Engine stall

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
So..we decided after changing the t-stat we would disconnect the battery to the truck and let it sit disconnected over night. He reconnected the battery around noon to move the truck down the driveway a bit, and it was fine. Spent a few hours with the truck turned off.

At 4:30 hubby went to go get dinner and he backed the truck out of the driveway, put it in drive and it stalled. He had to put it in neutral and waited about 60 seconds before the truck would even restart.

What would cause this?

It has NEVER done this since we have owned it, have had it for a little over a month now.
Thanks!!
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
Clean the throttle body when the battery was off? Or have you previously done this?

If it's never been cleaned, then the PCM lost its memory of how to deal with the sticky one. If it's been cleaned, then the PCM just needed a few minutes of driving around to adapt to the behavior of your specific throttle body. If it clears up in a half hour of driving around, you don't have a huge problem to worry about. Stalling is a normal part of the process of relearning the throttle body behavior.

But one of the first things we ALWAYS advise folks to do is clean the throttle body every 30K miles or so.
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
the roadie said:
Clean the throttle body when the battery was off? Or have you previously done this?

If it's never been cleaned, then the PCM lost its memory of how to deal with the sticky one. If it's been cleaned, then the PCM just needed a few minutes of driving around to adapt to the behavior of your specific throttle body. If it clears up in a half hour of driving around, you don't have a huge problem to worry about. Stalling is a normal part of the process of relearning the throttle body behavior.

But one of the first things we ALWAYS advise folks to do is clean the throttle body every 30K miles or so.

No, we have not cleaned the throttle body yet. That is the very next thing on my list when the weather is better. He said the truck was absolutely fine afterwards, and the instant mileage for fuel economy went up to 31 instead of 25 at 50mph.

Not sure if the PCM just needed to adapt to the new changes??

Edit- May go out and clean it now as it's nice out lol
 

djthumper

Administrator
Nov 20, 2011
14,950
North Las Vegas
Voymom said:
No, we have not cleaned the throttle body yet. That is the very next thing on my list when the weather is better. He said the truck was absolutely fine afterwards, and the instant mileage for fuel economy went up to 31 instead of 25 at 50mph.

Not sure if the PCM just needed to adapt to the new changes??
Almost anytime you disconnect the battery for an extended period it will lose its settings and have to relearn the settings.
 

RayVoy

Member
Nov 20, 2011
939
Voymom said:
Not sure if the PCM just needed to adapt to the new changes??

l
Haha, it's probably trying to forgot about the lady with the "heavy right foot" and wanted to say, this is what I can do if you keep her out of the cab :raspberry:
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
Well...I have to say that Phantom has likely NEVER seen a throttle body bath!

Before pics

IMG_20120226_181729.jpg


IMG_20120226_181735.jpg


And after pics

IMG_20120226_184817.jpg


IMG_20120226_184823.jpg


Hubby took everything apart as I'm still on a limited lifting/strain regulation from surgery last week, but I put in all the effort in cleaning this nasty thing, and all I can say is OMFG! I really hope it's not this bad in another 30k miles....mind you this throttle body has 114k miles before what looks like it's first cleaning. We followed May03's youtube video and reset the PCM by removing the fuses for 20 minutes. Then hubby will go out and give him a good test drive. Hopefully he starts lol.

Well, took him out for a spin, and the throttle response is much better, he idles quieter and doesn't seem to stutter when jumping on the gas. I even took him out on the muddy dirt road by the house and ran some laps. Still not where I think it should be, but maybe I'm expecting to much. I will get the cat checked and then if that checks out, leave him be. I know we need to do an oil change, but can't decide if I want to use Mobile 1 or something else. I did notice when standing behind the truck and hubby hitting the throttle, that the exhaust does sputter, but it sputters when we let off the gas and RPM's decline. Normal?
 

The_Roadie

Lifetime VIP Donor
Member
Nov 19, 2011
9,957
Portland, OR
On the OS, we used to get at least one noob a week who disconnected their battery, discharged or swapped it, and then the idle would go to crap. And some dealers would want buncho $$ to diagnose and fix it, even to the point of installing NEW throttle bodies. And hundreds of us could name that tune in ONE note, and tell them to spend $5 and simply clean the throttle body. It was the trailvoy miracle cure. Now it's the GMTN miracle cure.
 

TollKeeper

Supporting Donor
Member
Dec 3, 2011
8,047
Brighton, CO
Cleaning the throttle body over the litter box?? My Kittah's dont approve!!!

I still have a hard time beleiveing that this whole throttle body issues is because there is no PCV valve..
 

Voymom

Original poster
Member
Feb 3, 2012
2,523
I knew I needed to do it, but it was a little ways down the list lol. When we first removed the cover I didn't think it was that bad, of course until we removed the throttle body and seen the other side :eek:

I vow to never let it get that bad, and will make sure it's done around every 30k or so miles. At the looks of my throttle body, I may want to attend to my front and rear diff fluids too....I bet those haven't ever been changed either.
 

CrownINC

Member
Oct 23, 2013
2
Voymom said:
I knew I needed to do it, but it was a little ways down the list lol. When we first removed the cover I didn't think it was that bad, of course until we removed the throttle body and seen the other side :eek:

I vow to never let it get that bad, and will make sure it's done around every 30k or so miles. At the looks of my throttle body, I may want to attend to my front and rear diff fluids too....I bet those haven't ever been changed either.

Hey, have cleaning the Throttle body solved your stalling issue? i have the similar issue, if i give it too much gas the brake and abs light comes on then it dies. Im searching everywhere to find out if anyone has had the same issue and found a resolution. Can you help?
 

Wooluf1952

Member
Nov 20, 2011
2,663
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
CrownINC said:
Hey, have cleaning the Throttle body solved your stalling issue? i have the similar issue, if i give it too much gas the brake and abs light comes on then it dies. Im searching everywhere to find out if anyone has had the same issue and found a resolution. Can you help?
:tiphat: :tiphat: Welcome :tiphat:


In case you haven't heard:
http://gmtnation.com/forums/topic/218-welcome-to-gmtnationcom-heres-the-story/


The info about your truck might help.
Have you ever cleaned the t-body?
What's the maintenance history?
Do you get any CEL's?
 

CrownINC

Member
Oct 23, 2013
2
Wooluf1952 said:
:tiphat: Welcome:tiphat:

In case you haven't heard:
http://gmtnation.com/f5/welcome-gmtnation-com-heres-story-226/

The info about your truck might help.
Have you ever cleaned the t-body?
What's the maintenance history?
Do you get any CEL's?

Thank you, im very happy i have found this forum.

So! i got a 2002 Chevy Trailblazer ext. I have cleaned the throttle body in the last 6 months ( not so well though) but had no lack in power since now and i just got an oil change and both front hub assembly replaced right before it started to happen. About a month i go a replaced my muffler also.

There are no check engine lights at all, just the ABS light and E-Brake light come on as the car starts cutting out. I added in some injector cleaner and some high octane gas to see if it would help with anything. I must say that i notice a difference in how long it takes the symptoms to come back, but they do none the less.

Ive been told by many different sources that it could be so many different things, Fuel pump, fuel filter, lose ground wire, plugs ( ive changed 4 months ago ) abs sensors, etc etc.

Instead of me throwing money at this problem, im looking for any experience with these sames symptoms so i try to narrow it down.

Any help would be appreciated!
 

strat81

Member
Dec 29, 2011
399
CrownINC said:
Ive been told by many different sources that it could be so many different things, Fuel pump, fuel filter, lose ground wire, plugs ( ive changed 4 months ago ) abs sensors, etc etc.

Instead of me throwing money at this problem, im looking for any experience with these sames symptoms so i try to narrow it down.

Replacing the fuel filter isn't "throwing money" at the problem, it's a good maintenance practice. A filter runs less than $20 and takes less than 15 minutes to install.

When you replaced your plugs, did you use the OEM-specified AC Delco, or something else?
 

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