STA V8 keeps going into Limp Mode

[ZoNiE]

My 2009 STA is a POS compared to my 2001. It has been to the dealer three times now for codes P2104 and P2112. They have replaced the Throttle Body, the TPS, the Gas Pedal, still, what was a nuisance once in a great while damn near killed me on the freeway today. At 80MPH, in a lane change, the truck decided to go into limp mode. I now get a wrench every time I give it more than half throttle.



Scanned it and got two 2104's and two 2112's. Emissions LED on the scan tool is RED.



It's going to the dealer tomorrow, hopefully they will LISTEN and check the wiring, and the ECM, otherwise, this thing is going to get traded in on a chevy or a toyota. My 2001 ST is still a great truck, this one, not so much. WTF, Ford? I won't even consider a New Ford now. They screwed up.



Oh, Drive by wire SUCKS ASS!



GRRRRR.

 

[A1cntrler]

It took me a while to adjust to Drive by Wire too when I went frm my 01 to my 07, but now I hardly ever notice it is there.



Good luck with the dealer.

 

[Vic Sorlie]

Remember you still have Emissions portion of your warranty.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Sounds like your dealer needs a diagnostic technician rather than a parts changer!



Hopefully L1Tech will weigh in with some helpful advice from his experience.



Be careful if you look at Toyota. Google "toyota pickup drivetrain vibration" and read all the sad stories. Seems Toyota has some serious engineering problems with their U-Joints, driveshafts, driveshaft angles, etc., especially on the four-door pickups. The regional reps are at a loss what to do- it is a design nighttmare.

 

[Todd Z]

Please remember 99% vehicles today have Drive By wire.



I am not condoning the truck, But there is a problem this dealer cant diagnose.



This is also the first I have seen this problem on here.



Also Maybe try to Lemon LAW the truck.



Todd Z

 

[ZoNiE]

Yeah, 3 times for the same thing = Lemon I think. I hope they fix it. I really like my truck and it tows nicely. A week doesn't go by that I don't get a "hey that's cool" or "Is that the new Lightning" or something like that.



I have it at the dealer now, they are checking the system out, including emissions.



I'd be more inclined to go GM than Toyota. If they cannot get this resolved, I have my eyes on an Avalanche, although, I really prefer a smaller truck.



Drive by wire sucks, my wife's Lexus has it, I plain Hate it. The Focus Titanium the dealer gave me today is even worse. 1. Depress gas pedal, 2. wait 3 sec, 3. steer the vehicle now it is in motion.



Do any of the Ztech upgrades / tunes change the PID loop for the throttle? for the better? I got in the kid's 2001 Trac yesterday and wow, I forgot what instantaneous throttle response was like. I miss driving the 2001.

 

[scott degroot]

These systems are usually pretty good. 9 times out of 10 I find that the issue lies in the wiring.

 

[Anthony Jones]

I've owned more than my fair share of 'drive by wire' vehicles. I've own 3 GM, an Acura, and now my wife's Nissan and my ST. As an electrical engineer and an avionics engineer for the AF, I love it!!



It takes a different mentality to work on these vehicles because there can be a mechanical issue AND/OR and electrical issue that manifests into a problem. To me it's kind of like cooking with a microwave for the first year as opposed to cooking in an oven or on a stove. If most of us remember, we messed up alot of food before we got the hang of this new thing.



The same is true with drive by wire. Most auto techs still think that an error code just points you to a mechanical part. You change enough of the mechanical parts and eventually you fix something. Now you have to be aware of not only how the mechanical parts work, but also how the electrical monitoring portions work, what they indicate, and how they work together with the whole. Complicated, but now you get where your $100 an hour is going. The same learning curve happened with carburators and later fuel injection.

 

[Dreman]

Drive by wire on my wife's 2008 Ram 4.7 works pretty good. It actually changes with the way you drive, so if you drive it for a while with a soft pedal it acts slowly. Romp on it a few times and it picks up more quickly. Romp on it after soft pedalling and it barely chirps the tires if at all. Drive it hard for a while and burnouts are easy.



With that said, dealerships are not my favorite places. Ford dealership in Houston could not find the hot idle fault in an odd little car that Ford built in the 80's, a little LTD with the Mustang V8 (cop car for the general public). They first claimed they couldn't work on it because I did the swap myself. I told him to check the VIN. He was dumbfounded because he'd never seen one before. He looked it up, hooked it to their machine, and brought it back and said "it's fixed!" It seemed to run ok, so I took it home. On the way I stopped at a light, and the idle went nuts again. Took it back, and he came back and said "we think it's this now". You think it is? It wasn't. Had to take it to an outside mechanic who saw it as a challenge. He fixed it.



if you have the lifetime warranty on your Chrysler product, it requires an inspection every 5 years to maintain the warranty. Wife had to take her truck in for the 5 year warranty renewal inspection, which is supposed to be free, and the service manager insisted Chrysler would refuse to update it without several hundred dollars worth of maintenance since he did not have record of the maintenance on the truck at his dealership. I told him I do all my own maintenance. He asked for receipts. I told him if the warranty required receipts I would have them, and the warranty did not require it. He said they changed the requirements. I told him I just downloaded the requirements from Chrysler's website, and it still did not require it. He grumbled and said he didn't think it would work, but he would try. When I got home my wife handed me the renewal, which was free. Still not happy with dealership shops!



Sorry about the long rant!

 

[ZoNiE]

Dealerships do suck. Nobody can troubleshoot anymore. I would do it myself, but I have a warranty and no time to deal with it. It does seem to have issues when I all of a sudden floor it when I have been driving lightly. Sometimes you just have to hit the gas to pull out into traffic. It shouldn't die when you are doing that...



They still have the trac, They replaced, guess what? The throttle body again. The three times this has been done now add up to $300 worth of warranty deductible that I could have used to upgrade to a better one.



Now they are looking for the rattle in the rear end.

 

[Gavin Allan]

...the service manager insisted Chrysler would refuse to update it without several hundred dollars worth of maintenance since he did not have record of the maintenance on the truck at his dealership. I told him I do all my own maintenance. He asked for receipts. I told him if the warranty required receipts I would have them, and the warranty did not require it. He said they changed the requirements. I told him I just downloaded the requirements from Chrysler's website, and it still did not require it. He grumbled and said he didn't think it would work, but he would try. When I got home my wife handed me the renewal, which was free. Still not happy with dealership shops!

Good for you, Dremain!!! It often helps to ask the dealer if they every heard of the Magnuson?Moss Warranty Act when these types of discussions happen. Consumers have to know their rights these days- because there are a whole lot of crooked dealerships, or if they are not crooked, they are ignorant of the law.

 

[Gavin Allan]

(delete double post)

 

[ZoNiE]

Replaced the TB, They said that the tech noticed the butterfly plate vibrating. So was it vibrating from airflow disturbance and / or being loose? or is it vibrating due to electrical noise in the system.



They disconnected the battery, so now the ECM has to re learn. Drove ****** on the way home due to that...



WE SHALL SEE.