SonicStanGirl

I have a bone stock GT with 5speed tranny. I had fuel pump TSB 06-9-9 done about two months ago or so. My car had been doing the hesitation thing every day. Now....I got fail safe mode three times today...so I put the car on a flat bed and she's spending the night at the dealer.

The car ran awesome after the TSB. Then, about 3 weeks later, when I had the AC on it would do the hesitation (buck-buck-buck) thing again. I couldn't believe it. Only happened about 1-2 times a week so I figured I'd give it a little more time to see what happens and when. Then that symptom kept going and along comes a problem with the computer holding idle with the AC on. It would run it up high (2000-2500) RPM and it would act weird while shifting. No RPM drop. This was intermittent. Then the next thing that happened was after starting the car on a hot day, turning on AC to MAX, and driving off, the car wouldn't hold an idle and it would try to die. The computer would catch itself and keep the car running but it seemed like it wanted to die.

Now I drive home from work this evening and I get 3 mins down the road, with the AC on, stop at a stop sign and bam into fail safe we go. I turn off ignition, wait a sec or two, try to start, won't start, then wait, then try again and it starts then throws the fail safe message again. I turn it off again, and wait longer this time. Turn it over again and it goes...thinking I'm OK now I drive off into traffic and whammo, into failsafe we go again. That drain of power is pretty harsh when that happens and people try to rear end you cuz you've slowed down. Geez.

Car is at the dealer now waiting for tomorrow.

I have read a lot on this and another forum that most people complaining about fail safe modes have at least a mod or two. I don't have any mods....and wonder what the heck is going on.

Fuel pump issue again?, throttle issue?, computer issue?. Not one time did the temp guage read hot.

AUTOLITE4300

I have an '05 Gt automatic. Car went into failsafe twice. This last time the dealer kept teh car for 9 days while driving it hooked up to computer. They finally diagnosed the problem and replaced the throttle body and throttle body sensor. Car has run good now for over a week. Good luck.

SonicStanGirl

Thanks for the tip Autolite! Gives me something to ask about tomorrow.

Anyone else with ideas?

Newbreedgt05

I had the same problem as Autolite and they also replaced the whole throttle body. This problem never occured with the A/C on though. If your failsafe mode is only happening with the A/C on, then I would think that maybe it's a problem with the compressor. Maybe the compressor is getting hung up and not spinning as freely as it should. This would put a strain on the belt causing the engine to sputter. This could also cause the failsafe mode to happen when the car is stopped and just idling cause the rpm's aren't high enough to turn the struggling compressor. Does the A/C seem to be blowing as cold as it should be? This is the only thing I can think of, unless it's a computer problem.

Rich

SonicStanGirl

Hey Rich,
After I thought about it, it has happened more often with the AC but then it started happening without the AC on as well. The RPM hunting happens without AC too. AC has always blown really cold. Sometimes I do wonder if the computer leaves the compressor on when I accelerate hard. All this stuff makes me think Throttle body or computer.

Hmmmm.....we'll see how long the dealer takes to figure it out. I sure hope they come in under Autolite's 9 day vigil. Till then, I have a Camry with 30K miles and the worlds crappiest brakes. OH well, better than the POS Stratus I had last time I had warranty work done.

Stangie

Mine has stuttered twice. I have an auto and it happened after coming off the interstate and I disengaged the overdrive.

SonicStanGirl

Stangie, You most likely have the Fuel Hesitation TSB 06-9-9 problem. The replace the entire fuel pump and sender assembly. Runs like a scared rabbit after that.

Now I have other issues....dang fail safe mode!

SonicStanGirl

The verdict: Throttle Body replacement! Got it diagnosed and replaced/fixed in one day.

I drove home (no AC) and noticed the idle was holding high (kind of like it did before all this repair). I kick it into neutral when braking for a stop and is slow to get down to about 1200 rpm then it takes a few more seconds to go from 1000 to that mark right under 1000 (750-800?). This seems weird to me and sounds like the idle is too high. Normal to me would be kicking it into neutral and having it go down to that 750-800 mark fairly rapidly.

Did those who have had throttle body replacement experience idle increase?

Wondering if the computer needs to go through a new learning experience or if there is another underlying problem.

Service dept at the dealer said my car threw the throttle body problem code (what ever that was they were busy and didn't have time to talk) right away, they said they were lucky that it did that and they could diagnose it right away and put the new part on.

Any feedback from forum members?

Thanks!!

SonicStanGirl

Today it holds idle up and seemed to stop doing it after about 15 mins of driving. Think the computer is relearning something?

jimmyxx67

Ya know, I was looking for info about this, because my car just did the same thing. I have an 06 V6 5 speed, bone stock. I noticed that intermittently, the idle speed would be funky at 1000-1200 rpm at idle, with ac off.

Tonight, coming home from work, I got on the freeway and all of a sudden, the engine stumbles and the failsafe mode light comes on....what the f*ck is that? This is a bone stock car with NO mods at all....I had been planning on doing some work to the engine, but if it's really this crappy to start with, I'm kind of scared to put any money into it....I'll have to take it to the dealer...does it always seem to be the throttle body...? and if so, why...is it a defective design and when they replace it, do they put the same crappy replacement on, or is it a throttle body that has been re engineered?