Need Some Diagnosis Help
03-14-2016, 07:53 PM
#1
On The Tree
Thread Starter
Need Some Diagnosis Help Like the title says...color me confused.
So I'm driving home from work today and get a CEL...No big deal right?..
I get in town and accelerate from a stop light and then I get a flashing CEL...I'm like great..time for new spark plugs..
Get home hook up my code reader...P0300 (random misfire) and P0420 (Bank 1 catalytic converter deficiency) pop up. I head to my local advance and the exhaust is popping quite a bit on accel (it was actually doing this before I got home as well) and then I pull up to a red light and the car displays "Engine Power Reduced" and then dies. I'm like wtf...go the crank it back up and won't turn over at all....So I push it off in the median with the help of some random guy that works at a dealership (Thanks). Pop the hood make sure no wires are loose on battery or fuse box as I'm hopeless without my tools...Hop back in and it cranks right up..make it to Advance and throw the reader on again and this is what I get.
C0242 - PCM Indicated TCS Malfunction
U1016 - Loss Communication w/ PCM
P0300 x2 - Random Misfire
P0420 x3 - Bank 1 Cat
P0606 x2 - Control Module Interface Performance
We cleared the codes and now I'm lost....get back in and car won't crank once again...Tried wiggling some wires to see if that would help thinking maybe something is loose and nothing...so we push start it and it fires right up...Drive the bitch home and there's no CEL or any sign of misfire all the way back...parked it on ramps turned it off and tried to restart and fired up just fine...
Best of all I have work at 8am tomorrow. Guess it's time to start looking for a DD.
So I'm driving home from work today and get a CEL...No big deal right?..
I get in town and accelerate from a stop light and then I get a flashing CEL...I'm like great..time for new spark plugs..
Get home hook up my code reader...P0300 (random misfire) and P0420 (Bank 1 catalytic converter deficiency) pop up. I head to my local advance and the exhaust is popping quite a bit on accel (it was actually doing this before I got home as well) and then I pull up to a red light and the car displays "Engine Power Reduced" and then dies. I'm like wtf...go the crank it back up and won't turn over at all....So I push it off in the median with the help of some random guy that works at a dealership (Thanks). Pop the hood make sure no wires are loose on battery or fuse box as I'm hopeless without my tools...Hop back in and it cranks right up..make it to Advance and throw the reader on again and this is what I get.
C0242 - PCM Indicated TCS Malfunction
U1016 - Loss Communication w/ PCM
P0300 x2 - Random Misfire
P0420 x3 - Bank 1 Cat
P0606 x2 - Control Module Interface Performance
We cleared the codes and now I'm lost....get back in and car won't crank once again...Tried wiggling some wires to see if that would help thinking maybe something is loose and nothing...so we push start it and it fires right up...Drive the bitch home and there's no CEL or any sign of misfire all the way back...parked it on ramps turned it off and tried to restart and fired up just fine...
Best of all I have work at 8am tomorrow. Guess it's time to start looking for a DD.
03-14-2016, 08:13 PM
#3
On The Tree
Thread Starter
4/14. Ever Start Plus 600/750 Cranking Amps.
When it didn't start it didn't even try to crank...Checked wires on starter and they're all tight. I was able to get about a quarter turn out of each the positive and negative cables on the battery, but they never felt loose or anything.
Voltage is reading 12.4 with key on/car off and 14.0 with car on. Dropped to 13.9 when turned headlights on @idle...normally runs 14.3/4 running down the road.
When it didn't start it didn't even try to crank...Checked wires on starter and they're all tight. I was able to get about a quarter turn out of each the positive and negative cables on the battery, but they never felt loose or anything.
Voltage is reading 12.4 with key on/car off and 14.0 with car on. Dropped to 13.9 when turned headlights on @idle...normally runs 14.3/4 running down the road.
Last edited by tlorenzen; 03-14-2016 at 08:23 PM.
03-14-2016, 08:30 PM
#4
I had a cheap elm 327 Bluetooth code reader that I used that caused my car to go into reduced power mode similar to what you're describing. Unplugged it and have had no problems since and only use it to clear codes now and don't leave it plugged in. Hope that helps.
03-14-2016, 08:46 PM
#5
I had strange problems with that kind of stuff when my battery was going bad, and also when the ground strap went bad. Check your ground near the hood strut. It's extremely unlikely that all those bizarre problems actually occurred at once, unless you cut the **** out of a harness somewhere.
03-14-2016, 08:46 PM
#6
On The Tree
Thread Starter
Interesting...On the contrary, I didn't have it plugged in when the issues were going down...but did after they were okay...
Any input is welcome.
Any input is welcome.
03-14-2016, 09:03 PM
#7
TECH Enthusiast
4/14. Ever Start Plus 600/750 Cranking Amps.
When it didn't start it didn't even try to crank...Checked wires on starter and they're all tight. I was able to get about a quarter turn out of each the positive and negative cables on the battery, but they never felt loose or anything.
Voltage is reading 12.4 with key on/car off and 14.0 with car on. Dropped to 13.9 when turned headlights on @idle...normally runs 14.3/4 running down the road.
When it didn't start it didn't even try to crank...Checked wires on starter and they're all tight. I was able to get about a quarter turn out of each the positive and negative cables on the battery, but they never felt loose or anything.
Voltage is reading 12.4 with key on/car off and 14.0 with car on. Dropped to 13.9 when turned headlights on @idle...normally runs 14.3/4 running down the road.
I would concentrate on this aspect of your problem "when it didn't start it didn't even try to crank". I had battery terminals come loose inside of a battery before. So everything looked "tight" and connected, but the battery failed internally. I would start by replacing the battery. Low voltage drops/spikes does weird things to all the modules.
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03-14-2016, 10:08 PM
#8
On The Tree
Thread Starter
I had strange problems with that kind of stuff when my battery was going bad, and also when the ground strap went bad. Check your ground near the hood strut. It's extremely unlikely that all those bizarre problems actually occurred at once, unless you cut the **** out of a harness somewhere.
I would concentrate on this aspect of your problem "when it didn't start it didn't even try to crank". I had battery terminals come loose inside of a battery before. So everything looked "tight" and connected, but the battery failed internally. I would start by replacing the battery. Low voltage drops/spikes does weird things to all the modules.
03-15-2016, 05:37 AM
#9
If i had to guess it would be an ignition issue.
Look at your sparkplugs on the drivers side,
See which cyl is causing you the issue
Change the the ign wires
Whats happennin is there is something wrong on the drivers side that is sendin the cat out of whack.
Could also be a bad injector
Your rule of engagement is
Keep
It
Simple
...
Look at your sparkplugs on the drivers side,
See which cyl is causing you the issue
Change the the ign wires
Whats happennin is there is something wrong on the drivers side that is sendin the cat out of whack.
Could also be a bad injector
Your rule of engagement is
Keep
It
Simple
...
03-15-2016, 09:45 AM
#10
I would concentrate on this aspect of your problem "when it didn't start it didn't even try to crank". I had battery terminals come loose inside of a battery before. So everything looked "tight" and connected, but the battery failed internally. I would start by replacing the battery. Low voltage drops/spikes does weird things to all the modules.
03-15-2016, 10:02 AM
#11
I found that when I disconnected my fender/body ground that the engine ground was totally not working even though it was clean and tight.
The car had absolutely no power at all and I guess I can see why, the engine and drivetrain are pretty much metallically isolated by all the poly mounts from the chassis itself so how could it ground. I bought another 24" battery cable and connected it from the front of the passenger cylinder head and connected it to the fender ground bolt to complete the circuit. Call me crazy but the starter seemed to spin a little faster after that.
The car had absolutely no power at all and I guess I can see why, the engine and drivetrain are pretty much metallically isolated by all the poly mounts from the chassis itself so how could it ground. I bought another 24" battery cable and connected it from the front of the passenger cylinder head and connected it to the fender ground bolt to complete the circuit. Call me crazy but the starter seemed to spin a little faster after that.
03-15-2016, 01:30 PM
#13
Also, your battery is two years old. In hot climates, 3 years is about all you can expect...and that is with good care of a good battery. Save yourself a tow and replace it. My favorites are the Die Hard Platinum and Everstart Maxx. DHP is better than Optima nowadays and the Maxx is almost as good for notably less money.
03-15-2016, 02:23 PM
#14
Ba-da-bing!
Also, your battery is two years old. In hot climates, 3 years is about all you can expect...and that is with good care of a good battery. Save yourself a tow and replace it. My favorites are the Die Hard Platinum and Everstart Maxx. DHP is better than Optima nowadays and the Maxx is almost as good for notably less money.
Also, your battery is two years old. In hot climates, 3 years is about all you can expect...and that is with good care of a good battery. Save yourself a tow and replace it. My favorites are the Die Hard Platinum and Everstart Maxx. DHP is better than Optima nowadays and the Maxx is almost as good for notably less money.
03-15-2016, 04:43 PM
#17
These days, I'm running a Deka ETX20L--only 310 CCA versus 800 CCA on the Walmart battery, but the car starts fine.
03-15-2016, 05:31 PM
#18
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i had a weird one on the positive cabling recently. between the battery and fuse block under the hood the wire splits and also goes to the starter. This junction is covered by a rubber boot. Now not sure if this cable was OEM or not, but the junction point was too small for two large cables. The wire leading to the main fuse box gradually came out of the junction block causing complete power loss.
you just said car wouldn't start at all, but did you have any power during that time? interiors lights, radio..etc.
you just said car wouldn't start at all, but did you have any power during that time? interiors lights, radio..etc.
03-15-2016, 09:43 PM
#19
On The Tree
Thread Starter
The current battery is the 78 series. I'm leaning away form the battery being the issue. Like I said I have another I can put in it to try it out.
Today I drove 65 miles to work car was perfectly fine. Played around with a sl63 amg and she didn't miss a beat. Hop in to come home and the CEL is back on showing the P0420 cat bank 1 code again. Car is driving fine but seems like it falls on its face above 5k and is making a popping noise up top. Maybe there's a chance I have two different issues going and they just decided to show their face at the same time? No misfire codes currently. (busted/clogged cat?)
Interesting..I'll have to take a look. I had power to the rest of the car the whole time for this situation but a couple weeks ago I had an instance where it seemed like the car had lost complete power between when I left it to go into the store and came back out. The clock and radio had reset and the windows auto up function didn't work.
The search continues....
Today I drove 65 miles to work car was perfectly fine. Played around with a sl63 amg and she didn't miss a beat. Hop in to come home and the CEL is back on showing the P0420 cat bank 1 code again. Car is driving fine but seems like it falls on its face above 5k and is making a popping noise up top. Maybe there's a chance I have two different issues going and they just decided to show their face at the same time? No misfire codes currently. (busted/clogged cat?)
i had a weird one on the positive cabling recently. between the battery and fuse block under the hood the wire splits and also goes to the starter. This junction is covered by a rubber boot. Now not sure if this cable was OEM or not, but the junction point was too small for two large cables. The wire leading to the main fuse box gradually came out of the junction block causing complete power loss.
you just said car wouldn't start at all, but did you have any power during that time? interiors lights, radio..etc.
you just said car wouldn't start at all, but did you have any power during that time? interiors lights, radio..etc.
The search continues....
03-15-2016, 10:44 PM
#20
Interesting, the group 78 and 75 batteries I've had both are held down perfectly and not going anywhere. When I replaced the OEM battery with the 78 it seemed to be a direct replacement, but of course I never found a 101 either. Both everstart maxx's.