Joined
·
1 Posts
\'05 GT/5 Spd. Throttle Body/PCM Problem. Common/Known issue? (Sorry, kind of a long read.)
First, since this is my first post as a newly signed up forum member, let me say hello.
"Hello."
![]()
Now, onto the Thread Subject. Last Friday, I started up my car after work and drove roughly 15-20 minutes and stopped at a store. About 10 m inutes later, I started it backup to go home, and the Message Center had a message relating to "Failsafe Mode", but then quickly went away. I turned off the car, and grabbed my manual. The only entry in the index for Failsafe was for "Failsafe Cooling".
I checked the page listed and this is what it says:
If the engine coolant supply is depleted this feature allows the car to be driven temporarily before incremental component damage is incurred.
HOW FAIL-SAFE COOLING WORKS
If the engine begins to overheat:
The engine coolant temp gauge will move to the red (hot) area. (It didn't. It was smack in the middle of the temp range.)
The "Engine coolant temp" indicator will illuminate. (It didn't come on at all.)
The "Service engine soon" indicator will illuminate. (this didn't come on either.)
If the engine reaches a preset over-temp condition the engine will automatically switch to alternating cylinder operation. Each disabled cylinder acts as an air pump and cools the engine.
When this occurs the vehicle will still operate, however:
The engine power will be limited. (No reduction in power levels.)
The A/C system will be disabled. (Worked fine. Nice and cold.)
Continued operation will increase the engine temp:
Steering and braking effort will increase. (No extra effort needed for ither.)
The engine will eveentually shut-down. (Thankfully, this never happened either.)
Once the engine temp cools the engine can be restarted. Take your vehicle to a service facility asap.
Ok, so I restarted the car and did the "System Check" and when it got to the point where it checks "Engine Coolant Temp" it came back with a result of "OK".
I went ahead and took it to my local dealer, about 10 minutes away, and told them what was happening. But they said that if it's not actually in Failsafe Mode then they wouldn't be able to do anything, because no codes would be being actively thrown. (I thought there were a certain number of codes, or time period of codes, stored in memory by the car?) He said it may have just been a faulty sensor read, due to the fact that it was at start up.
Later, when I got home and let the car cool down a little, I checked the coolant level, and was almost perfectly in the middle of the Low and High range lines.
So, all's good until this past Tuesday. It happened again, only it was while I was actually driving. So, I took it back to dealer and my service rep was talking and he mentioned that "...it's probably related to the Drive By Wire set up. It sometimes has a problem working with the throttle body. We have had several come in throwing a Failsafe and they've all turned out to be Throttle Body/Drive By Wire related."
So, yesterday evening the Service Rep calls and said they either drove it around or had it running in the shop while hooked up to the scanner, just about all day, but they couldn't get it to go into Failsafe Mode. He says as this is a whole new design that's only about a year old, they haven't had much experience with it yet, so they can't just say "Oh yeah, it's this and that, etc".
But, he did say that of the ones they have worked on, it's been always been a problem with the Throttle Body mis-communicating with the PCM. The TB is either trying to open without the PCM knowing or "authorizing" it, or it's not opening when the PCM is telling it too. He said they also think that in my particular case, it's Throttle Body related, because while the car won't go into Failsafe Mode for them, it is throwing several different error codes that all relate to the Throttle Body.
So, has anyone heard of others with an 05/06 having similar issues?
First, since this is my first post as a newly signed up forum member, let me say hello.
"Hello."
Now, onto the Thread Subject. Last Friday, I started up my car after work and drove roughly 15-20 minutes and stopped at a store. About 10 m inutes later, I started it backup to go home, and the Message Center had a message relating to "Failsafe Mode", but then quickly went away. I turned off the car, and grabbed my manual. The only entry in the index for Failsafe was for "Failsafe Cooling".
I checked the page listed and this is what it says:
If the engine coolant supply is depleted this feature allows the car to be driven temporarily before incremental component damage is incurred.
HOW FAIL-SAFE COOLING WORKS
If the engine begins to overheat:
The engine coolant temp gauge will move to the red (hot) area. (It didn't. It was smack in the middle of the temp range.)
The "Engine coolant temp" indicator will illuminate. (It didn't come on at all.)
The "Service engine soon" indicator will illuminate. (this didn't come on either.)
If the engine reaches a preset over-temp condition the engine will automatically switch to alternating cylinder operation. Each disabled cylinder acts as an air pump and cools the engine.
When this occurs the vehicle will still operate, however:
The engine power will be limited. (No reduction in power levels.)
The A/C system will be disabled. (Worked fine. Nice and cold.)
Continued operation will increase the engine temp:
Steering and braking effort will increase. (No extra effort needed for ither.)
The engine will eveentually shut-down. (Thankfully, this never happened either.)
Once the engine temp cools the engine can be restarted. Take your vehicle to a service facility asap.
Ok, so I restarted the car and did the "System Check" and when it got to the point where it checks "Engine Coolant Temp" it came back with a result of "OK".
I went ahead and took it to my local dealer, about 10 minutes away, and told them what was happening. But they said that if it's not actually in Failsafe Mode then they wouldn't be able to do anything, because no codes would be being actively thrown. (I thought there were a certain number of codes, or time period of codes, stored in memory by the car?) He said it may have just been a faulty sensor read, due to the fact that it was at start up.
Later, when I got home and let the car cool down a little, I checked the coolant level, and was almost perfectly in the middle of the Low and High range lines.
So, all's good until this past Tuesday. It happened again, only it was while I was actually driving. So, I took it back to dealer and my service rep was talking and he mentioned that "...it's probably related to the Drive By Wire set up. It sometimes has a problem working with the throttle body. We have had several come in throwing a Failsafe and they've all turned out to be Throttle Body/Drive By Wire related."
So, yesterday evening the Service Rep calls and said they either drove it around or had it running in the shop while hooked up to the scanner, just about all day, but they couldn't get it to go into Failsafe Mode. He says as this is a whole new design that's only about a year old, they haven't had much experience with it yet, so they can't just say "Oh yeah, it's this and that, etc".
But, he did say that of the ones they have worked on, it's been always been a problem with the Throttle Body mis-communicating with the PCM. The TB is either trying to open without the PCM knowing or "authorizing" it, or it's not opening when the PCM is telling it too. He said they also think that in my particular case, it's Throttle Body related, because while the car won't go into Failsafe Mode for them, it is throwing several different error codes that all relate to the Throttle Body.
So, has anyone heard of others with an 05/06 having similar issues?
