I have exhausted all efforts in finding a solution to my TB woes. I've read tons of posts, recommendations, and performed maintenance just to rule out the basic things.
Here's the story:
My TB has 114k and usually until now has always been reliable, except for a few things....starter, alternator, and basic wear and tear items. A few weeks ago, went outside in the morning and fired up the truck to let it warm up a little (it was a cold Minnesota night) but when I came back outside 5 minutes later the truck was not running. I jumped back inside and tried to fire it up, but it took a bit of cranking to even seem like its firing, yet though, it would not run. It was trying it's hardest to, but just sputtered and died. Tried this over and over, but never got any further so I left it until I could come back home from work. When I got home, I made a little more progress keeping it running. I would get it to start, but it would immediately die. Over and over again, giving it gas would kill it so I just had to let it recover on it's own to stay running. A quick key turn, it would fire up a few seconds and die. Eventually, It stayed running but the rpms would surge on its own until it eventually leveled out and stayed running. I let it warm up and drove it just fine, no problems whatsoever, not even a CEL. Coincidence perhaps? Nope, the problems all start here.
I took it to work the next day, and after about 20 minutes and getting stopped at a light, it feels like a sputter to the engine but the throttle is responsive with no hesitation at highway speed. This starts becoming a new behavior for this truck for the next few days. On the way home from work one night, I am doing 70mph on open highway and all of a sudden the rpms drop, hitting the gas pedal does nothing so I drift over to the shoulder. The truck is not stalled, it's still running. After a few seconds, the throttle starts to respond again and rpms will climb. No CEL either. I decide to just kill the motor and try starting it again. It fires right back up with no problems back home, still though it sputters a bit at idle and you can hear it from the tailpipe when near.. At this point I think I need a mechanic to look at it. I'm good with the little fixes, but don't have the resources to really dive into these problems besides just the internet to educate me on other's experiences. The shop finally gets a code of p0014 and p1345, so they replace the cpas, run an oil treatment, and give it an oil change. I pickup the truck on a Sunday evening to drive my son back to his mother, once warmed up and at a stoplight, the sputter is back with rpms around 550-600. Drop my son off and have my wife meet me back at the shop to leave it for them on Monday. No CEL at this point either.
The shop calls me the next day and I explain that all this happens after the truck is warm. So, they test it out and feel the sputter, but no codes are producing. It hasn't been dropping rpms while driving for them, so they tell me to take it for a few days and see if it clears up on it's own. Over the next few days the sputter remains, no CEL's, and no highway speed rpm drops.....yet. That third day on the way into work after about 20 minutes on the road, the rpms drop and I pull over. The truck is still running and after a few seconds, throttle is back and away I go....nope, drops again....still running I wait a few seconds...then go again, but this time the truck dies completely and the message "low oil pressure" displays. I turn the key to the off position and then try starting it again....fires right up. I decide to make a u-turn and head back towards the shop. A CEL finally appears, so on the way back I stop at Autozone to get that checked out. It's a p0014. Now, I decide to put some gas in it, what the hell, the gas pump nozzle clicks off when trying to pump in the gas!!! I have to gingerly piss the gas into the tank, any pressure, it just clicks off. I take a look around to make sure there isn't any little gnomes hiding under the truck screwing wtih me, this is crazy! Finally, I get to back to the shop and talk to the owner, and he sends out a mechanic to ride with me so he can see what is happening. Guess what, the truck drives like a dream, no sputter at a red light, no stall, flippen nothing, and the damn thing is more than warmed up!!! We go back to the shop and I figure that I might as well rule general maintenance out of the equation. I have them put in new plugs, yes AC Delco, and also have them remove the throttle body and fully clean that. Oh, and I made sure they disconnected the battery as well.
I pick the truck back up the next day, idles great so I decide to drive it towards work to give it a full test. On the road and at the exact point it has dropped rpm's in the past, it did it again and as I was pulling over, it stalled totally this time. Fired right back up and made it home with no issues, it's like once you recycle the ignition once when this happens, the problem doesn't rear it's ugly head until the next cold start. No CEL either. I decided to take a look online and found that the cam sensor has caused people problems in the past, it's cheap, so I replaced it. It looked pretty crusted up. That cam sensor replacement got me two full days of worry free driving. After a couple of dream driving days, a CEL appeared. Uh oh! Decided to drive the truck to the shop in the morning to see what the code is now. On the way slow driving speed and engine still not fully warmed up, the damn thing dropped rpms on a road with no shoulder. Decided to try turning it off and back on again to see if that cycle would work again.....nope, not this time. I'm stuck in the middle of a lane with nowhere to go. The truck is trying to fire but won't stay running just like when this whole problem started from day one. A police officer wasn't far behind me, so they pushed me off the road. After a few minutes of thinking this is a nightmare that won't end and picking up my phone to call a tow, I try to fire the engine up.....it starts. I put it in gear and cruise a few blocks to the shop.
The diagnosis at this point is a bad cam phaser. They took it for a nice drive and it did the rpm drop on them, and they were also to see the cam phaser acting up. I bite the bullet and had it replaced. All I want is my truck back, but dang, their little Honda loaner car got some really good gas mileage!!! Okay, so they get the truck all back together and it's running without the rpms dropping. They drove it all around and the stalling is gone, but wait, now once it's warmed up the truck's oil pressure drops to 0 and the message "low oil pressure" comes on when at idle. If you tap the gas, it goes right back up. They checked it all out and tested the actual oil pressure....it's only showing 5psi at idle. I've never had a problem with the oil pressure in the past, why the hell now. It's like this truck is possessed!! Screw it, I pick the truck up until I can do some further research. The next morning, I decide to go out and warm the truck up. It fires right up and runs.....I even checked it a couple times to make sure. My wife walks out to start her Toyota 4-runner that has 312k miles on it (just a poke at GM). She comes in to tell me my truck isn't running, wtf???? Guess what, the whole thing that started this problem in the first place is back again. The truck will try to fire, but won't stay running. Called the shop and they came and got it. They've had it for two days trying to get it to reproduce the problem, but it works perfect for them... No CEL's either.
That's where I am at right now, even inquired a friend who got me in touch with a service manager at a GM dealership. All he said is if they can't reproduce the problem, there isn't much they can go on. Sorry for the long post, but really, should I hire a priest to exorcise the truck?? I just hope someone might be able to feel my pain and point me in some direction. I've heard the best of the best are on this site, and I am hoping they can help me. If anything, thanks for reading.
Joe
Here's the story:
My TB has 114k and usually until now has always been reliable, except for a few things....starter, alternator, and basic wear and tear items. A few weeks ago, went outside in the morning and fired up the truck to let it warm up a little (it was a cold Minnesota night) but when I came back outside 5 minutes later the truck was not running. I jumped back inside and tried to fire it up, but it took a bit of cranking to even seem like its firing, yet though, it would not run. It was trying it's hardest to, but just sputtered and died. Tried this over and over, but never got any further so I left it until I could come back home from work. When I got home, I made a little more progress keeping it running. I would get it to start, but it would immediately die. Over and over again, giving it gas would kill it so I just had to let it recover on it's own to stay running. A quick key turn, it would fire up a few seconds and die. Eventually, It stayed running but the rpms would surge on its own until it eventually leveled out and stayed running. I let it warm up and drove it just fine, no problems whatsoever, not even a CEL. Coincidence perhaps? Nope, the problems all start here.
I took it to work the next day, and after about 20 minutes and getting stopped at a light, it feels like a sputter to the engine but the throttle is responsive with no hesitation at highway speed. This starts becoming a new behavior for this truck for the next few days. On the way home from work one night, I am doing 70mph on open highway and all of a sudden the rpms drop, hitting the gas pedal does nothing so I drift over to the shoulder. The truck is not stalled, it's still running. After a few seconds, the throttle starts to respond again and rpms will climb. No CEL either. I decide to just kill the motor and try starting it again. It fires right back up with no problems back home, still though it sputters a bit at idle and you can hear it from the tailpipe when near.. At this point I think I need a mechanic to look at it. I'm good with the little fixes, but don't have the resources to really dive into these problems besides just the internet to educate me on other's experiences. The shop finally gets a code of p0014 and p1345, so they replace the cpas, run an oil treatment, and give it an oil change. I pickup the truck on a Sunday evening to drive my son back to his mother, once warmed up and at a stoplight, the sputter is back with rpms around 550-600. Drop my son off and have my wife meet me back at the shop to leave it for them on Monday. No CEL at this point either.
The shop calls me the next day and I explain that all this happens after the truck is warm. So, they test it out and feel the sputter, but no codes are producing. It hasn't been dropping rpms while driving for them, so they tell me to take it for a few days and see if it clears up on it's own. Over the next few days the sputter remains, no CEL's, and no highway speed rpm drops.....yet. That third day on the way into work after about 20 minutes on the road, the rpms drop and I pull over. The truck is still running and after a few seconds, throttle is back and away I go....nope, drops again....still running I wait a few seconds...then go again, but this time the truck dies completely and the message "low oil pressure" displays. I turn the key to the off position and then try starting it again....fires right up. I decide to make a u-turn and head back towards the shop. A CEL finally appears, so on the way back I stop at Autozone to get that checked out. It's a p0014. Now, I decide to put some gas in it, what the hell, the gas pump nozzle clicks off when trying to pump in the gas!!! I have to gingerly piss the gas into the tank, any pressure, it just clicks off. I take a look around to make sure there isn't any little gnomes hiding under the truck screwing wtih me, this is crazy! Finally, I get to back to the shop and talk to the owner, and he sends out a mechanic to ride with me so he can see what is happening. Guess what, the truck drives like a dream, no sputter at a red light, no stall, flippen nothing, and the damn thing is more than warmed up!!! We go back to the shop and I figure that I might as well rule general maintenance out of the equation. I have them put in new plugs, yes AC Delco, and also have them remove the throttle body and fully clean that. Oh, and I made sure they disconnected the battery as well.
I pick the truck back up the next day, idles great so I decide to drive it towards work to give it a full test. On the road and at the exact point it has dropped rpm's in the past, it did it again and as I was pulling over, it stalled totally this time. Fired right back up and made it home with no issues, it's like once you recycle the ignition once when this happens, the problem doesn't rear it's ugly head until the next cold start. No CEL either. I decided to take a look online and found that the cam sensor has caused people problems in the past, it's cheap, so I replaced it. It looked pretty crusted up. That cam sensor replacement got me two full days of worry free driving. After a couple of dream driving days, a CEL appeared. Uh oh! Decided to drive the truck to the shop in the morning to see what the code is now. On the way slow driving speed and engine still not fully warmed up, the damn thing dropped rpms on a road with no shoulder. Decided to try turning it off and back on again to see if that cycle would work again.....nope, not this time. I'm stuck in the middle of a lane with nowhere to go. The truck is trying to fire but won't stay running just like when this whole problem started from day one. A police officer wasn't far behind me, so they pushed me off the road. After a few minutes of thinking this is a nightmare that won't end and picking up my phone to call a tow, I try to fire the engine up.....it starts. I put it in gear and cruise a few blocks to the shop.
The diagnosis at this point is a bad cam phaser. They took it for a nice drive and it did the rpm drop on them, and they were also to see the cam phaser acting up. I bite the bullet and had it replaced. All I want is my truck back, but dang, their little Honda loaner car got some really good gas mileage!!! Okay, so they get the truck all back together and it's running without the rpms dropping. They drove it all around and the stalling is gone, but wait, now once it's warmed up the truck's oil pressure drops to 0 and the message "low oil pressure" comes on when at idle. If you tap the gas, it goes right back up. They checked it all out and tested the actual oil pressure....it's only showing 5psi at idle. I've never had a problem with the oil pressure in the past, why the hell now. It's like this truck is possessed!! Screw it, I pick the truck up until I can do some further research. The next morning, I decide to go out and warm the truck up. It fires right up and runs.....I even checked it a couple times to make sure. My wife walks out to start her Toyota 4-runner that has 312k miles on it (just a poke at GM). She comes in to tell me my truck isn't running, wtf???? Guess what, the whole thing that started this problem in the first place is back again. The truck will try to fire, but won't stay running. Called the shop and they came and got it. They've had it for two days trying to get it to reproduce the problem, but it works perfect for them... No CEL's either.
That's where I am at right now, even inquired a friend who got me in touch with a service manager at a GM dealership. All he said is if they can't reproduce the problem, there isn't much they can go on. Sorry for the long post, but really, should I hire a priest to exorcise the truck?? I just hope someone might be able to feel my pain and point me in some direction. I've heard the best of the best are on this site, and I am hoping they can help me. If anything, thanks for reading.
Joe