Van has power when the accelerator pedal not used

[Van from hell]

Hi
I have a 67 plate Transit L3 H3, since having the van it has had problems, first was the lights in the back draining the battery. When the van was in for this problem I enquired about the van revving on its own when taking it out of gear and foot of the clutch, I was told that it was normal.
Then the brakes were constantly on, either when driving or at a standstill they changed the brake booster twice. First was a recall.
Since then, the van will now speed up on its own when you are driving along, or the most impressive part of this problem is when you take your foot off the accelerator it will carry on driving, no loss of power. It will slow down initially but then pick up speed.
I have had the problem about two years, whenever it went in, they would put it on the machine and no fault, so hand it back.
October the warranty was due to expire and I had a moan, so the Master technician came out in the van with me and noticed the problem. So he opened a problem to keep it running after the warranty expired. They took it in and changed what they thought was the fault, something to do with the throttle. Still the same problem.
They had someone from Ford come out a field engineer, he guessed at it being something to do with then fuel pump or something. Again still the same problem.
It has been in Ford since 23 01 2021, I had to go in this morning to see what was happening, they have road tested it 3 times this week, for a max of 20miles. Apparently it hasn't happened to them, they have been sent the video we took while driving, the van drives without touching the accelerator for about 3 miles, picking up speed even after breaking. The only way to stop it is to take it out of gear.
I have already had the brake pads changed at 22000 miles, all I seem to be doing is breaking.

They haven't a clue, has anybody else had this problem

Thanks for any help.

[KevofCov]

Hi
Sorry not had the problem but the only way to get things sorted at the dealer is to escalate the problem. They will bluff and bluster until you go away. The dealer cannot always pass on the costs to Ford. Always remember that it is their problem to sort not yours. The ‘official’ test drive when the fault showed itself is a big big help for you. Don’t let yourself be pushed around – explain politely that they need to sort it promptly or you will take the van elsewhere and send them the bill…..

[Altransit]

Complete stab in the dark by me here, but reading, and re-reading the problem sounds to me as if it could possibly be related to the cruise control. This is based on the theory that it has the 'only other' control over the speed, apart from the manual throttle pedal.
Even if you don't have cruise, most of the parts required to enable it are fitted, as it's ultimately controlled by the BCM, as is Hill Launch Assist, which 'may have' been the problem with the brakes.

Faulty BCM possibly

[Van from hell]

Hi
Thanks for the replies.
It is in Fords as we speak, the service dept washed their hands of it mid Jan and told me to escalate to Ford complaints. Ford complaints looked into it and told me to take it back to the service dept to be looked at again.
Only problem is they haven't a clue. I have said to them in the past about cruise control, I am assuming they have tried that, even the field engineer couldn't work out the problem.
I wait and see what they say tomorrow.

Again Thanks for any advice.

[Van from hell]

Hi
I have just had a call from the service dept, and it is to do with the anti stall feature on the van.
So if you are in a high gear and the van is telling you that you should go down a gear the anti stall kicks in and revs up. Im sorry but what tosh.

So when you take your foot off the pedal expecting to slow down, coming to a roundabout or turning the anti stall kicks in and revs up. Keeping you running.

Picking van up.

[Altransit]

Strange, because anti-stall only increases the revs slightly at tickover, and on mine, only does it in first and second gear (handy in a traffic jam), but I suppose that if it's faulty, it could be doing what you say
Presumably, disabling the anti-stall should cure the problem (if they're right!)

[Van from hell]

Hi
Again thanks for the response.
I spoke to the salesman who sold me the van, he hadn't heard of it, he said as an extra they came with Acceleration control.
Which apparently helps you out if you have a heavier load on the van, when pulling away. He told me that wasn't fitted to my van when I bought it.
Spoke to the lady from complaints, she hadn't heard of it either.
They are saying, if you are in sixth gear, and the van is telling you to change down it stops the van from stalling.
I said to the man that you take your foot off the accelerator for one of two things, slow down or change gear, I don't expect the van to carry on driving and also pick up speed.
If it is an anti stall, should it not cut out when you apply the break, all my van does is slow then power comes back on again and picks up speed without touching the accelerator.

Like you say if they thought it was the anti stall when they road tested it, why didn't they disable it before the next road test.

Thanks again.

[Altransit]

Anti-stall is what it says, if you put it in first gear and let in the clutch, it will increase the revs up to about 1K, so that you can pull away without touching the power. As I said above, it's useful in a traffic jam when you keep pulling away at a crawl, it will trickle along quite nicely with no power input. I've never known it to 'take over' at any other speed or situation,
if I apply the brake, the van will stall if I don't press the clutch or take it out of gear when the speed drops to a crawl.

Obviously, your newer van will have much more sophisticated software than my old clunker, but I can't believe that it's right that it tries to accelerate when you need to be slowing down, even cruise should cut out when you touch the brakes

[Van from hell]

Hi Altransit
Thanks for your responses.
They are saying this Anti stall works in all gears. I have never heard of it.
Yes the cruise control turns off the power when you brake, when this is happening you depress the brake pedal for a second or so to slow you down and then the van carries on and picks up again. No sign of stalling.
Where I live, there is an underpass about half mile from the garage.
When they changed the first part, as soon as I got onto the dual carriage way I got the van to 40MPH and took my foot off the accelerator. 6th gear.
It dropped to about 38 then we hit the underpass, going down went up to about 45, going up the other side dropped to about 30-32, back on the flat picked back up to 40-42over half a mile, I had to brake for a roundabout down to 30-35, 200 yards laterI had to stop for traffic lights. All this without touching the accelerator. To stop the van from running it has to be taken out of gear.

Even the technician that came out with me said there was no lag or drop in power.

[Altransit]

So are they saying that this is normal behaviour, or are they acknowledging that there is a fault

Maybe suggest to them that they disable the anti-stall to prove their point

[Van from hell]

Hi
They are saying that when the technician went out in it, the van kept its revs at just over a 1000 and the van carried on driving. They are saying that this is the anti stall system doing its job. In 6th gear. Sorry but no.
They are getting back in touch with Ford technical about it. The reason for that is I didn't take that excuse of an anti stall system doing that to any vehicle.
Nobody, not even the salesmen have heard of it working in 6th gear.

If you take your foot off the accelerator, you are doing it for a reason, change gear or to slow down coming up to a junction, roundabout or traffic, you don't expect an anti stall system to kick in and keep the van running at the same speed and not turn off when you touch the brake.

I did ring them this afternoon and say why didn't they disable it before they did a road test if that's what they thought it was, he didn't know if they could, only the man on the front desk. Shouldn't they have thought of that.

I do have a video of the van doing this, we drove for about 1-2 miles maybe more without touching the accelerator. Braking three times during and the van picking up speed again.

[Altransit]

Nobody, not even the salesmen have heard of it working in 6th gear.

I don't believe that it does either, I've driven a few Fords with anti-stall, from my Mk7, up to a 19 plate Kuga, and a 19 plate Mk8, and none of them have behaved like that
Something isn't right and they need to sort it before it causes an accident

[Van from hell]

Hi

Ford complaints have been in touch, the first call went along the lines of them giving me a voucher towards a new van as I stated that is what I was looking at because I just don't trust this van. At the end of the call I told her they couldn't sell it on because someone new wouldn't understand how to drive it, and that it is dangerous. She said that she would call me end of the week with the amount they would give. She also told me parts of the report that the service dept had sent to her, I am not going to say they lied, but they wasn't telling the truth in the report about what I had said to them regarding it being the Anti stall system, they said I had agreed.

She has called me again not with an amount but that they want the van back in again to get this sorted. Don't know how long for or what they are going to do. I can't afford any more time off, 20 days in the last 3 months alone so far. They have offered a hire vehicle but I cant carry glass with out racking. Also told me I might be liable if the fault is something else, I would have to pay for the costs of everything. Told her this problem is a warranty issue as your master technician opened it up before the warranty ran out.

I called the salesman that I dealt with in the beginning, he is pricing a new van for me, he told me not to bother taking it back in. He did let slip that he thought they were changing the wiring loom or something.

He has given me a good price for this one and a good price on a new one, not what I wanted, this one was supposed to last me out.

Ongoing saga.

[Altransit]

If you do go down the part-ex route, obviously it solves your problem, but worrying that they would almost certainly sell it on to an unsuspecting new owner