Car died at stoplight - Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power Error

[Herbie]

Hoping someone here may have an idea of what’s happening with my Bronco. Earlier this month when my wife was driving home from work, the screen said Powertrain Malfunction/Reduced Power. Then said shutting down to save power. The car still drove and she made it home, but I received 3 alerts of the issue through the ford pass app. It didn’t happen again for a couple weeks until this past week we were at a stop light and when it turned green, I took my foot off the break and the same errors popped up, but this time the engine completely shut off.

Around the same time the engine started a loud click when starting cold. It only lasts maybe 3 seconds, but definitely does not sound right.

I took it to the dealer this week and they were not able to reproduce it. There are no check engine lights or error codes stored either so they said they can’t do anything about it and to call when it happens again. They said they did not hear the clicking when starting even though it sat out there over night and when I picked it up it did it so - pretty annoying.

Anyways, I’m hoping someone on here might have some ideas since ford service was no help. This is my wife’s car and I don’t want her to get stranded from it.


2022 Wildtrak 4D 2.7

My 2022 started throwing all kinds of codes and lighting the dash up like a Christmas tree about two or three months ago. Battery voltage showed fine most of the time. They finally got the warnings to go on for them at the dealer, were able to record it and therefore replace my battery under warranty. The new battery fixed the issues. These vehicles apparently are finicky to even the slightest, temporary voltage drop.
Have not had the other issue of which you speak.

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[Tanger]

FWIW I had the same warning light come on and felt the reduced power. Went away on restart. It didn’t die on me but same (no)thing when I brought to dealer. Service advisor made the techs keep for a few more days but still couldn’t find anything and couldn’t replicate.

 

[wjtinfwb]

See if your local auto parts shop can load test your battery, several issues were resolved with a new battery. Seems these electronic heavy vehicles have higher needs than cars of yesterday. If the battery is getting weak a simple voltage check with a meter won’t show that.
Best of luck since your dealer seems to suck.
I fear the day I ever have to go to the dealer for any repairs. I’ll do my best to fix myself.

definitely start with the battery. These AGM batteries fail very differently from the old lead acid and can operate perfectly until, they don’t. No slow cranking or dim lights like a traditional battery. We spent hundreds tracking down electrical glitches in our Grand Cherokee, everything was solved with a new AGM battery for 180 bucks

 

[arwhite]

Put your battery on a Tender overnight and see if that helps. If not, try a new battery. Turn off start/stop every time it’s driven. That crap kills battery over time; especially if you are constantly running stoplight races.

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