New Bronco trouble

[Elleykaye]

Three weeks ago I bought a new 2023 Bronco, today she’s in the shop at Ford. It only has 400 miles on it. Had a charge system fault light go on and off and on and off…. Took it in they changed the alternator…said it was fixed. Drove it off the Ford lot and it barely drove past 30 mph. Took it back and lights went off for powertrain malfunction and turbocharger/supercharger is outputting lower boost than expected. Also the original issue is back. They’ve had it for 4 days now and said it’s the alternator again. Can’t get it to work when in the car. Works fine otherwise. Anyone have a similar experience?

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[PWillette]

Sounds like a possible loose electrical connection. Many have had issues with loose battery terminals and other electrical connections in the engine bay.

 

[Elleykaye]

Good to know. I’ll see what they say and keep this in mind. Thanks.

 

[ScottyC]

When I took delivery of my Bronco, while I was exploring under the hood, I found the negative terminal loose, tightened it up and no issues.

 

[flip]

Pin fit issue somewhere.

 

[jrm5723]

Pin fit issue somewhere.

Pin fit issue? Are you talking about pins in electrical connectors?

 

[JawnyBronco]

I had my dealer complete the OCD(Owners Checklist for Delivery), which included battery connections, fuse box bolts, seating fuses and have had no issues… yet.

 

[mpeugeot]

I had my dealer complete the OCD(Owners Checklist for Delivery), which included battery connections, fuse box bolts, seating fuses and have had no issues… yet.

I would do it yourself tbh.

 

[flip]

Pin fit issue? Are you talking about pins in electrical connectors?

Yes. These freaking things are getting so small any change in continuity-resistance through one not making good contact will freak the shit out of whatever system it's connected to or monitored by. The terminals and wire gauge they use is getting exponentially smaller which means the ability to build enough tension or interference in the socket is critical to maintaining uninterrupted connection through that circuit. If the socket or pin isn't fully latched in the cavity and pushes out slightly, you can have an intermittent issue. We've had a lot more of these issues the last few years than in past years. Some of that could be supplier issues or done during assembly.

 

[bjpatten]

Sounds like a possible loose electrical connection. Many have had issues with loose battery terminals and other electrical connections in the engine bay.

Mine had a loose negative cable. Still not as tight as I would like.

 

[Navyicman]

Yes. These freaking things are getting so small any change in continuity-resistance through one not making good contact will freak the shit out of whatever system it's connected to or monitored by. The terminals and wire gauge they use is getting exponentially smaller which means the ability to build enough tension or interference in the socket is critical to maintaining uninterrupted connection through that circuit. If the socket or pin isn't fully latched in the cavity and pushes out slightly, you can have an intermittent issue. We've had a lot more of these issues the last few years than in past years. Some of that could be supplier issues or done during assembly.

I'll second this opinion. While not car related, I have personally experienced the effects of a pushed pin in a connector for a multi-million dollar inertial navigation system in the past.

Long and short of it, we had an error on our Inertial navigation system that I had troubleshot and it indicated that a component in the inertial measuring unit was faulty. We took the unit down and replaced the $20k component, did all the wire checks on the cabling, which were sat, and reinstalled the unit. This took about a day to do; however, the same problem persisted. We then put out a request for technical support to replace the whole $750k measuring unit, which pulled our boat out of mission and put us into a foreign port for repairs for a week. The factory technician came out and helped us replace the whole unit. This took 2 days, just to find out the same problem existed.

We then pulled the unit down again, went over everything, still finding no problems. We then put the unit back in place, and performed the steps slightly out of order, it was then that we saw the actual issue.
When connecting one of the cables, a single socket was being pushed out of location by the connector. When we undid the connector, the pin was drawn back into place. We fixed the broken connector and reinstalled the unit and started it back up with no issues. Apparently the vibrations of the ship moving and a broken pin latch had caused the pin to work loose over time and caused the fault.

 

[dsenatore]

My story below from a previous thread about getting stranded. I kind of assumed they were going to throw parts at it - fuel pump or whatever and I'd be back but they did a proper diagnosis and fixed the issue. You may not be getting the best service from your dealer.

Quite a few actually. Stalled out trying to start moving from a stop right after I got it home from buying it from Chapman in PA(great folks BTW). Sputtered once at the GW bridge and that got my attention. Once home and around town it left my wife and son stranded at intersections multiple times. Not Fun. Auto start disabled, just died when we gave it gas. Ford bot chimed in and did nothing - big surprise.
Anyway, Local dealer found that "spread female pin in connector C140, pin 9, on circuit CBK01 that powers the low speed injectors was loose". They replaced it and all is good. Extremely grateful Flood Ford in E. Greenwich, RI took the time and actually tracked it down instead of throwing a fuel pump at it. Quality is job whah??

Good luck with yours!

 

[jrm5723]

Yes. These freaking things are getting so small any change in continuity-resistance through one not making good contact will freak the shit out of whatever system it's connected to or monitored by. The terminals and wire gauge they use is getting exponentially smaller which means the ability to build enough tension or interference in the socket is critical to maintaining uninterrupted connection through that circuit. If the socket or pin isn't fully latched in the cavity and pushes out slightly, you can have an intermittent issue. We've had a lot more of these issues the last few years than in past years. Some of that could be supplier issues or done during assembly.

Thanks, good to know...

 

[Elleykaye]

Got my Bronco back today. Turns out there was a plastic cap on the alternator that was causing the issues. They took it off and it’s running fine. They weren’t sure if it was just a cap for transport or part of the alternator. The one they replaced that came from the factory has a cap also. We’ll see if that works. No problems so far!!

 

[PWillette]

Wow, that doesn't give a lot of confidence took dealer that long to figure out! Glad it was an easy fix!

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