2019 Ranger Powertrain Malfunction, reduced power, gears slipping.

[athenstiger]

My son’s 2019 Ranger XLT got yhe powertrain malfunction error this morning going to school, and he said that it wasn’t shifting well. I need to pick it up to take to the dealer, and was wondering if this is ok to limp 30 miles, or if I needed a tow. Please advise.

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[Racket]

My experience was sometimes it's an anomaly and will reset itself after sitting. That may be rare. It's possible he comes back out and the truck will seem like everything is fine.

Obtaining OBD codes is helpful - of course that may not be convenient at the moment. Some auto parts stores can read them to assist customers with parts purchases but if it remains on or repeats most definitely a trip to an authorized shop would be in order. The 'reduced power' message and programming is to protect the truck but could be hazardous on the highway. An annoyance around town.

It could be as simple as a connection undone - was the air filter recently checked/changed?

Bad gas is extremely rare and I wouldn't assume that right away. Some gas dry additives may be detrimental to the Ecoboost (lots of debate and might void warranty)

 

[Racket]

Is it four wheel drive?

 

[Glocker]

If you have a Ford dealer nearby, see if you can stop by and get your service adviser to pull up your truck. They should be able to see the powertrain codes by pulling up your vin on your computer.

 

[NotBudule]

It's not the transmission, it is NOT the TRANSMISSION... is it under warranty? (Then it's ok if its the transmission)

 

[athenstiger]

So, the dealer kept the truck for several days, and they couldn’t get the message to repeat. No codes when scanned. We have the truck back, and so far, it’s driving fine. I don’t like nonspecific messages like “powertrain malfunction” , because that could be many issues both severe and not. If we have transmission issues, I sure hope it’s while we’re covered under warranty.

 

[airline tech]

Yes - sometimes codes (intermittent) can be a pain to pinpoint down the cause.
As some of them reset after key cycle and not have a memory history of it.
If it is part of Mode 6 , monitoring ( self test) results it may be viewed from a snapshot at time of occurrence.
If it returns and if possible for you at the time of occurrence, do not cycle key off before you hook up a scanner , this way you can see what is triggering the code or at the very least see Live Data and note anything abnormal.

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