Powertrain Malfunction...?

[Polar Bear]

Went to lunch, no issues. Got in the truck to head back to work and initially wouldn't start. I see this pop up and I hit OK. Truck started and I drove back to work. Manual says a powertrain or 4WD fault contact dealer ASAP. Well Mine's a 4x2 and it acted fine getting back to the office.... Anyone encounter this before? I have a morning appt for oil change, tail light recall, and frozen sync issues tomorrow. I guess it can wait till then?? I always appreciate forum input!

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[Roofhopper]

Is your truck tuned?

 

[Deleted member 1634]

I had that pop-up a couple weeks ago. Remote started it, got in, turned the key on, and that popped up. Along with errors for the ABS, Terrain Management, Trail Control, Stability Control, and Traction Control. I checked it on my phone with the Bluetooth OBD-II reader I have plugged into the port all the time, and it said it was an ABS failure, which caused everything associated with the ABS to not work. I just drove it home for lunch and it drove fine. Turned it on after lunch to drive back to work and it was all gone. Figured it was just a little split second glitch between the engine start and ABS system start and the computer freaked out. Nothing before, nothing since.

I always learn about the code, if it's nothing serious I'll clear it (or let it clear itself), and if it comes back then I know it's a real problem. If it doesn't, it was probably just a freak thing.

 

[Polar Bear]

Is your truck tuned?

It is not.

 

[JetEngr19]

I had that pop-up a couple weeks ago. Remote started it, got in, turned the key on, and that popped up. Along with errors for the ABS, Terrain Management, Trail Control, Stability Control, and Traction Control. I checked it on my phone with the Bluetooth OBD-II reader I have plugged into the port all the time, and it said it was an ABS failure, which caused everything associated with the ABS to not work. I just drove it home for lunch and it drove fine. Turned it on after lunch to drive back to work and it was all gone. Figured it was just a little split second glitch between the engine start and ABS system start and the computer freaked out. Nothing before, nothing since.

I always learn about the code, if it's nothing serious I'll clear it (or let it clear itself), and if it comes back then I know it's a real problem. If it doesn't, it was probably just a freak thing.

Exact same thing happened to me last week. Remote started and got all the errors. Turned it off and started again. The only light that same back on was the powertrain malfunction. Drove fine and went away the next start. It hasn’t recurred.

 

[Psykostevo]

I have seen aftermarket OBD devices cause this when they are left plugged in frequently. It doesn’t happen on all cars or with all devices, but some of them just randomly happen to interrupt Canbus communications during a startup diagnostic.

 

[JetEngr19]

I have seen aftermarket OBD devices cause this when they are left plugged in frequently. It doesn’t happen on all cars or with all devices, but some of them just randomly happen to interrupt Canbus communications during a startup diagnostic.

This could have been my problem. My dash cam is powered from the OBDII port. Thanks for the info.

 

[Polar Bear]

I have seen aftermarket OBD devices cause this when they are left plugged in frequently. It doesn’t happen on all cars or with all devices, but some of them just randomly happen to interrupt Canbus communications during a startup diagnostic.

Good to know. My Ultragauge runs off the OBDii port.

 

[Anthony]

Happened to me once a few month ago. Never had anything plugged into OBDII port and was not the result of a remote start. Went away on its own and has not happened again yet.

https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/got-a-warning-light-this-morning.4781/

 

[shred5]

I was watching a review video a month or so ago on the Ranger and it happened while they were reviewing the truck.
Pretty much every warning light came on and then just went away. I have seen a few post on it too.

By the way it is not all those systems malfunctioning. The computer just shut all those systems down as a precaution when it senses something wrong.

This also happened on my Colorado once. I was sitting there waiting for a train and all my system warning lights came on.
They did not go off though, turned out it was a oxygen sensor. But it still shut everything off on the truck.

 

[johnitahoe]

Got the power train fault this morning. Monkey wrench on the display. What does it take to clear the wrench and get it to test the systems again? Thanks, John

Update: Drove my other vehicle to work. Go home started up the Ranger and once again all is good in the world!

 

[missesbe]

I just purchased my 2020 Ford Ranger a couple of weeks ago. The highways here are notorious for being hazardous with objects on the road, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I've already had to drive over a large piece of semi truck tire with this truck. The surprising thing to me is what it did to the vehicle...all the warning lights came on (similar to what was already reported in this thread) and the truck seemed to just stop going. I tried turning it back on - the engine turned over, ran a bit, then just seemed to stop. It's been towed to a nearby Ford shop but I haven't heard yet what the problem is. I'm hoping it's easy to repair...the external damage that I can see is a few scratches on the bumper. I've driven over pieces of tires before in my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and always kept on rolling so this was a shock to me. Any ideas out there?

 

[missesbe]

did it blow open your oil pan?

I didn't see anything leaking (oil, gas) while I was waiting for the tow truck (1 1/2 hours) but I didn't pop the hood - it's too dangerous to stand outside of your vehicle on the highway shoulder where I was so I stayed in the truck.

 

[Deleted member 1634]

I just purchased my 2020 Ford Ranger a couple of weeks ago. The highways here are notorious for being hazardous with objects on the road, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I've already had to drive over a large piece of semi truck tire with this truck. The surprising thing to me is what it did to the vehicle...all the warning lights came on (similar to what was already reported in this thread) and the truck seemed to just stop going. I tried turning it back on - the engine turned over, ran a bit, then just seemed to stop. It's been towed to a nearby Ford shop but I haven't heard yet what the problem is. I'm hoping it's easy to repair...the external damage that I can see is a few scratches on the bumper. I've driven over pieces of tires before in my 2014 Jeep Grand Cherokee and always kept on rolling so this was a shock to me. Any ideas out there?

Running over tire shreads in the road could've done any number of things to the underside of the truck. Bent stuff, disconnected stuff, ripped stuff off. Could've hit it just right in the Jeep to miss all the vitals last time. But not so lucky in the Ranger this time. Hopefully not too bad, and/or not too long to fix.

 

[rang19ca]

It might have hit a wiring connector, or sensor. Hope you get it fixed fast.

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