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2016 Ford Escape Stalling While Idle

43K views 23 replies 17 participants last post by  murcod 
#1 ·
For the past two weeks I've been dealing with this issue. I have a 2016 Ford Escape, all standard edition. I bought it in October, in full. There's about 25.5K on it. My wife works an hour away and we only have one car since she inable to physically drive, hence the quick gaining of mileage.

Now, with that out of the way, here's the issue. Randomly, while in idle (either at a full stop or in park with the car engine running), the car will shut completely off. There's no warning via a "Check Engine" light. All that happens is a low rumble that I can feel from the back of the Escape and like in a "wave" it reaches all the way up to the front of the car and then it shuts off. I put it in park, restart the car, and then it turns on again just fine as if nothing happened.

Of course, the three times I've taken it to the mechanic at the dealership I bought it from, it never happens to them. They ran it through their computer several times, drove it to see how if it stalls when idle while driving, but of course, NONE of that happened. It ran for 2 hours straight and it didn't stall. It was driven for 100 miles by them and it didn't stall.

I was given the number for Ford to speak with them directly. I'm wondering if ANYONE has gone through this as well.
 
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#5 ·
Is it worse right after you fill up at the gas station?

Do you try to top off your tank with extra gas after the nozzle shuts off?

Have you tried to pull any codes?

Have you ever thought about giving us your vehicle specs before you start asking questions about your vehicle which we don’t even know your year, engine, etc etc etc etc.

Ahhhh, first post. Well done lass, well done.
 
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#8 ·
Welcome to the forum.

Have you had it scanned for fault codes?

There is a known problem with the evap system which causes stalling, however IIRC it normally happens straight after refuelling. There are other threads on it, the search function should find them.
 
#7 ·
Since there seems to be no resolution or updates from other posters on this thread, I'll interject my experience on a similar problem with my vehicle. 2008 Mustang GT (auto). In my case it was the transmission causing the problem. It was not disengaging from the engine when coming to a stop.

Try this first when the vehicle is warmed up but DO NOT try this in traffic. Find a nice quiet side road or a parking lot. With the vehicle warmed up and maybe after its exhibited the problem, Get up to 20/30 mph.

As you come to a stop, before you completely stop, put the transmission selector into Neutral, then come to a stop while the transmission is in Neutral. Does the vehicle idle like it should or does it shut off? If the engine shuts down with the Transmission in Neutral then the problem is engine sensor or speed sensor based. You may have a Check Engine light pending. You can use a hand held OBDII scanner to check out for any pending codes.

If the engine idles fine, now, put into D or R while still at idle and listen for any type of whirring, grinding, or popping from under the car. Its best to have the windows down. Does the engine stall at all when you engage the transmission or do you hear any sounds that coincide with you moving the shifter?

Do this process a few time times to see if the problem presents itself. If the problem only presents when the transmission is engaged and there are any sounds, it is possible the transmission is the cause. It's not disengaging from the engine when coming to a stop so, as you come to a stop, the transmission stops and thus shuts off the motor since they are still connected. This will not throw a Check Engine light.
 
#10 ·
Since there seems to be no resolution or updates from other posters on this thread, I'll interject my experience on a similar problem with my vehicle. 2008 Mustang GT (auto). In my case it was the transmission causing the problem. It was not disengaging from the engine when coming to a stop.

Try this first when the vehicle is warmed up but DO NOT try this in traffic. Find a nice quiet side road or a parking lot. With the vehicle warmed up and maybe after its exhibited the problem, Get up to 20/30 mph.

As you come to a stop, before you completely stop, put the transmission selector into Neutral, then come to a stop while the transmission is in Neutral. Does the vehicle idle like it should or does it shut off? If the engine shuts down with the Transmission in Neutral then the problem is engine sensor or speed sensor based. You may have a Check Engine light pending. You can use a hand held OBDII scanner to check out for any pending codes.

If the engine idles fine, now, put into D or R while still at idle and listen for any type of whirring, grinding, or popping from under the car. Its best to have the windows down. Does the engine stall at all when you engage the transmission or do you hear any sounds that coincide with you moving the shifter?

Do this process a few time times to see if the problem presents itself. If the problem only presents when the transmission is engaged and there are any sounds, it is possible the transmission is the cause. It's not disengaging from the engine when coming to a stop so, as you come to a stop, the transmission stops and thus shuts off the motor since they are still connected. This will not throw a Check Engine light.
Hello,

Were you able to find out what the issue was? Mine start stalling while idle and twice the red oil & red battery lights came on and the truck rumbled then quite!

Thank you in advance for your help.
 
#9 ·
Hi. First time poster here. Apologies in advance for any posting etiquette I may be violating.

My 2013 Escape SEL has had these very same intermittent stalling issues. They started about a year ago and have gradually grown in frequency. I had it happen to me twice today.

The problem only occurs after I've been driving somewhere and have then parked and shut the engine off for anywhere between 10 minutes and one hour. After re-starting during this time period, it will run for a minute, then the rumbles and sputtering kick in and it stalls. The car stalls whether it is in neutral or drive. Only one time did the check engine light come on. Instead, the red check oil and check battery lights come on.

I have not had the problem when the vehicle has been off for longer periods of time. The problem has not occurred right after refueling. When it happened today, I had about a quarter of a tank.

The vehicle only has 66,000 miles on it.

I don't own a code scanner. Haven't really needed one until now.

I took it to my local mechanic a week ago, who replaced the "fuel rail/pressure sensor." As per above, the problem has not been solved.

I haven't taken it back to the dealership yet as I'm reluctant to do so. Scheduling times for appointments are typically four weeks in advance. Also, when I brought it in last year to replace the water pump, it took them four weeks to get the car back to me as the mechanic bent the intake valves in the process of putting everything back together again.

From what I've read here, it doesn't sound like Ford knew what was going on. Does anyone know if that's changed? I suspect that they may have shrugged it off and focused on the new design (2020 onward).

Thanks in advance.

\_/
David
 
#15 ·
Everyone's problem with puttering to a stop sounds to me like vapor lock. This is a condition where liquid gasoline is turning to vapor before it reaches the injectors, meaning very little or no fuel gets to the cylinders..
Old school carburetor-equipped vehicles were more prone to vapor lock because the fuel pump was usually located under the hood and the hot engine would warm the gasoline to the point of vaporizing it before it could be pumped up to the carb. Newer cars including the Escapes are fuel injected and have the fuel pump immersed in the gas tank. This reduces, but not eliminates the chance of vapor lock. Under hood temps are even hotter today because of more dense packaging under the hood and higher operating temps.
When shut off for a short period, or operating slowly under light load (e.g. coasting to a stop), no fuel is flowing and may vaporize as there is little or no liquid fuel running through the system, keeping the hardware cool enough to prevent vapor lock.
Just my 2¢,
 
#16 ·
For anyone that still cares about this thread, It's not vaporlock (chris- that's very very uncommon these days, don't forget about the high pressure fuel pump under the hood that is fed from the tank pump, averaging 1500PSI). Here's one example of a fix for these issues we are all talking about. No, not a MAF, throttle body (but not uncommon on Fords), HPFP, intank pump, timing, cam seal, fuel pressure sensors, vacuum leak etc. There is a TSB out for the 2018+ that someone has mentioned, for the harness rubbing up against metal on the engine, but specifically "allowing chafing at MULTIPLE points". In my application, it was the corner of the cam driven vacuum pump, the main harness was rubbing on, until it rubbed insulation right off the wire headed towards the injectors and coil packs. Don't forget, this is not the first time Ford admitted an issue with the Escape's main harness- on the 2013 + 2014 2.0's, there are 2 bad crimps in the main harness that made it to a NHTSA Safety Recall, 14S17. Also - this was not even a 2018, it was a 2015 Titanium w/2.0, AWD, and 78Kmi. Hint - Look in my mechanics mirror- Blue stripped white wire, was shorting to ground on the vac pump). With CAN bus in all these new cars, a short to ground can make the car lose it's mind, in every way. I had about 11 codes on the scan tool before this fix. I'm in the process of throwing a video on YouTube that will hopefully help others.


I still had to cut open the black fabric tape to even see that insulation missing on the wire. The fabric tape hadn't worn through just yet. I could tell there might have been an issue when that tiny corner on the cam driven vacuum pump was slightly shiny - from the fabric tape rubbing against it all the time. Hope this helps someone.
 
#19 ·
My 2013 Ford Escape 2.0 had the stall issue that the dealer couldn't solve, until they fixed the wires from recall 14S17 .
After a while it again started to have rough idle and I re-fixed the wire connections myself, with stronger butt connectors from Home Depot. The original connectors were too small for so many wires together. I remember I used blue butt connectors and made sure to insert only up to two wires on each side.
Has been running great since.
 
#22 ·
Welcome to the forum.

There's a fair bit covered on the first page to check out. The other thing is to check the battery terminals for corrosion- especially the rear negative terminal. Look into ForScan as well- so you can scan and read any stored fault codes yourself.
 
#24 ·
Welcome to the forum.

A Fuse on the BCM was intermittently sticking open. Codes U306 & P025A. Try checking there, anyone reading this.
Was it a fuse or one of the built in relays- that can't be accessed?
 
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