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CEL and Limp Mode

35K views 107 replies 42 participants last post by  Bro 
#1 ·
Ok, folks, Before you flame me I did search the forums for this issue but mostly found posts related to autos and modded cars. That being said:

A few days ago during a short drive from my home to my office at sub legal limit speeds out of a residential area with zero wheel spin(no hoonage), my car (a 3.8 R-spec with 2900 miles) decided to go into limp mode and limit the revs to 2k and reduce the speed at which the revs rose. The car was plenty warm after a 20 minute drive immediately before my trek to work. The problem went away after 4 shutdowns and start-ups. The CEL stayed on for a couple hours but went away later that day...

Have any of you had this happen? What did the dealer say? Needless to say, I'm a bit worried and perplexed. Thanks in advance and sorry if I somehow missed and entire thread dedicated to this very issue.
 
#3 ·
Yeah, I dunno what it could be. I've got a crap load done to my car and never had such an issue.

Keep an eye on it or drop it off at the dealer and have them check it out.
 
#4 ·
Oh, fear not! This is going to the dealer for sure. My car is 100% stock so I have zero idea of what could be causing it. I'm just wondering if it's ever been experienced by anyone on the forum. So far I'm UNIQUE! Hooray!
 
#5 ·
Mine actually went into limp mode a couple days ago. I was driving back from work on a rainy day and I guess I was going through too many puddles and my CAI must have gotten damp to the point of not being able to efficiently inhale air. Keep in mind that I did not go through any deep puddles or did I submerge the car. My check engine light came on and mashing the gas only got me to about 5 mph. I pulled off into a gas station, disconnected the battery for a couple minutes and reconnected it. The CEL went out and I was able to get home under normal power. Once I got home though I pulled the CAI off, cleaned and dried it off before reinstalling. I have had zero issues since.
 
#8 ·
The fortunate thing about limp mode is that, as with all CELs, it logs the corresponding error codes in the system until they are either pulled and cleared or the system loosed power from the battery for an extended time to power reset the system. As long as you don't pull the power, they should be able to pull the codes and at least get a place to start with on checking out the problem.
 
#9 ·
CEL/ Limp Mode

Happened to me with 47 miles as i drove it off the lot for the first time.

Bright sunny day... made a right hand turn 1000 feet from the dealer and with mild acceleration it went into limp mode and threw the CEL... no real reason for it to happen.

Turned it around, dropped it off at the service department without turning it off, so they couldn't give me the "we couldn't replicate it". They called me 2 days later and said it was a faulty crankshaft position sensor.

Now I know very little about cars and all the electrical sensors now included, but they said they fixed it and I haven't had an issue again. I'm now at 4,386 miles.

Maybe that's it?
 
#10 · (Edited)
Happened to me with 47 miles as i drove it off the lot for the first time.

Bright sunny day... made a right hand turn 1000 feet from the dealer and with mild acceleration it went into limp mode and threw the CEL... no real reason for it to happen.

Turned it around, dropped it off at the service department without turning it off, so they couldn't give me the "we couldn't replicate it". They called me 2 days later and said it was a faulty crankshaft position sensor.

Now I know very little about cars and all the electrical sensors now included, but they said they fixed it and I haven't had an issue again. I'm now at 4,386 miles.

Maybe that's it?
Well that sounds extremely similar to my situation. I too was mid-turn when it went looney. Now I'm better armed. Many thanks, Sir.
 
#11 ·
yep, this happened to me to, after a right hand turn would not go over 2000 rpms and 20 mph with only 140 miles on it.
took it back to the dealer and hope they find something:dunno:

it's a 2011 3.8 r-spec too
 
#13 ·
I guess their were some loose grounds
and it was sucking in to much air but not running lean :dunno:
but I have it back now and we'll see if it happens again :squint:
 
#14 ·
did you guys get any updates on this?
I have a 2011 3.8 track with a little over 7k miles on it
it happened twice within the last 5 days.
I took it to the dealer and they said there was a tsb for this and they were told to reset the ecu. today it happened again on a busy street as i was making a right turn and a car almost hit me.

any input will be appreciated
 
#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hah! This just happened to me yesterday. It was hotter than sh*t and I had the A/C on all day. I was stopped at a traffic light and when I went to accelerate it went into this exact limp mode. It sucks since I was on a busy street and had to pull over into a bus stop. I let it cool down and the check engine light was still on but it was no longer in limp mode. When I went home, I checked all hoses, rescrewed the gas cap, and the engine light went off.

I'm guessing the aforementioned TSB is not listed on hmaservice or am I missing it?

So it went into limp mode again. Same sort of scenario: hot day, been running the A/C all day. I went to drive on my lunch break and 30 seconds after I started driving, limp mode again. I pulled over, turn the ignition off and waited 20 seconds. CEL was still on but it was no longer in limp mode. I bought a scan tool and got the following DTC error codes:

P0638
Throttle actuator control range / performance bank 1

P1295
Manufacturer control

P2106
Throttle actuator control system forced limited power

I unplugged the battery and that cleared the CEL. I took it to the dealership and gave them the codes. They weren't able to do any work because they said they couldn't warranty the work without being able to scan the codes again.

The same thing happened again, but I left it alone. The car went into limp mode and I turned it off, started, and limp mode was gone. After a few hours the CEL turned itself off but I made sure that the codes were still stored. Honestly that first code sounds scary but when I googled it, it seems like it just needs an ECU reprogram. We'll see what happens when I bring it in Monday.

...yay.
 
#43 ·
I had the same problem as PandaSmuggler. Limp mode, then got a CEL with the same codes. This happened three times within the last two months...once in heavy rain, twice in high heat. Dropped it off at the dealership this morning; just got a call from them, they're ordering a new throttle body for it. So judging from some of the other posts in this thread it does seem like throttle body issues are the primary culprit. I bet they already have a tech bulletin on this because it only took them a couple hours to diagnose.

A little help to those dealing with difficult dealerships that blame the problem on mods...it may help to mention the CEL codes (if you have them) and the fact that your research suggests it may be a throttle body problem. May just be a coincidence, but it seemed to work for me. :dunno:
 
#17 ·
^ yup happened here as well, my code was P0638. Temperature is the #1 cause for sure. Stop and go traffic at 105f on the reading. Dealer cleared codes, reset the adaptive settings and said just ignore it lol.
 
#18 ·
Haha great! :icon_rolleyes: Excuse my n00b-ness but what do you mean by "reset the adaptive settings"? Did they do an ECU reset? Has the problem reoccurred? How long have you been driving after the dealer work has been done?

Sorry for the million questions but a simple "ignore it" leaves room for concern, what if I'm cruising on the freeway at 70 and all of the sudden it decides to go into limp mode?
 
#19 ·
^ consider adaptive reset as a reset ecu. only been driving 2 weeks since reset so don't have much to tell ya.
 
#21 · (Edited)
Same car same problem same CEL codes posted above. This happened to me when I hit 3000 miles. The car jerked into limp mode when I was about to shift to second gear. Took it to the dealer, waited an hour. Told me the "throttle body" had to be replaced. It had to do something with the ground wire on it. Dealer replaced it, had no problems since.
 
#22 ·
Same car same problem same CEL codes posted above. This happened to me when I hit 3000 miles and was about to shift to second gear. Took it to the dealer, waited an hour. Told me the "throttle body" had to be replaced. It had to do something with the ground wire on it. Dealer replaced it, had no problems since.
Good to know! I hope that I'm having the same issue. I'm bringing my car in this coming Monday so I'll update the thread with what they find out.
 
#23 ·
Our cars don't like extreme weather in any direction. in the cold i had all kinds of electrical issues. in the hot a complete different set of issues. The good thing is none of the issues are perm and go away over time.
 
#41 · (Edited)
+1000 agree! I've got a bone stock '10 3.8 and have had all kinds of electric gremlins when the weather was been either very cold or very hot (head unit amp or heater blower would not turn on, idiot lights on the dash would flicker when pressing the brake pedal, the open door light got stuck on even when both doors and the trunk were closed). All of these would clear up by turning the ignition off and on.

Now we've had close to 100F days for a week, and my TCS off light keeps on coming on by itself and won't turn off from the TCS button. I'm at a dealership right now because the transmission (6 AT) shifts like crap and went to limp mode trying to merge to a freeway the other day... :mad:

Edit: Replaced the brake switch... could not repro the shifting problem.
 
#25 ·
same thing happen to me but the CEL light cleared a week later on its own lol. Either let the dealer clear it or let it clear on its own i say.
 
#27 ·
don't bother stopping by the dealer, mine didn't store any codes.

Its funny because i can beat the crap out of my motor on the track for hours no issue, then drive home and get a limp mode rolling from a red light lol.
 
#28 ·
Well here's my update:

I went to the dealership yesterday and they stated that the ECU was not communicating with the PCM. They said that when I installed my AEM CAI that I unplugged the MAF sensor plug and this caused it. I told them when I installed my CAI that I didn't bother unplugging the MAF and only took the couplers off and attached the aftermarket to the already plugged in MAF. They didn't believe me so I bit the bullet and paid for an ECU reset ($108). I didn't feel like arguing with them since it was my word against their tech.

I'll keep running my car with the A/C on and see if it happens again. *yay*

And a side note:

I find it interesting that we all have black coupes, I know correlation =! causation but kind of makes me go hrrrmmmm...(can we say heat related?)
 
#35 · (Edited)
I had my second limp mode last night on the freeway, luckily I was just exiting the freeway that second, restarted the engine and it was fine, 4 hours later, the cel went off, and all was good. Going to take it in to Autozone and get codes. Willing to bet they are the same 3 codes I had last time.

The dealer just did a ecu reset the first time, and now its going again, should I be safe to say recall in the near future?

Heres a cell video I taped of it for my dealer.

 
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