Car issues that I can't figure out! Please Help!

[SoopaHick]

This is my wife's 2014 Ford Escape with the 2.0 Ecoboost in it. I cannot figure out why it is surging while idling and the internet is not giving me information that helps me.

The video below shows the issues.
I spent this morning pulling the whole throttle body/intake manifold hoping it maybe just needed a clean, but from my understanding it is decently clean already. If pictures of that would help let me know.
I can't afford to take this in to a mechanic because it always costs an arm and a leg with this car.
Thank you for any help.

 

[Spork]

Any codes? Have you done anything else like fuel filter, spark plugs?

 

[SoopaHick]

Any codes? Have you done anything else like fuel filter, spark plugs?

No codes, I haven't done fuel filter but all the spark plugs were changed a couple months ago.

 

[UNSTUCK]

-Rent a fuel pressure tester from your parts store. Watch your pressure to see if it fluctuates while surging.
-Take a can of brake clean/carb clean/either and spray all around the intake manifold and throttle body. If there is a leak it will suck in that fluid and you will hear the engine speed pick up a bit. Take care not to spray into the intake or that will obviously speed the engine up.

 

[TRD270]

Don’t know about the 2.0 but the 3.5’s have throttle body issues that causes goofy stuff

 

[jeeper]

I had a car that would act that way when the MAF sensor was unplugged on accident. Usually after an air filter check.

 

[SoopaHick]

I'm going to do a full intake tune up. This motor is hitting about 100k and I don't know if the company that did the engine replacement replaced other components as well so they could be 200k old.

Full throttle body replacement (because the position sensor is hard mounted to the body...🙄)

MAP Sensor
Purge Valve Assembly(because Ecoboost)
MAF Sensor

Hopefully one of those works. Otherwise I may drive this car off a cliff.

 

[02SE]

There's a good chance it's the purge valve.

 

[rholbrook]

I had a throttle position sensor on a TJ do this. Don’t know if the Fords have those.

 

[SoopaHick]

Well I replaced the Throttle Body, Purge Valve Tube Harness, and the Map Sensor. As well as cleaned a bunch of carbon off the Valves while I had them open. Here is to hoping it'll work.

When I started the engine up after reconnecting everything it didn't do the surging again. But it was unpredictable before... so we'll see if it pops back up.

I did notice the exhaust smelled very rich after that start up with fresh parts. So I don't know if that should be of concern or tell anybody what the problem might be.



One of the many chunks of carbon I pulled off the valves.


A neat Diagram I found to tell me where all the Purge Valve hookups are. That's one in the back on the right side is a insanely tight squeeze to get too. If I had smaller hands this would've been a much easier job.

 

[SoopaHick]

This morning as I drove it to work the idle issue is not presenting itself, but the engine light came on. So now I can scan it and possibly find some more info.
Maybe me fixing other things allowed another bad part to reveal itself... 🤦‍♂️
Maybe me digging and shifting things around allowed the computer to finally recognize the issue.