2013 Edge shudders going up hill

[gregholliday]

About a year ago, my wife's 2013 Edge starting having issues when going uphill. It's hard to describe, but basically as you started uphill the car would begin shuddering. It was as if it couldn't find the right gear, or wasn't getting gas, or something (sorry to be so vague, but I'm by no means a car expert). We took the car back to the CarMax where we bought, they ran diagnostics and couldn't find anything wrong. Took the car home and a week later it started again, only worse. Went back to CarMax, diagnostics still couldn't find anything wrong, but at least this time it would misbehave when the technician drove it. They even took it to a Ford dealership and they couldn't find anything wrong. After a week without the car, they ended up replacing the coils and the issue seemed to go away.

 

Now fast forward almost a year to this week. My wife is driving to work and the same thing happens. Actually happened in the exact same place where it started misbehaving a year ago. I meet her and swap cars, and this time I take it to my local Ford dealer. During the trip to the shop, it only acted up with me one time. The technician takes a look, and just like before, diagnostics doesn't show anything and it didn't act up with them when they took it for a test drive. They ended up installing a software update, but told us that they weren't really sure if that would fix the problem.

 

So my question is, has anyone experienced this before, and is it common in the Edge? If you have experienced it, what was the root cause of the issue? We're wondering if maybe we just got a lemon and should trade it in.

 

Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

AWD? Light throttle/cruise? Could be the PTU. Not reported on the Edge, but there is a TSB for the AWD Taurus.

 

If a wrench light comes on though, it would point towards TSS/OSS sensors.

 

Lastly, simply overdue spark plugs/coils causing misfires. SOMEtimes it is an injector or two, but mostly spark plugs/coils.

Edited September 19, 2018 by WWWPerfA_ZN0W

[evh]

My vote is plug and coils. The key here is you state that is occurs going up a hill and that it usually happens at the same place. My 2009 did the same thing. To the untrained eye, it feels like a transmission issue. But it is usually between 40 - 60 mph going up an incline, that is when the "shorting out" occurs. Car goes "Ka-chunk" and you think your tranny is slipping.

 

They don't find a code because I was told by my mechanic that Fords are the worse and don't record codes unless it is really really bad. The only way to catch it is to have a scanner hooked up and drive it when it does it. Again, what I am told. I replaced the plugs and the coil "tips - a $6 replaceable part on each coil". Problem is resolved. My mechanic also stressed to replace the tips and not the coil. He said that if a coil is bad, you would know it. I did what he said, and all is well. Note, others here will tell you to replaced the coils since you have it apart. Your call.

 

Again, my two cents.

 

Note, it is Motorcraft part WR6135. RockAuto sells them for $3.62 and they are one of their most popular parts. When I took mine off, they were in terrible shape. Assuming you have the 3.5 liter engine.

Edited September 20, 2018 by evh

[gregholliday]

Thanks for the replies. The car is not AWD and I'm not using cruise. It has happened on the "back roads", but mostly it happens on the Interstate during our morning commute. Also, the wrench light never comes on. I've also been told by a mechanic that Fords are bad about not recording a code, though.

 

I just got it back the Ford dealer after they performed the software update and have driven it a couple of days with no issues. They told me they had not seen this in the Edge, but had seen it a lot in other vehicles, like the F-150. Hopefully this will take care of it, because we really love this car. If not, I'll take it to my local mechanic and have the plugs and coil tips replaced.

[WWWPerfA_ZN0W]

Do you know what software update was performed? A copy of the invoice with personal details redacted would be very welcome

[gregholliday]

It’s been three weeks since we had our car in the shop. It ran fine until this weekend. I borrowed an OBD reader from a buddy and finally got the shuddering to happen while I had the scanner plugged in. I got these three codes: U010200, P001000, C1902FF. I tried looking these up online, but not a lot of luck. My Google skills must not be so good.

 

Any ideas?

[evh]

If you drop the last two zeroes on the first two codes (i.e. U0102 and P0010) you will find some information. Not sure if that is appropriate, but take a look.

[gregholliday]

Thanks. I removed the last two characters off of each code and did find info.

 

U0102 - Lost communications w/ Transfer Case Control

P0010 - Intake Camshaft Position Position Actuator Circuit

C1902 - Ride Control RR Shock Actuator Circuit

 

Not being a mechanic, I called my local Ford dealer this morning (same one I took it to 3 weeks ago). I told them the symptoms were back, and that I was actually able to capture some codes. Their response was "unless we can capture the codes, we can't help you". Part of me understands that, but another part of me feels like I'm getting the runaround. It just bugs me that they charge me $150 just to hook it to a machine, and then claim they can't detect anything, but yet I was able to with a $10 scanner from Amazon.