Holiday Travel Transmission Troubles

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soccerplayer2007

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Sunday, on my way back from Port Huron in my 03 LS V8, driving on the Interstate my car started losing speed. I checked my tach and my engine was basically idling (~800 RPM). Messing with the throttle did nothing so I put it over into manual shift mode. It immediately went into 3rd, because i was going 50 or so the RPMs shot way up. I tried shifting and at that point I got the Check Transmission Message and an E in the gear indicator.

I put it back into auto mode and limped to the next exit. I had to stop, and accelerating into the parking lot was very difficult for the car. Like it was stuck in a higher gear. Once parked I could smell something hot/burnt up (perhaps from just having a high load on the engine?).

Skipping the details of my adventure of getting a tow and rental car, a transmission shop checked my car out yesterday and today. They couldn't reproduce the issue, they did pull codes for a misfire and transmission slip. They dropped the tray (?) and found nothing "alarming." They think it could be an electrical issue.

What do you guys know/think about my symptoms? (Side note, I got a complete rebuild in April of this year with a 3 year 75,000 mile warranty - so the repair should be covered unless it is not transmission related).

The transmission shop is going to tow it back to my hometown tomorrow and look at it again on Thursday in their own shop.
 
Replace all coils and plugs. It probably is an electrical issue. Electrical noise from a marginal/failing COP (Coil-On-Plug) causing problems with the electronic throttle and/or transmission.

You know you have a really bad one if you have a misfire code (they often don't even trigger a misfire code). Take care of that before doing anything else.

If your 03 first sold in December 2002 or later and you have less than 100K miles, the coils are still under factory warranty. They will stress test and replace those that fail. If you are over the time or miles limit, then it is cheaper to replace them all than it is to stress test them.

http://www.allstatetrucks.com/Recalls/cust satisfaction recalls/07m07/R07M07 dealer bulletin.pdf
 
joegr said:
Replace all coils and plugs. It probably is an electrical issue. Electrical noise from a marginal/failing COP (Coil-On-Plug) causing problems with the electronic throttle and/or transmission.

You know you have a really bad one if you have a misfire code (they often don't even trigger a misfire code). Take care of that before doing anything else.

If your 03 first sold in December 2002 or later and you have less than 100K miles, the coils are still under factory warranty. They will stress test and replace those that fail. If you are over the time or miles limit, then it is cheaper to replace them all than it is to stress test them.

http://www.allstatetrucks.com/Recalls/cust satisfaction recalls/07m07/R07M07 dealer bulletin.pdf
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input. I'm at 166,xxx miles now, so no warranty replacement. I replaced them on my own about 2 years ago when I was at 120,000ish miles. As there was not oil in the wells I did not replace the valve covers/gakets. I'm guessing since I have a misfire after only 40,000 miles the valve covers need replaced. Does that sound about right?
 
soccerplayer2007 said:
Thanks for the input. I'm at 166,xxx miles now, so no warranty replacement. I replaced them on my own about 2 years ago when I was at 120,000ish miles. As there was not oil in the wells I did not replace the valve covers/gakets. I'm guessing since I have a misfire after only 40,000 miles the valve covers need replaced. Does that sound about right?
Click to expand...

Not really. Coils frequently fail with no oil exposure. If the plug wells are still dry, there's no need to replace the VCGs.
 
A week later and I don't have much more information, sadly. On Friday when they started it up there was a check engine light. They hooked it up to their diagnosis system. Told me the the codes were for system too lean. Upon further investigation they discovered the airbox was cracked and needs replaced to diagnosis further. Although they want to reproduce the issue with the transmission before doing too much more.

Can running too lean cause a transmission problem??
 
soccerplayer2007 said:
A week later and I don't have much more information, sadly. On Friday when they started it up there was a check engine light. They hooked it up to their diagnosis system. Told me the the codes were for system too lean. Upon further investigation they discovered the airbox was cracked and needs replaced to diagnosis further. Although they want to reproduce the issue with the transmission before doing too much more.

Can running too lean cause a transmission problem??
Click to expand...

Probably not; but letting in un-metered air will cause all kinds of different driveability issues.
 
LS4me said:
Probably not; but letting in un-metered air will cause all kinds of different driveability issues.
Click to expand...

That's what I figured. Know where I can get the K&N CAI for my car :D.

On a serious note, I'm seriously missing my LS! I hope to give another update soon.

Thanks.
 
Soccerplayer, good luck with it all, sounds nasty.


joegr said:
... Electrical noise from a marginal/failing COP (Coil-On-Plug) causing problems with the electronic throttle and/or transmission.
Click to expand...

Incredible, thanks for the heads up.
 
Thanks, I hope it turns out well and I'm sure it ultimately will. Glad I'm a lot more laid back about car problems now than I used to be.
 
You're lucky your mechanics didn't find anything. My transmission were having the exact same issues with keeping in gear and taking off in second gear instead of first gear. Turned out my whole tranny was toast and needed a complete overhaul. But just my experience, try replacing your COPs. They often are the main cause for many drivability problems on these cars.
 
fudge12 said:
You're lucky your mechanics didn't find anything. My transmission were having the exact same issues with keeping in gear and taking off in second gear instead of first gear. Turned out my whole tranny was toast and needed a complete overhaul. But just my experience, try replacing your COPs. They often are the main cause for many drivability problems on these cars.
Click to expand...

How am I lucky? lol I'd much rather they knew so I can know what I needed to fix myself or just have them do it. Money isn't an issue, I have learned to have an emergency fund for this car :) In all honesty though, I feel my nearly five years with it have been fairly trouble free. Especially considering the number of miles it has on it.

Thanks for the advice, though! Sounds like your situation wasn't fun either. Definitely going to change the COPs soon.
 
I would get a second guess on the transmission.

Thats a lot of miles for it to be original. Lots of us have issues with it before 100K miles.
 
BlackLS06 said:
I would get a second guess on the transmission.

Thats a lot of miles for it to be original. Lots of us have issues with it before 100K miles.
Click to expand...

That would be a good idea. When they told me nothing looked "alarming" with it I've started to wonder. I would think that it should look in tip top shape since the rebuild was done in April and has only about 13,000 miles on it.
 
soccerplayer2007 said:
That would be a good idea. When they told me nothing looked "alarming" with it I've started to wonder. I would think that it should look in tip top shape since the rebuild was done in April and has only about 13,000 miles on it.
Click to expand...

I missed the part about the rebuild.
 
BlackLS06 said:
I would get a second guess on the transmission.

Thats a lot of miles for it to be original. Lots of us have issues with it before 100K miles.
Click to expand...

Some don't [have problems past 100K miles].
 
joegr said:
Some don't [have problems past 100K miles].
Click to expand...

Yup....... No issued here.....


soccerplayer2007 said:
Just looked at the price of a new air box and $376. That's some expensive plastic. Perhaps I won't need the whole kit though and they can just replace the broken part cheaper.

Any reason I shouldn't go this route: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...akeTrack=true&ssPageName=VIP:watchlink:top:en

I'm going to of course wait until I know what the other issues are.
Click to expand...

Check out LKQ (or LQK, I don't remember) for a used one. As long as your state doesn't care about aftermarket intake systems (CA does :mad:) I would go with the K&N 57-2562.
 
Just my 2 cents worth and i know ill get a lot of flac - but put on rack just to the ft of trans theres a rubber plug start car pull - listen

tork converter!!!!! Will sound from up top and in car like timming ten

will cause same problems u described


ok now yell
 
MOSES said:
Just my 2 cents worth and i know ill get a lot of flac - but put on rack just to the ft of trans theres a rubber plug start car pull - listen
tork converter!!!!! Will sound from up top and in car like timming ten
will cause same problems u described
ok now yell
Click to expand...

Well no flac for your 2 cents yet. Have you had the problem I reported and found the torque converter to be the issue?
 
I have the car in my possession now. They said they couldn't find anything else wrong with it. They did say it developed a rough idle at start. The car shakes a bit, throttle modulation won't move the rpm's at all unless you repeatedly pump it (which I know you can't rev the engine but usually when in park you can just step on the gas and it will slowly rise). Says the shaking stops as soon as you put it in Drive and get moving. I'll report back on that feeling perhaps later today when I drive home.

Hope I make it!
 
BlackLS06 said:
Go to a ford dealer instead.
Click to expand...

That's actually who was looking at it. (You didn't miss it -- I didn't mention it). The company I work for has a tradeout for services with them, for personal vehicles we don't get free service, but it is discounted so it works pretty well to go to them right away.

This dealer does sub transmission work out to a local shop, however. That's why I mentioned the car being at a transmission shop.
 
An update for everyone watching this thread.

I got the car back on Thursday from the dealer. Today I put the K&N CAI intake on replace my broken airbox.

2012-12-08.jpg


Check engine hasn't come back on yet for system too lean, but dealer told me it may take a few key turns to register that code if the problem persists.

A few other updates. When I go around bumpy parking lots or speed bumps, a horrible noise comes from my driver side front tire. Sounds like something is broken and is slipping and making a boing (pop followed by vibration) sound. I'm going to try and get it in the air tomorrow and take a look.

I also noticed today that when going at a constant speed on cruise control that it feels like my car loses speed for a split second. Almost like it did when I lost it completely in the first post.
 
soccerplayer2007 said:
...I also noticed today that when going at a constant speed on cruise control that it feels like my car loses speed for a split second. Almost like it did when I lost it completely in the first post.
Click to expand...

Your PCM is rebooting on the fly due to noise from a marginal ignition coil.

You've done a lot, but you haven't addressed the #1 issue that the LS has. You even have a misfire code, so there should be no doubt. Any other issues will be easier to trouble shoot after you correct this one. Either replace all coils and plugs (best option) or stress test all the coils and replace the coils (with plugs) that fail.
 
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