Power pulsing, noticable under moderate acceleration

[mayo]

I've spent the morning running around in my 1.6l Ecoboost transit connect and forscan. Posting here because I cannot find a more appropriate forum for this engine.

Symptom:
A few weeks ago I noticed pulsing power when I am moving from 2000-3500rpm, I assume this is when the turbo is kicking in. If I am on a hill the problem is worse.

Vehicle Details:

• 135k km
• Oil Changes every 5k km
• Transmission fluid changed at ~70k km
• Air intake filter changed often, just changed it again
• Spark plugs just changed (Motorcraft SP532X)
• Borrowed a forscan scanner and have been checking various sensors and readings (attached)an
• No codes shown even after many aggressive runs

Possible Solutions (data gathered so far):

• VVT (variable valve timing) solenoid
• Wastegate solenoid

Thanks everyone. If you thing some other data points can be grabbed I will jump in the truck and try it out

 

[mayo]

Alright guys, so I took the first, simplest approach of changing the wastegate actuator solenoid (bit of a pain in the ass tbh). Went to a couple of mechanics who both suggested I change the catalytic converter, no mention or hope in the wastegate.

Well it turns out IT WAS the wastegate solenoid. I went OEM, did a couple of runs with forscan and then reset my transmission adaptations and did more testing, results attached below.

 

[Dialcaliper]

Really interesting. Did you see this behavior mostly under full throttle, part throttle or both?

 

[mayo]

Really interesting. Did you see this behavior mostly under full throttle, part throttle or both?

Without my laptop/forscan I was only detecting this at around 2000-3500 rpm and mostly on hills, basically when the turbo kicks in and it's tuning for torque I assume. According to the data it is clear this stuttering happened all the way through the revs. What puzzles me and puzzled the ford tech (I visited the head tech for an impromptu brain picking) was the lack of codes. He thought the catalytic could be partially disconnected internally, leading to it coming detached under heavy acceleration.

 

[Grey42]

Would you happen to have recorded a video? I believe I am experiencing a similar issue, and I initially attributed it to my clutch. However, I replaced it in January 2024, and it has been driven less than 30,000 maybe 40k miles tops on the new kit. I do not engage in aggressive driving, and I treat it with care, as it is my primary mode of transportation.

 

[mayo]

Would you happen to have recorded a video? ...

Unfortunately no video. Some notes below that may help

• engine temp made no difference
• most noticeable on inclines
• feeling best described as surging, vehicle would literally lurch with 1-2 second intervals continuously and would get less prominent as I got higher into my RPMs of whatever gear I was in
• Started off subtle and got worse over 3-4 weeks, at it's worst it would be subtle to someone who didn't regularly drive my vehicle unless they were going up a hill
• Sound of turbo was off, hard to describe, but in a worst case scenario of being on an incline plus 2000-3500rpm, you could hear "PSS PSS PSS" of the turbo misbehaving
• Made passing on the highway challenging unless I forced it to high rpms so the engine without turbo could do it's job
• massive loss of torque

I strongly suggest ordering a cheap MS/HS scan tool, not hard to use and forscan has a free trial version (windows). At least scan for codes and get some readings, specifically measured boost, desired boost and manifold pressure. A lot of the other readings seem to be a byproduct of issue, not the cause, for example, the throttle position sensor. Best of luck.