2010 Fusion Sport Stalling Problem

[2fast4fusion]

My 2010 Fusion Ford Sport is stalling on me a few times a week now.

There is about 16,300 miles on it. I had the car for about a little over a year now and this problem has occurred recently for me. I took it in to the dealership twice now and they did a computer check and found no error messages. Apparently, it doesn't stall when they have the car and they tell me that everything looks good and theres nothing wrong. I have noticed that it stalls if I am riding on idle or at a complete stop. More often if I have the radio on, a/c or heater on, and have my radar plugged in. I think the dealership notices the problem but has no clue to fixing the problem. Anyone have a similar problem? PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!!

[Razzy]

My 2010 Fusion Ford Sport is stalling on me a few times a week now.

There is about 16,300 miles on it. I had the car for about a little over a year now and this problem has occurred recently for me. I took it in to the dealership twice now and they did a computer check and found no error messages. Apparently, it doesn't stall when they have the car and they tell me that everything looks good and theres nothing wrong. I have noticed that it stalls if I am riding on idle or at a complete stop. More often if I have the radio on, a/c or heater on, and have my radar plugged in. I think the dealership notices the problem but has no clue to fixing the problem. Anyone have a similar problem? PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!!

 

 

Did you try another dealer?

[drolds1]

Your post is a little confusing. First, you said that the dealer can't duplicate the problem. Then you said that "the dealership notices the problem but has no clue to fixing the problem." Please explain. How can they "notice" the problem if the car doesn't stall when they have it in the shop?

 

They can't fix a problem if they can't diagnose it. If there are no codes stored and it doesn't stall while at the dealer, they can't fix what they can't find. It's aggravating, but what do you want them to do?

 

Start with the simple stuff first. Buy a different brand of gasoline. Also, you may have gotten some contaminated gas. This apparently happened to me with my other car last year. It suddenly developed a stumble and stall issue. I filled the tank and added a bottle HEET water remover. After some driving it did the trick. I'd give it a shot. You have nothing to lose besides the cost of the product. It won't harm anything. It's available in any auto parts store.

 

If the problem persists, ask your dealer if they have on -board diagnostic data recorder, or "flight recorder" if you will. It's connected to your car at the OBD-II port and you drive it normally. When and if the car stalls, you push a button on the box and whatever is happening at that time is recorded. When you return to your dealer, they download the data and analyze it, hopefully finding the problem.

Edited November 11, 2010 by drolds1

[Sonicblue2002]

My 2010 Fusion Ford Sport is stalling on me a few times a week now.

I think the dealership notices the problem but has no clue to fixing the problem. Anyone have a similar problem? PLEASE SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!!

 

 

Your post is a little confusing. First, you said that the dealer can't duplicate the problem. Then you said that "the dealership notices the problem but has no clue to fixing the problem." Please explain. How can they "notice" the problem if the car doesn't stall when they have it in the shop?

 

He said he THINKS the dealership notices the problem, not that theu do.

Good call on switching fuel brands, could very well be water in the gas.

[drolds1]

He said he THINKS the dealership notices the problem, not that theu do.

Good call on switching fuel brands, could very well be water in the gas.

 

It's the use of the word "notices" that confused me. It's an odd usage in this context. One thing is certain: it doesn't happen at the dealership. Classic intermittent problem.

[hytek]

It's the use of the word "notices" that confused me. It's an odd usage in this context. One thing is certain: it doesn't happen at the dealership. Classic intermittent problem.

 

I've had this problem since I bought my sport last year in September. I posted the same issue on another fusion forum but had no luck. My problem started last fall and continued through the winter. It started after I went through a car wash and was sitting at a stoplight shortly after. Then it started doing it randomly sitting at stoplights or in a drive through. I took it to 3 different dealerships and with no avail, they couldn't find a problem either. I've also tried different gas stations thinking that would solve it. What is odd, is the problem stopped once it starting getting warmer this past spring and I never had the problem throughout the summer. Now that the weather is getting colder, it is starting again and has stalled 4 times in the last week. I plan on bringing it to the dealer hopefully this weekend. I just hit 15,000 miles today. I've also started having a "thunk" sound and a jerk in the trans while driving at 50mph randomly to lately. I plan on having them check that out too.

[akirby]

Sounds like you're losing either spark and/or fuel for a split second. It probably still happens when it's not idling but the engine has time to recover without stalling. At idle speed it does not so it stalls. The fact that it's temp related leads me to 2 possibilities.

 

1 - winter blend fuel

2 - a loose or broken electrical connection. Metal expands when hot and contracts when cold. If you have a borderline connection it would be worse in cold weather. The fact that it's worse when using a lot of vehicle electronics would support this one. The more juice you're drawing from the battery the less that's available across the bad connection making the voltage drop more. I think this is what happens with the airbag warning light when the battery is about to die.

 

Has the dealership offered a data recorder? That might be able to pinpoint the problem to a sensor or subsystem.

[typhoon19468]

I too have been having a very similiar issue.

 

I had issues about four months ago with the car reving when it would idle, so much so that the car would on occassion jerk when my foot was on the brake at a traffic light. I took it into the dealer, the car was reving about 500 RPM in park, the dealer confirmed and performed a software update. This seemed to help for the most part.

 

Fast forward to about three weeks ago. I start having the reving problem, this time only about 250 RPM, climate control was off, only thing on was the radio. I mentioned it this past Friday when i brought the car in for the 25k tune up/oil change. The dealer could not replicate the issue. Fair enough i take the car and i am on my way.

This past Saturday (the next day) I am idle at a red light. The car stalled completly, I threw the car into neutral and it fired back up after about 2 minutes of sitting there. I promptly took the car back over to the dealership (thankfully I was about five minutes away.) I went in and grabbed a technician and asked them to come out and verify the issue ( I left the car running). When he came out to look at the car, the car had stalled again. The technician was able to start the car again after about two minutes and now the engine was reving over 500 RPM again.

 

 

I like to think I take good care of my car. i am sitting a little above 22,500 miles on my Fusion Sport. I only gas up at the major chains in my area. I am beginning to doubt that it is the gas. The car is currently in the shop and the technician that saw the problem is working today, he had no idea what it could be though. I will keep you all posted if they find anything out.

 

UPDATE: (11-22-10) The dealership called and they are unable to replicate the problem or get the car to stall. I told them that the car usually takes about 15 minutes of being run before it will start reving when idle or showing signs of potential stalling. They will be installing the flight recorder on my car and taking it for a drive tomorrow to attempt to replicate the issue. Will update tomorrow when I get a call.

Edited November 22, 2010 by typhoon19468

[dmarvin79]

I was having the same issue lately--sitting at a light for a bit, engine stumbles and then picks back up again. I had them check the computer when I took it in for the seat recall, and it had a couple of errors pointing to a dirty Mass Air Flow sensor. Sensor was cleaned, and it has been fine for the past week. My question is how the MAF sensor gets dirty after 10,000 miles. Isn't the air filter supposed to prevent that?

 

I'll be keeping an eye on it just in case the sensor gets flakey. Have your dealer look at that as a possibility.

 

Dennis

[typhoon19468]

I was having the same issue lately--sitting at a light for a bit, engine stumbles and then picks back up again. I had them check the computer when I took it in for the seat recall, and it had a couple of errors pointing to a dirty Mass Air Flow sensor. Sensor was cleaned, and it has been fine for the past week. My question is how the MAF sensor gets dirty after 10,000 miles. Isn't the air filter supposed to prevent that?

 

I'll be keeping an eye on it just in case the sensor gets flakey. Have your dealer look at that as a possibility.

 

Dennis

 

Thank you for the suggestion Dennis. I got a call about an hour ago from the dealership advising me that they would like more time to look at the car. I told them to take it until it's fixed. I am driving one of their demo cars. I mentioned the Mass Air Flow Sensor as my buddy who is a mechanic recommended that and the service advisor was quick to say that it is most likely not that. He seemed pretty adamant about it. I will keep my fingers crossed that they find the issue soon and I can have my car back.

[drolds1]

I was having the same issue lately--sitting at a light for a bit, engine stumbles and then picks back up again. I had them check the computer when I took it in for the seat recall, and it had a couple of errors pointing to a dirty Mass Air Flow sensor. Sensor was cleaned, and it has been fine for the past week. My question is how the MAF sensor gets dirty after 10,000 miles. Isn't the air filter supposed to prevent that?

 

I'll be keeping an eye on it just in case the sensor gets flakey. Have your dealer look at that as a possibility.

 

Dennis

 

 

Do you have an aftermarket air filter that requires oiling?

[typhoon19468]

After having my car in the dealership for over 2 and a half weeks they have finally resolved my issue with help from Ford Corporate. The car's Throttle Body needed to be replaced. This was based off the Flight Recorder findings as well as consultation with Ford Tech.

 

Hope this helps out other individual's in a similiar situation.

[dmarvin79]

Do you have an aftermarket air filter that requires oiling?

 

Nope, everything is stock.

[shelby-super-snake]

I have had a similar problem with with the idling on mine but it has not gotten to the point of stalling yet. Recently, its started to jump forward a bit while I'm stopped at a red light, and it has been getting worse in the past week. I have taken it to the dealer twice but they weren't able to find anything wrong, so at home today I sat in the car and let it idle for about 18 minutes and monitored the rpm with the livewire tuner. After around 16 minutes of idling, it started revving up to about 850 rpm then dropping to 580 rpm. Then I tried quickly jabbing the throttle about two thirds to the floor and releasing quickly, revving up around 2600 rpm, then it would drop and hover around 1200 rpm for about 3 seconds and suddenly drop to 430 rpm, at this point it was on the edge of stalling and the engine would start to rattle and vibrate very roughly. It would continue to struggle to run until I revved it up slowly and smoothly a bit. I don't know if this would be helpful at all but its a way i found to replicate the rough idling and maybe even unfortunately stall it.

[Waldo]

This is simple. Have the dealer follow TSB 10-21-6. There's a known issue with the throttle body on some 3.5L engines.

 

typhoon I don't know why your dealer had to get Ford Corporate involved. If they'd read the TSB (published Oct 21) they should have fixed you up in a day.

[drolds1]

This is simple. Have the dealer follow TSB 10-21-6. There's a known issue with the throttle body on some 3.5L engines.

 

typhoon I don't know why your dealer had to get Ford Corporate involved. If they'd read the TSB (published Oct 21) they should have fixed you up in a day.

 

Which illustrates how far out of the loop some dealers are. Shameful.

[typhoon19468]

This is simple. Have the dealer follow TSB 10-21-6. There's a known issue with the throttle body on some 3.5L engines.

 

typhoon I don't know why your dealer had to get Ford Corporate involved. If they'd read the TSB (published Oct 21) they should have fixed you up in a day.

Let me clarify, I called Ford Customer Support prior to the dealer. I was getting concerned with my car in the shop for over two weeks and they were not getting anything out of the diagnostic testing.

 

I was very happy with the dealer. I wanted to make sure the dealer had the support from Ford Tech. Thank you for the information. I am disappointed knowing there was a TSB issued that addresses this issue, when the dealer told me they couldn't find any realted TSBs.

[hytek]

I finally got my car to the dealer, but they couldn't replicate the problem with mine either. Unfortunately I didn't read this first about the recorder. I haven't had the issue happen lately, and it has been pretty cold here in Chicago. If it happens again, I'll will bring it in and reccomend they try the recorder.

[kentak]

I had a similar problem, my Sport would surge during idle, almost stalling out. It would also surge during steady speed driving at 60-70 mph. The dealer tried reprogramming the Engine Control Module but that didn't really help. Finally, on a trip, the cruise control wouldn't engage and the check engine light came on. Luckily there was a Ford dealer at the next ramp. This was at 4:20 pm on a Friday afternoon. They thought it was a transmission problem but then discovered it was the throttle position sensor. Replacing that, under warranty, solved all the problems. Hope this helps.

 

Ken

[Hammerdown]

Had the same lack of power problem on my 2010 fusion sport also. After 4 different rips to the dealer and 100 miles more on the car for them to duplicate it to no avail. Then finally they told us to not shut the car off and bring it in. Told me it was a faulty installed mass air flow sensor.

[dkifusionsport]

I'm having the same problem. My Sport has 18,000 miles on it. At first, about a week ago, while sitting at idle, the tach dropped from 1200 down to 1000, then back to 1200, with a slight shudder. This symptom has remained pretty consistent since, until today, when it died three times at stop lights in the course of an eight mile trip.

 

I looked at TSB 10-21-6. It apparently only applies if the engine build date is between 3/1/2010 - 8/3/2010. I bought my Fusion on 11/30/2009, so that rules out the applicability of that TSB. Or, perhaps there is another that applies to earlier-built engines?

 

My initial knee-jerk diagnosis was a defective (or dirty) MAF sensor,. as that has usually been the culprit in idle fluctuation problems I have had in other cars. It will be interesting to see what the dealer's mechanics say. By the way, I have one of those little orange OBD-II readers. Where is the port it plugs into on a Sport?

[6Syxx6]

My "stalling" problem is in a league of its own. From what I remember...both occasions were on an incline. The first I was at 1/4 throttle maybe 3rd gear taveling up a bridge when the car just cut out! The engine was still running but unresponsive. I pumped the gas pedal multiple times and got no response! I pulled over to the emergency lane, parked the car, turned it off, and waited a few seconds. I restarted it, rev'd it up a couple of times put it in gear and it drove off like nothing happened. The second time i was rolling up an incline to a stop sign, made my half ass stop because no one was coming and pulled out to be on my way only to find the exact same problem. It cut out, still running, no response, I shifted to neutral so I could coast to a side road. Parked it, shut it off,restarted it and drove off like nothing happened again. Both times the engine stays at idle, nothing flickers, chimes or lights up. The a/c is still ice cold and the radio is still jaming out. Could this be a transmission shift problem causing a safety override on the throttle?