Stalling at Idle
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 11
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From: Virginia
Stalling at Idle Hey guys, just bought an 02 SS yesterday after about a year of drooling over them. It has 81,000 miles and is an A4. It has a TSP 228R cam, TSP 7.400 pushrods, TSP offroad y-pipe, TSP longtube headers, 3600 stall. The car was built and tuned by Performance Auto in Richmond, VA. Before I bought the car I experienced a single "stalling at idle" incident when pulling up to a light at running temperature. When I came home, I searched online to see what kind of problems I would be looking at if/when I bought it. I found threads bringing up the MAF, IAT, etc etc. I fell in love with the car as soon as I saw it and sat in it, and figured all that matters in the end is that the car matches exactly what I was looking for. I have no regrets but would like to get this one hiccup out of the way. The car only dies on me occasionally. It's always at idle, usually (75% of the time that it happens) when stopping the car while backing up to put it in drive. It idles consistently at 1k RPM while sitting still. The car runs amazing and shifts firm and accurately everytime when I put my foot in it, it's just the occasional "lope, lobe, stall" when idling. Am I wrong to think this is not necessarily a serious problem? The dealer I bought it from seemed to not know much about LS1's and didn't seem capable of flashing the car back to stock specs so I don't think the tune is off or gone. Anybody have any experience with this that found a sure (or close to it) solution?
Thanks in advance, and glad to say I'm finally an 02 SS owner!
Thanks in advance, and glad to say I'm finally an 02 SS owner!
there are a few things it can be. tune, maf, iac, o2's, vac leak, loose clamp on the intake bellow, hell even a dirty air filter can do it. i would look the simple stuff over first just to rule it out, then go from there.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 11
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From: Virginia
Alright, that list seems to be the common diagnosis process for the problem at hand. I hope one of those areas will clean it up. The tune is the last approach I will use after I troubleshoot the easy, non-2 hours away areas. Is it wrong to say this is a common issue in cam-ed LS1s?
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2011
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From: Virginia
Oh yea, I wouldn't think of doing that. I'm just thinking that if the car was tuned with it's current setup, another tune should not be necessary. A car cannot "de-tune" itself without changing the modifications, correct? Assuming nobody has touched the tune, shouldn't everything be the same as when it left the shop?
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I tuned the car and I certainly don't send cars out that act like that. I had the car for more than one day was able to go through several cold start sessions with it. It drove very well. The previous owner traded it in to a GM dealership and the OP here picked it up at a different dealer. From the description, you have to wonder if the GM guys tried to "fix it" with their TechII (via a stock re-flash).
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2011
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From: Virginia
Oh I have 100% confidence in the way you put together and tuned the car. Driving it today, the issue I have described didn't happen a single time. The car runs and shifts so strong I don't know if anything was really touched by a dealer. I'm thinking cleaning the MAF is going to nullify the issue completely. I sent you an email so we could talk through there, or through PM on here.
frost, all i was saying is that the tune was a possibility if everything else checks out. i wasn't trying to ruin your credibility as a tuner. even further in to it, you don't know if any of the parts that the car was originally tuned with were swapped out before the car was traded in. this could also make the tune seem a little off.
Last edited by poltergeist 02; Apr 28, 2011 at 06:34 PM.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 11
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From: Virginia
Poltergeist, that's a great point. If the guy who had the car before me changed even one part, that would throw the tune off. Yet another thing to think about. I guess even the dealer that took the car on a trade could have done the same thing. Both would be shitty things to do but not impossible.
I wasn't upset or anything, just pointing out that it didn't leave here like that.
Adam traded it in as it left here. That car was clean and in tip top shape. Much better than the average F-body that is by here for the most part now a days.
Adam traded it in as it left here. That car was clean and in tip top shape. Much better than the average F-body that is by here for the most part now a days.
Just out of curiousity check your fuel pressure at the rail. I have been chasing a bad idle & stalling issue for a few weeks now & after about $600 or so in replaced parts finally check my pressure to discover I'm only seeing 25psi at start/idle & it goes down to 15 after driving. So I got a new pump & replacement regulator for the bucket on the way.