked me if I wanted to resume ECO mode and I hit yes. So I started off.
About 100 yards later, slowing for a turn, the gas pedal felt mushy. Looked down at the tach and watched it tick down to zero. Again got the message "put vehicle in park to restart engine". Stopped, put it park and it restarted. This time did not go back to ECO. Drove back 20 miles to town with no problems. Parked for a couple hours visiting friends. Drove home in normal mode, no issues.
Decide to take an evening drive before a week of rain sets in. At one point I decided to try and replicate the problem. Found a big church parking lot, put it in ECO and drove very slowly across the lot. No issues. Buuuut, when I stopped to exit and turned on to the street it was dead, with the same restart message. This time it took about six tries to get it to restart, with me dead in the middle of the street. When it did restart it seemed to run fine (I was able to drive 5 miles to my garage) but now has a check engine light on.
What I've read here and on Bronco6g is that this usually happens at a total engine failure. But the engine seems to run fine, when it runs, albeit with a check engine light now. I'm calling the dealer in the morning.
Any thoughts?
(a little update... talked to service this morning and taking it in tomorrow. The service writer said he had not heard of this issue before, and also, it's ok to drive with the service engine light on as long as it's not flashing.)
(another update... monday morning (4/24) Bronc is dead in driveway. Died. Won't start. Towed to dealer. 1 day later diagnosed with loose connector C140. That is fixed. Driving home check engine light comes on again. Code concerns catalytic converter "efficiency". Can still drive but have to return in a week and leave the Bronc for a day for detailed inspection of exhaust.)
the poacher