GT keeps randomly stalling..

[peiserg]

Guys, my '06 with 28k miles on the clock has the following mods.. Heffner tune and a pulley making 14.8 psi, and a Bob Ida X-pipe exhaust. Car pulls hard as hell. Was told during my dyno session to put some new plugs in due to some mild missing during the pulls. The plugs looked fine, just worn (per the dyno shop).

I've had twice yesterday, and twice today, as well as previously very rare (maybe twice in 2000 miles previous) a stalling issue. I will put the car into neutral, usually at a pretty low speed (under 10 mph, approaching a stopsign), and the motor will die. It immediately fires back up when i hit the start button. There is no CEL, at least not one that has lit up the light. I do have the SCT so i can scan it for a code that isn't lighting the light i guess.

I didn't worry about this previously, since it was so rare. Now, 4 times in two days... that's a little much for me.

I've also noted that several times the RPM's will drop almost to the bottom of the tach, before bumping back into the 750+ range.

Car runs great. Pulls like a freight train. But this dying in traffic is irritating... and i worry that i'll be cruising on the freeway, pop it in neutral to coast, and have it die during a lane change or something!

Ideas? Suggestions?

gerry

edit.. doh. did a search after the post.. appears this is sort of common, and can be related to the fuel filler neck. I'll check er out and post and update..

Mods

 

[Kayvan]

Open your fuel filler

Pull back spring loaded plate

Look in, see if flap is seating, sealing correctly

 

[peiserg]

Pulled my codes. NO light, but codes p1000 and p442.. small evap leak. I pulled open the filler openeing and looked in there. some sort of circular sealing cap with an O ring on it. I can't tell if it is sealing or not... i presume not? I can tell you it's been a royal bitch to fill up the gas. I can only get in a little bit at a time before the station pump clicks and won't pump.

Would this be covered under extended emissions warranty? Sounds pricey, between the part and pulling the entire fender!

 

[dbackg]

I think Kayvan nailed it and your physical inspection and diagnostic validate the most likely cause.

Contact Rich Roback, (GT Tech) on the forum. He lives in Kingman and he may travel to you.

What city do you live in?

 

[STORMCAT]

Pulled my codes. NO light, but codes p1000 and p442.. small evap leak. I pulled open the filler openeing and looked in there. some sort of circular sealing cap with an O ring on it. I can't tell if it is sealing or not... i presume not? I can tell you it's been a royal bitch to fill up the gas. I can only get in a little bit at a time before the station pump clicks and won't pump.

Would this be covered under extended emissions warranty? Sounds pricey, between the part and pulling the entire fender!

The difficulties filling the tank would also indicated a fuel filler neck problem. According to my GT Tech at the local Dealer emission items are covered for 6 years but the dealer may fight you on it? You may need to do some home work and have some documentation. It sounds like a federal law. There is a post on how the fuel filler neck can be changed without removing the fender.

 

[HeritageBruce]

Pulled my codes. NO light, but codes p1000 and p442.. small evap leak. I pulled open the filler openeing and looked in there. some sort of circular sealing cap with an O ring on it. I can't tell if it is sealing or not... i presume not? I can tell you it's been a royal bitch to fill up the gas. I can only get in a little bit at a time before the station pump clicks and won't pump.

Would this be covered under extended emissions warranty? Sounds pricey, between the part and pulling the entire fender!

Certain stations' pumps (not all) would keep clicking/stopping when I fill up too. What I find helpful is to hold the nozzle in a vertical position while refilling and I can usually get the tank filled up. I run into this problem once in a while and it is good to know there's a fix that's still under warranty.

 

[Kayvan]

I put in nozzle very carefully

That filler cup is very shallow, and if go in at angle you butt up against sides

Also keep trigger at half, keeps backwash low, and overflow, spill, fumes low

See pic if filler neck in posts so you know where it goes

 

[Mullet]

Mine will do this when the O2 sensors need to be replaced.

 

[nota4re]

In a previous discussion on this topic and especially the consideration that this repair may be covered as part of the Federal Clean Air Act Extended Emissions Warranty, I expressed an erroneous claim that its was covered. Arguably, I may have been partially correct - but I was MOSTLY wrong.

The reality is that this repair WOULD NOT be a warranty item. Perhaps an argument could have been made to do this within a 2-year (or 24,000 mile) Federal Emissions warranty period - but sadly this component is EXPLICITLY not listed as a "Major Emissions Component" and it is therefore not eligible for coverage on the extended 8 year / 80,000 mile part of the program. The ONLY emission considered "Major" items are as follows:

* Catalytic converters
* The electronic emissions control unit or computer (ECU).
* The onboard emissions diagnostic device or computer (OBD).

If you want to read the full text, you can find it here: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/warr95fs.txt

 

[peiserg]

Yeah, I was afraid of that. Though i was momentarily elated when you said it should be covered. I also read through some online emissions warranty information and wondered about the previous statement after reading the same info you just posted. I just went to fill up the tank again, and what a hassle. It takes about 8 minutes of standing there, with the handle on the slowest setting. What' i am considering is just keeping a wide bore funnel in the boot. that will speed things up considerably. Only issue is emissions then. I can't pass with that small leak.

Kingman Arizona is something like 4 hours each way. I don't know (though i will ask) if it is worth it to Rich (Kingman GT tech) for the cost of doing the repair, unless it's fairly extensive (shudder). Otherwise i will ask TeamJeff who he recommends locally. I live in North Phoenix, btw.

Ok. as an aside.. how many other "common" problems are there out there? I've hit 2 of them... LED lights in the dash switches x 2 going bad, and this. I know the gauges are a pitfall as well...

anything else? Half shaft bolts I've heard of (even at my power level? pulley/tune power level).

Honestly i'm pretty happy this seems (thus far) to be the issue. It was intermittent, and i know what a nightmare it is for a tech to chase an intermittent problem! I didn't really expect to figure it out so easily.

 

[AZSTAD]

Doc (peiserg) you'll have to let me know what the fix is. I know of the fuel filler issues - as my '06 Tungsten had a horrible time filling it. The '05 is much better when filling it at the gas pump.

However, I have a similar issue of the GT dying out, but not randomly. It's usually when I'm coming to a stop after driving for a while at speed...as I'm coming to a stop...I've had the GT die out on several occasions. TeamJeff said "are you sure the clutch is completely depressed"...so I'm really aware of that now and it's not the case. Even today, the GT did not die out when driving in PHX, but I could see the guages 'dive down' as if the car was going to die during and few stops. And I made damn sure the clutch pedal has been pegged to the floor.

Weird. Would love to know why the heck the GT is doing that.

On the question of other items...I've not had any gauge failures (dash), nor lights in toggle switches. However, TeamJeff is replacing the HVAC control board on my GT and we just put a new battery in it.

All is all - these cars kick ass. I love seeing you drive down the street. And TeamJeff and I (+wives) went to downtown PHX today for Wheels of Wellness and I just can never get enough of seeing the GT in front of me or in the rear view mirror. Truly an awesome car! Glad you're enjoying yours.

 

[nota4re]

Half shaft bolts I've heard of (even at my power level? pulley/tune power level).

The halfshaft bolt preventative maintenace upgrade (using either Ford or Accufab's kit) MUST be done to ALL cars. NO production cars were immune up through the very end of production. It is NOT related to power levels. The Accufab kit is $200 and labor should run about the same. I would HIGHLY recommend getting this done on any car that doesn't show evidence of the upgrade already having been performed.

 

[Mullet]

Doc (peiserg) you'll have to let me know what the fix is. I know of the fuel filler issues - as my '06 Tungsten had a horrible time filling it. The '05 is much better when filling it at the gas pump.

However, I have a similar issue of the GT dying out, but not randomly. It's usually when I'm coming to a stop after driving for a while at speed...as I'm coming to a stop...I've had the GT die out on several occasions. TeamJeff said "are you sure the clutch is completely depressed"...so I'm really aware of that now and it's not the case. Even today, the GT did not die out when driving in PHX, but I could see the guages 'dive down' as if the car was going to die during and few stops. And I made damn sure the clutch pedal has been pegged to the floor.

Weird. Would love to know why the heck the GT is doing that.

On the question of other items...I've not had any gauge failures (dash), nor lights in toggle switches. However, TeamJeff is replacing the HVAC control board on my GT and we just put a new battery in it.

All is all - these cars kick ass. I love seeing you drive down the street. And TeamJeff and I (+wives) went to downtown PHX today for Wheels of Wellness and I just can never get enough of seeing the GT in front of me or in the rear view mirror. Truly an awesome car! Glad you're enjoying yours.

Do you use race gas in your car?


Mine does the same when I need to change my O2 sensors (and sometimes plugs).

 

[OzGT]

I had a tuning issue, which was quite reminiscent, early on with my Gen II, where my engine would cut out very regularly when pulling up to stop, but fire right up again when start button was hit. It didn't matter at what stage the clutch was engaged, the revs would fall through the floor and not recover. The tuner was aware of it and ended up working it out in subsequent tuning. I don't recall the exact explanation of what was occurring on the fuel side, but it was some fairly minor niggle that was causing it.

 

[peiserg]

Shane, you want to use my SCT tuner to check for a evap leak? Mine only triggered the CEL once... but the code reappears without the CEL pretty quickly.

Mine was pretty easy to fill the first 4-5 tanks worth, but has gotten to be a hassle. I've put on maybe 2000 miles since i purchased.

 

[GTRob]

Do not know if the GT has a crank positioning sensor but that might be a problem and it does not throw a code. You have to crank the car longer then normal to start it but other times it starts like normal (that was my problem and happened 4 times in the summer so replaced the sensor about $50). Also heard other people with the same car as mine, that the car would die while driving/in traffic and sometimes start up OK other times it would not turn over.

 

[HHGT]

I wrote about this before, here goes again. I usually get Chevron Gas in my GT, the two time I put Shell in it stalled. I know the same happened to RV King's GT. After a refuel it went away. Things to ponder.

 

[BlackICE]

I wrote about this before, here goes again. I usually get Chevron Gas in my GT, the two time I put Shell in it stalled. I know the same happened to RV King's GT. After a refuel it went away. Things to ponder.

IMO the gas station is more important than the brand of gas. Does the station have good turnaround with the inventory, are its tanks, pumps and filters well maintained, etc. I think Chip's input will be most useful. Of course he will say Chevron is better than Shell

 

[Team Jeff]

Gerry - I'm pretty sure your car has the upgraded shaft bolts. This assumption is based on the technicians numbering of individual bolts & should be confirmed.

 

[2112]

Up here, Chevron is most definitely the best quality pump gas.

My wife has a mini "S" (blown, not turbo). It will do this too. Not saying this is the issue but the dealer told us to put lower octane fuel in and it did work. Now I am not advocating low octane fuel, just relaying the story.