I have a 2012 Mustang. It has 34,990 miles on it. I was pulling out of a parking lot and just as i started to accelerate it starting making a weird nose and lurching forward. Would not accelerate and acted really weird. Did it 5 or 6 times then stopped and drove fine for the next 20 minutes. The dealer says i need an induction service because i use gasoline with Ethanol. I just hate to pay $200.00 for something like that if its not needed. We are about to go on vacation and will be driving this car about 500 miles. Any help is appreciated.
Before spending the $200.00 on the induction cleaning service, purchase a can of SeaFoam Motor Treatment.
http://seafoamsales.com/sea-foam-motor-treatment/
Pour this into the gas tank during the next fill-up and see if it helps with the problem.
Tester
The dealer is full of it. This car should be under warrantee and is designed to use gas with ethanol so if it is having a drivability problem, it should be fixed for free. The dealer is just trying to stall you until the warrantee expires.
Ethanol has been in our gas for many years now and it has not caused any problems. This does not rule out getting bad gas though, seen a rash of that lately and that is not covered, but if you can prove it, the gas station is on the hook for paying.
I’m skeptical of the ethanol claim. The Sea Foam is worth a try, but it seems to me thare must be something else amiss. Millions of people use gasoline with 10% ethanol, but few experience this issue. We are talking about E10 and not E85, correct?
Yes it has less then 10% ethanol in it. It has been idling weird lately but lurching forward and making a loud sound at the same time was weird. Has not happened before. I have to drive it home from work today so i hope it doesn’t do it again. I have an extended warranty and was thinking of just going into the dealer and having them look it over to see if there are any error codes or anything. Just with it having such low miles i didn’t think it would need an induction service yet.
It’s still under the regular warranty isn’t it? You don’t need your extended warranty until the primary warranty is expired. I hope you got a receipt for your last visit to the Ford dealer. That would verify that you reported the issue before the warranty expired if it is a warrantable claim.
Oh no we have had it 3 years now, i think its 3 years or 36,000 miles for the primary warranty. We bought it in May 2012. It just happened today and i called them over the phone, they have not even looked at the car yet. They just told me over the phone that is what it needed and i needed to bring it in for them to do the induction cleaning service.
I’ve got a 2007 Mustang with 53,000 miles on it and it has never had any such problems. This is NOT a normal service. Your dealer is trying to fleece $200 out of your wallet. Run some Seafoam through the tank and get it in for a warranty claim. Ethanol is in every brand of gasoline and has been for years. The car is designed for it as is every car.
The drive train should have a 5 year/60,000 mile warranty. This seems like a drive train issue to me.
An induction service is not always a scam. Sometimes it is needed even on a low miles car; depending upon a number of factors. It’s not likely needed in this case based on the symptom.
The problem I would have with this is the dealer claiming that Ethanol is the cause when that is not likely and making a ho-hum diagnosis without even looking at the car.
The OP was likely conversing with a service writer or possibly the service manager. With rare exceptions customers should not put a lot of creedence into what those people say. A mechanic out in the shop, if asked, would likely say something completely different.
Hiccup in the dry by wire throttle body, hiccup in the transmission, MAF sensor fault, who knows.
The OP could have a scan done to see if any codes have been set even though that is not always definitive.
As to warranty, if this is a fuel related issue (water, contaminants, etc) then warranty is not obligated to fix the problem even if a new car broke down on the same day it was purchased due to fuel quality.
As mentioned, give it a can of SeaFoam or even Berryman B-12 and see what happens.
I checked the Ford site, the drive train lists the intake manifold, the computer, and the fuel injection pump, but not all the other parts of the fuel injection system. Worth a try, though.
And it has nothing to do with ethanol, just about all cars use 10% ethanol, VERY few 3 year old cars have this problem. But the problem probably is something fuel system related. If the Seafoam or Techron (my favorite) doesn’t help, you may need to have the throttle plate cleaned. But find a good independent shop, no need for a dealer to do it.
It might be something wrong in the air intake system that a cleaning might solve. One time my Corolla had this symptom, and it was b/c I had recently worked on the IAC and it was allowing too much air into the intake manifold b/c I hadn’t got it seated correctly. It was really a wild ride there for a while.
More likely though I’d expect maybe there’s a path into the intake manifold that used to not be there, but is now. A broken vacuum line? Maybe, but for that severe of a symptom I’d think maybe a problem with the brake booster. You could try clamping off that big hose that goes to the brake booster and see if the engine runs better. In the shop, not on the road. Don’t drive like that b/c you don’t have good braking.
“The dealer is full of it.”
Most dealerships are.
Induction service is very likely a “Wallet Flush” service!
The independent shop where I had been doing business for about 20 years recommended a system flush when I had one of our vehicles on for an oil change. I declined because the vehicle was running fine with no problems. The next time I had a vehicle on for servicing, I was told that the struts were leaking and needed to be replaced. I declined. I did the bounce test and the struts seemed fine. I crawled under the vehicle and couldn’t see any leakage around the shocks. I then had a tire on that vehicle that kept losing air. I took the vehicle to the independent tire store where I bought the tires and told them to check the struts. The tire was repaired (it had a nail), a leaking grease seal was replaced and I was told that the struts were fine. I was also told that since I bought the tires from the store, there was no charge. We have recently had a lot of rain with a lot of puddles on the road. I noticed on our other vehicle, a Toyota Sienna, that if I was forced to go through a big puddle, the air conditioner would cut out and there would be a belt slipping noise. I took the car to the Toyota dealer. They checked the belt and said it looked fine and that, with the heavy rains we’ve had, others had the same problem. The service department saw no reason to change the belt. I hardly recognized my Sienna when they brought it around for me–they ran it through the wash rack. There was no charge. I left our other vehicle for an oil change when I picked up the Sienna. The price was competitive with the independent shop I had been patronizing and the inspection sheet showed that there was no problem with the struts. They also washed that vehicle.
Not all dealers are out to do a wallet flush and not all independents are above recommending services that aren’t necessary. The independent shop where I had been doing business for over 20 years did have a change of managers. I feel bad because not only had I been a long time customer, but had recommended the shop to others. My first tipoff to watch them was the recommendation of a system flush. On the other hand, the few times I have used the Toyota service the service has been high quality. My point is that not all dealer service departments do unnecessary work and not all independents are on the level.