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Motor_City_Swag's avatar
Motor_City_Swag
Explorer
Jun 26, 2017

2017 Ford Explorer mass flow indicator code

I follow all of the instructions in the Ford manual regarding flat towing a 2017 Ford Explorer with auto trans and 3.9l v6 engine. I run the engine for 5 minutes, put the trans in Drive then reverse then neutral, shut the engine off and open the knife switch on the negative battery cable. When I am done flat towing I the close the knife switch and put the car in park and star it. The problem is a 0068 mass flow indicator code pops up everytime, I clear the code and during normal driving every thing is fine it doesn't come back this only happens when I am done towing. Has anyone else experienced this code coming in or can explain it?
  • msturtz's avatar
    msturtz
    Explorer
    Sep 12, 2017
    Motor City Swagman wrote:
    I follow all of the instructions in the Ford manual regarding flat towing a 2017 Ford Explorer with auto trans and 3.9l v6 engine. I run the engine for 5 minutes, put the trans in Drive then reverse then neutral, shut the engine off and open the knife switch on the negative battery cable. When I am done flat towing I the close the knife switch and put the car in park and star it. The problem is a 0068 mass flow indicator code pops up everytime, I clear the code and during normal driving every thing is fine it doesn't come back this only happens when I am done towing. Has anyone else experienced this code coming in or can explain it?


    It is likely that the power is back-feeding by grounding via the motorhome ground connection. That is confusing the computer. According to Roadmaster you need to disconnect the positive battery cable which will prevent this problem. The real technical problem is the vehicle and motorhome share a common ground when connected. As soon as you add a supplemental braking system that is required. You now have a hot connection as well. The ground through the motorhome is a very poor ground but is enough to partially bring online the vehicle computers.
  • johnwalkerpa1's avatar
    johnwalkerpa1
    Explorer
    Sep 20, 2017
    Motor City Swagman wrote:
    I follow all of the instructions in the Ford manual regarding flat towing a 2017 Ford Explorer with auto trans and 3.9l v6 engine. I run the engine for 5 minutes, put the trans in Drive then reverse then neutral, shut the engine off and open the knife switch on the negative battery cable. When I am done flat towing I the close the knife switch and put the car in park and star it. The problem is a 0068 mass flow indicator code pops up everytime, I clear the code and during normal driving every thing is fine it doesn't come back this only happens when I am done towing. Has anyone else experienced this code coming in or can explain it?


    I am also flat towing a 2017 explorer. I occasionally (not always) get the code and it eventually clears itself).

    The only pattern I can see is this....When I reconnect the battery (positive terminal in my case) ( I have a button attached to a solenoid rather than a knife switch but same idea), if I don't start the vehicle within about 5 minutes, the check engine light will come on and I get the code. If I start it in less than 5 minutes, I don't get the code...

    Not sure if that means anything but just my observation..
  • TiffinOwner2016's avatar
    TiffinOwner2016
    Explorer
    Jul 11, 2019
    We just purchased a 2017 Ford Explorer V6 FWD and had a tow kit installed. We have conflicting information from Remco vs. the owners manual regarding flat towing. Remco says we can and the manual says we cannot. As we have just installed the tow kit, we are of course hoping to find answers. We came across your post from 2 years ago and are wondering if you can tell us if your Explorer is also a V6 FWD (not ecoboost), and what your towing experience has been?

    Thanks so much!
  • carringb's avatar
    carringb
    Explorer
    Jul 11, 2019
    TiffinOwner2016 wrote:
    We just purchased a 2017 Ford Explorer V6 FWD and had a tow kit installed. We have conflicting information from Remco vs. the owners manual regarding flat towing. Remco says we can and the manual says we cannot. As we have just installed the tow kit, we are of course hoping to find answers. We came across your post from 2 years ago and are wondering if you can tell us if your Explorer is also a V6 FWD (not ecoboost), and what your towing experience has been?

    Thanks so much!


    V6 Explorers (regular and EcoBoost) can be flat towed. The EcoBoost 4-cylinder cannot be.

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