Transmission goes haywire, nearly wreck!
08-26-2009, 02:10 PM
#11
Gentleman's Relish
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: AZ
Posts: 13,090
I was on a straight away right at about 10mph, dropped it in 1st gear and floored it and kept it floored, I upshifted to 'D' ( around 4k rpm) as it was accelerating hard at WOT. I tried to slow down to brake but the tranny was stuck on accelerating! ( I was going about 45mph).There was no pressure on the gas pedal and when I tried to brake, it felt like it was pushing itself back up, not allowing me to brake. I pulled the e-brake up slightly to slow it down some, but it didn't work. I put it in 'N' and it revved the hell out of the car, redlining it. I put it in 'D' again and it went crazy going through all the gears as if I was flooring it, getting up to about 65mph this time. I re-gained control somewhat and the revs dropped but it still felt like it wanted to get up and go. The car was going straight the whole time and no cars were around. Relieved, I head home to retune/reinstall the tune. I thought something was definetly fried, but it turned out to be okay. Still a little wary of going WOT.. not sure what the hell happened. I am thinking the throttle sensors or whatever went haywire when I was manually shifting, keeping the throttle pinned as I was upshifting from '1' to 'D'.
Not sure, but that scared the crap out of me needless to say.
Thinking back, how harmful would it be to shut the car off while it was accelerating on it's own? will it cause a catastrophic malfunction??
It would be the only option, either that or wreck- because my car was seriously out of my control at that point...
Not sure, but that scared the crap out of me needless to say.
Thinking back, how harmful would it be to shut the car off while it was accelerating on it's own? will it cause a catastrophic malfunction??
It would be the only option, either that or wreck- because my car was seriously out of my control at that point...
If I bump through the gears even at WOT I NEVER have that issue, only when I try to "skip" 1 or two gears.
Although my car has never accelerated 20+ mph without me pushing on the throttle. Check the TB just to be safe.
08-28-2009, 05:01 AM
#13
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jun 2005
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Are you using some kind of rubber floor mat? I ask only because I had a very similiar event, throttle stuck wide open like 3 times (scared me to death). It turned out to be some winter type floor mats I was using. Sounds dumb, but that's what it was.
08-28-2009, 06:28 PM
#14
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 380
All of this makes a lot of sense with the TB sticking open.
Now, this could be caused by a variety of different problems, two of which strike me as most-likely.
One being, the pedal was stuck/floor mat holding it to the floor. Aftermarket pedals (note:wider or longer than stock) will sometimes catch the carpet and stick down even if no floor mat is present.
The other, which seems far more likely, and as stated before, should definitely be checked out (possible something Ford hasn't even heard of?) is the system freaking out when you were goosing it. These cars have fly-by-wire, correct? I believe I read that somewhere. When you went from 1st to D at wide open throttle, the system may have had a temporary spaz attack and for some reason (glitch/bug in the programming) decided to hold the throttle completely open regardless of the actual pedal's position.
A simple turn-off/restart would normally fix this issue, but if it is infact a glitch, don't go trying to reproduce it unless instructed to with a Ford technician in the car, as you may cause damage assuming this glitch could affect air-fuel ratios.
Now, this could be caused by a variety of different problems, two of which strike me as most-likely.
One being, the pedal was stuck/floor mat holding it to the floor. Aftermarket pedals (note:wider or longer than stock) will sometimes catch the carpet and stick down even if no floor mat is present.
The other, which seems far more likely, and as stated before, should definitely be checked out (possible something Ford hasn't even heard of?) is the system freaking out when you were goosing it. These cars have fly-by-wire, correct? I believe I read that somewhere. When you went from 1st to D at wide open throttle, the system may have had a temporary spaz attack and for some reason (glitch/bug in the programming) decided to hold the throttle completely open regardless of the actual pedal's position.
A simple turn-off/restart would normally fix this issue, but if it is infact a glitch, don't go trying to reproduce it unless instructed to with a Ford technician in the car, as you may cause damage assuming this glitch could affect air-fuel ratios.
08-28-2009, 06:58 PM
#15
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Maryland
Posts: 380
One thing I forgot to mention - shutting off the car while in gear / moving will not have any detrimental effects on anything (aside from your ability to steer and brake, as neither of these will be power-assisted anymore. You can still do these, it will simply be HARDER).
There will be no "screeching halt" or anything like that. Something most people don't know, is above a certain RPM (in most cars, it's something like 1800-2200rpm), when you let off the accelerator, the fuel injectors stop spraying fuel. Just an example to give you an idea as to what this does, it simply allows the engine to decelerate on it's own. The fuel injectors begin firing again when the engine gets to an RPM that it cannot sustain an idle.
Two things you'll want to avoid. One, is going into neutral when you have it shut off while in motion. With this situation, the engine RPM will be 0, and you will have to drop it into gear with the key "on" to get the engine to restart. And automatic transmission, unlike a manual, will most likely NOT LIKE THIS, as you cannot pre-select the highest gear to have it restart in. You'll most likely have the car trying to select first, and if you're going fast enough, will end up with the rear tires locked, and if you're unlucky enough, a mound of ground of metal where your transmission and rear-end gears used to be.
The second thing to avoid, is cranking the engine while in motion, in gear. You do not need to do this - when in gear, the engine is still spinning. When you turn the key back to "on" - NOTE, NOT START, WHICH IS ONE CLICK PASSED ON - the spark plugs will continue to fire, as the engine is spinning, and she will roar to life
There will be no "screeching halt" or anything like that. Something most people don't know, is above a certain RPM (in most cars, it's something like 1800-2200rpm), when you let off the accelerator, the fuel injectors stop spraying fuel. Just an example to give you an idea as to what this does, it simply allows the engine to decelerate on it's own. The fuel injectors begin firing again when the engine gets to an RPM that it cannot sustain an idle.
Two things you'll want to avoid. One, is going into neutral when you have it shut off while in motion. With this situation, the engine RPM will be 0, and you will have to drop it into gear with the key "on" to get the engine to restart. And automatic transmission, unlike a manual, will most likely NOT LIKE THIS, as you cannot pre-select the highest gear to have it restart in. You'll most likely have the car trying to select first, and if you're going fast enough, will end up with the rear tires locked, and if you're unlucky enough, a mound of ground of metal where your transmission and rear-end gears used to be.
The second thing to avoid, is cranking the engine while in motion, in gear. You do not need to do this - when in gear, the engine is still spinning. When you turn the key back to "on" - NOTE, NOT START, WHICH IS ONE CLICK PASSED ON - the spark plugs will continue to fire, as the engine is spinning, and she will roar to life
08-28-2009, 11:21 PM
#16
6th Gear Member
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Join Date: Jan 2008
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I pressed down.. no pressure, I tried to brake.. it did not work!
Anyways, it turned out to be the friggin' floor mat being pushed up OVER the gas pedal but UNDER the brake pedal. I guess it worked it way up slowly until only when I would give it gas aggressively, thus pushing up the pad in that exact same position!
I had the windshield repaired a week ago (insurance covered), car was vacummed.. floor mats were NOT hooked back up to the correct hook on the bottom of the floor panel.
I rehooked it obviously.
I am still NOT gonna be shifting anymore though.. just in case lol. I am glad it wasn't a bigger issue...
08-29-2009, 12:39 AM
#18
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I'm glad you got it straightened out Stealth.... Before that car hurt you or somebody else. Good to hear it was just the floor mat! If you ever run into that issue again, I wouldn't turn the car off. Just throw it into neutral and pull over, then turn it off, etc. Let it rev. You don't want to be running 65 mph without steering or brakes, not to mention if you were to accidentely turn the key too far back resulting in a locked steering wheel. That would suck. Anyway, glad its fixed man.
08-29-2009, 01:18 PM
#19
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I'm glad you got it straightened out Stealth.... Before that car hurt you or somebody else. Good to hear it was just the floor mat! If you ever run into that issue again, I wouldn't turn the car off. Just throw it into neutral and pull over, then turn it off, etc. Let it rev. You don't want to be running 65 mph without steering or brakes, not to mention if you were to accidentely turn the key too far back resulting in a locked steering wheel. That would suck. Anyway, glad its fixed man.
thanks 629,
I'd do whatever it took to stop the car if something really out of control happened. I'd be devastated if something bad happened over somthing dumb.. as a floor mat of all things lol.
That would definetly suck if the steering locked and the car was off.. wheels still spinning at 80mph on the freeway!
08-29-2009, 04:13 PM
#20
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The only time i have that issue (yes I am a S197 GT Auto) is if I skip from 1 to D or 2 to D WOT. I'm thinking because unlike a Manual tranny where you can physically SKIP a gear, the auto still has to work it's way UP one at a time. When you skip gears like go directly from 1st to D (4th) or 2 do D (4th) the tranny still has a lot of pressure in it. Thecar has to think because it's expecting to go UP in gear not skip, so, it takes a second or so for it to register and remap it's fuel fuel, spark, timing curve, and tranny pressure based on the load it sees.
If I bump through the gears even at WOT I NEVER have that issue, only when I try to "skip" 1 or two gears.
If I bump through the gears even at WOT I NEVER have that issue, only when I try to "skip" 1 or two gears.
Maybe it's okat at the end of 1st but not mid gear.
Not sure exactly the technicalities of how the automatic clutches inside the tranny works, but I am sure it's not "healthy" to upshift like the way described above, especially with an aggresive tune. In between 1st and upshifting to D, that in between time when it wants to shift to 2nd, by putting it in D instead.. who knows what the heck it's doing in there?
does it go to 2,3 or what? I'd rather just leave it in D when accelerating or at least letting 1st or whatever gear I am holding get into the proper shift point before shifting. Sometimes it IS nessessary and desirable to hold a gear ( merging, passing etc.)