My baby's in the shop...*sniff*

I don't know what's wrong with it. Yesterday (monday) evening while on my way home from running some errands, it switched into limp-home mode. No idea why. I wasn't hitting it hard, and it wasn't acting funny. Limp mode is a fking ****er. Every have it come on while in the middle of a 4-lane highway?

So of course my shop is closed on the holiday. So I coax 'er back home and poke around but can't find anything wrong myself. I don't have a tunner or something that will read the computer, so I could just kick the tires and whimper.

This morning I got up, and my baby's running perfectly fine. So I'm thinking maybe it was just a fluke or something, but I'm watching it really closely. Halfway into work, bang, right back into limp mode, and this time the service-engine-soon light comes on. Well I'm already at the client site, so I decide to just park it and deal with it after work. Fortunately my meeting was short so I quickly raced out and eased 'er down to the dealership.

The dealership was unfortunately packed because of the long weekend, so I had to leave the 'Stang behind. I haven't heard from them what they found (if they got to it today). All the way down the dealership it sounded like the tranny (AT) was having trouble with changing gears, and there was this sickening "clunk-thud" sound every time I let off the gas. I don't know if that is the limp-mode protesting the 45mph, or part of the actual problem.

The only thing I can think of that's been different is that a couple days earlier I had the inspection and safety check done. Is it possible those morons screwed up my computer?

Grrr. And to make matters worse, why in the heck do they have the Focus as the loaner car? I mean, here comes a guy with a big ol' V8 Mustang, and you put him in a base-model Focus. It's insulting.

 

Sorry to heat the bad news. Hope you get her healthy and home soon. Keep us up to date on what the prognosis is.

 

Just got a call from the dealership. The only thing they could find when they checked the computer was a hard line fault for the MAF (P1101). They immediately pointed out my Granatelli CAI.

I then pointed out that I have had the thing for a year (the CAI) and it hasn't ever given me any problems.

They didn't know what the problem was, then. They cleared the fault, and drove the car a bit. The limp-mode didn't come back on, but the hard line fault came back.

I'm wondering if those idiots at the inspection station dorfed something while they were under the hood? Or with their inspection computer?

I guess I'll be contacting Granatelli about the problem. If this fault is causing the new problem, that means I'll have to pull out the CAI and put in the stock until I can get it figured out with Granatelli.

*groan*

 

Dealerships just love to point out modifications to void the warranty. Your best bet is to make a friend at the dealership.

 

Well, they didn't say anything about the warranty. Probably since they can't see anything broken.

I told them I'd pick 'er up and drive it around, and if the problem came back, I'd swap out the Granatelli CAI for the stock and see what happens. If it proves to be the CAI jumper, then the issue gets pointed towards Granatelli.

*oy*...this is a headache

 

Did they change the computer code during the inspection?!

That will really mess things up.

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=53817

 

Well, I got my baby back just now.

*takes moment to pet 'Stang*

I drove the 12 miles back to the office, and to a Wendy's for lunch, and had no problems. I'm not holding my breath, though. I'll take 'er for a cruise tonight and see if anything happens.

All in all this ordeal has cost me a grand total of $5. It was $5 for the loaner car, that's all. So I can't complain. Plus, if it turns out to be a Granatelli problem, it's not really Ford's fault. They did their job I guess, and were polite about it all.

I'll report back if anything flares up again.

*It's okay baby. Daddy won't let the evil morons hurt you.*

 

Ah crudspackle. It's happening again.

Only thing I can think to do is pull out the CAI and reinstall the stock unit, and see what happens.

 

Dang hope your baby gets better

 

Yeah, I'm both really really depressed, and really really ticked off.

On one hand my only car is on the fluke, and on the other hand there's nothing I can really do about it until I can actually get ahold of Granatelli. Granatelli's support email is currently offline because it's full, so I guess I'll have to take time out of my busy day tomorrow to call them. Either way, I won't get a resolution for days at the least.

So that means I gotta go back to the flip'n stock intake. We both ('Stang and I) hate the stock intake.

To make matters worse, I tried swapping out the intake tonight, but about fried myself unhooking the battery. **** clamp was on so tight I slipped trying to get it off and came close to sticking a screwdriver across both terminals.

Not to sound wussy, but car batteries always make me nervous. I've seen one blow up on someone before, and ever since I've always been nervous when removing and re-attaching the terminal.

Guess I'll get to it tomorrow...

 

So I put the stock intake back on today. Still the lights were on. So I drove it down to the dealership because I can't clear the faults myself.

They said they'd run a diagnostic on the car again to check it all out, and hopefully the problem is gone. Although that does mean that the problem was with my CAI, but at least it would mean there's nothing wrong with the car.

Down side is that they said that clearing the hard-line-fault wouldn't be easy. They said it had to be dry-run before the fault would clear. So after I get it back after diagnostic, I have to drive it for 50-100 miles in limp-home mode.

Sounds like bunk to me, but car computers are weird. I'm just angry that I'll have to drive 'er in limp-home mode for 50-100 miles...

Well, I hope I hear back from them today about the diagnostic. They said they were pretty backed up today. Yay! More time in a focus! Woop-de-freak'n-do!

 

I don't know why they couldn't clear the codes...anyone with a measly little X Cal2 can clear codes, why can't a Ford Dealership with many thousands of dollars worth of electronic equipment do it?? Sounds like a big ol' lie to me.

 

Something about it being a hard-line fault, and that the computer needed to recondition itself before it would clear the light for good.

Guess I'll find out tomorrow.

 

Booya. Got the 'Stang back.

Dealership says they found the problem, and it wasn't my intake after-all. Turns out there was a fault in the throttle-body, and they had to replace it.

Woot!

I'll take 'er for a long cruise tonight and keep an eye on the gages. Hopefully ol' wrenchy won't show up again.

 

Glad you got it fixed!! I had a feeling that pesky TB would be the culprit. Never heard of that Hard Line Fault code before though...thats a new one.

 

Least it got resolved...and how much did Ford charge me for all this mess? Do you wanna guess how much all this crap cost me?

$15.

That's it.

Now I just have to put on the old CAI (which I KNEW wasn't the problem) and my baby will be back to 'erself again. Before I can do that I need to grab a new filter (original got messed up rolling around in my trunk) and I think one of the pins on the wiring harness patch cable got messed up when I was taking it apart.

What is interesting is that I can REALLY tell just how much that Granatelii CAI was helping out. With the stock intake back on, it's back to the stock throttle response, stock HP, and stock mpg. Plus it's also back to stock growl.

Either way...this weekend has cruise written all over it.

 

gratz

good to hear everythings peachy

 

Whew...

Up and out the door at 9am. Stop-over for lunch at 2pm, just now getting back (6pm). F'n A, man. Nothing better than a long cruise.

Well, she's all running great. I gotta get a new filter for my CAI before I put it back on, but other than that I think this ordeal is at rest.

Thanks all!