MarcZ

I'm concerned about my GF's Saleen that she just bought today. Everything seemed fine, she said the acceleration was a little jerky, but I thought it was just something she needed getting used to. But I was concerned so I had her let me drive it when we got home. When I started it, and turned the wheel away from the curb with my foot on the brake, before giving any gas, the car died. Started right back up and didn't happen again. But then the acceleration....it really is jerky. I'm no stranger to driving performance cars, so it's not just something we aren't used to. My dad drove it and he agrees. When you lightly tap the pedal - nothing, then suddenly it jerks, as in too much response to be safe. There is a fair amount of pressing of the pedal where it pretty much does nothing, doesn't raise the rpms at all, unlike in my Z28 and other cars I can remember, the slightest press of the pedal gives you a normal rpm spike. It's a little bit like driving a turbo car where there is throttle lag, but its in any gear from no throttle to any throttle, mostly from a stop though. something I should add just in case it makes a difference, when we went to start the car it wouldn't start and they had to charge the battery. I noticed they had some small battery in there that didn't even fit the tray. But the car was already started so it couldn't have been the battery, though maybe it drained the alternator?

Does any of this sound familiar? I looked under the hood and it appeared as though the throttle ody is electronic, rather than cable driven, which I am used to. I'm thinking the idle is set too low and the power steering puts a load on it and it dies because the load brings the rpms are too low, which would also explain the lack of a halfway decent smooth acceleration, even on a performance oriented car. The dealer is taking care of a new battery and 4 new tires in a few days, but I don't think they are equipped to diagnose or fix these problems, which is why I am getting input here and also will likely take it to JBA Racing, a performance shop I go to that knows mustangs pretty well.

Also, the exhaust where the cutout is on the left side rattles quite a bit, it's pretty annoying, is this a common problem?

Other than that, the car is pretty f'in cool, and I'm hoping these problems are a relatively inexpensive fix. I don't imagine too much else can be wrong with it at a 33k miles.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks.

-Marc

david01130

I am assuming it is an auto tranny? How is the idle? It could be several things making the jerky acceleration. I had an 87 5.0 fuel injected and it was simply the idle speed needed to be turned up. But it could be crappy fuel, tranny problems, etc. Does the idle surge at all? Did your gf drive the car before she bought it? I would have been a little concerned if that happened before I bought it. A simple thing you could do is buy a code reader and see if the engine pulls any codes out. JBA can probably help you out but they are a little pricey. Any the exhaust rattle is a common problem. Its one of the hangers rattling against the frame I believe. Some people bend the hanger back or shaved it down. Muffler shop can do that for you.

MarcZ

Auto Tranny, idle doesn't seem to surge at all, but I could hear it drop when it died and then it almost died on my dad in the same situation, only he says he saw the needle drop, but told me he doesn't remember the exact reading. I probably should have drove it too before we left, I would have said something about the throttle lag, it's no response and then too much.

Unfortunately she had to go back home shortly after getting the car and going to my house from the dealer, so I wasn't able to diagnose more.

Thanks for the help.

Do you know if DPR is still around?

desant89

How about a throttle reset? Anyone think that migght help? Definitely worth a try as it is simple to do.

Turn ignition to "on" position (do not start). Once all of the light go off on the dash (a couple atay on), Floor the gas pedal ALL the way down, then slowly release it. You should hear some clicking un the engine compartment like an actuator type sound when released. After that, drive it like you stole it for a few minutes. This made an amazing difference with mine. Just something to try without any cost.

marlinmon07

Anyone know if Saleen puts a tune on the 2005 S281 3 Valve. I'm just mentioning it because the throttle response on the 2005 Mustang GT is horrible without a tune

mikebna

Yes they do a reflash on the S281, but they were told to stay with the slow throttle respose by the Ford Execs. Mine was exceptionally bad to the point I was getting blamed for it by my wife, you should see what it does when you have an E-car it would SNAP your head back after almost bogging down and it would stall sometimes.

GET A NEW TUNE ASAP, and I recommend JDM since they were the first ones to write about the slow response on the S281 3v cars after testing bone stock they designed the better tunes.

Here is one of the best articles written about this same problem...

SixSimpleMods

enjoy,
mike

MarcZ

Spoke with a few people at my local shop, JBA, they said they had a saleen so bad, it was difficult not to spin the tires every time you'd start out. This was fixed by tuning. He recommended the SCT tuner (SF power flash) first, to see if that fixes it, then custom dyno tune if needed, which we would only be charged half for since we already bought the tuner. I don't know what brand they have, it may be superchips, are they ok?

I've never used a tuner before, is it easy?

mikebna

i have the sct tuner, tune is by jdm engineering. and the tunes are easy to download.


mike

S281 E

I would have to say its in the tune. You could just download a new tune (not too expensive) and than see what problems still remain. Hopefully none.

MarcZ

So I get the handheld tuner and I can download one too? Where do I download it from?

Thanks for all the help so far guys.