[Paisley Pirate]

Hi,

I have a puzzle... my 04 SR just decided to start sputtering out and dying. It died on a test drive (a buddy of mine was in town and I wanted him to drive it) we were slowing from about ̶8̶0̶ uh, 55! when it sputtered and died as we got to the stop sign. It started right up again, but was stalling... then it took off on the 2nd or 3rd restart and ran fine.

Drove it home, no problems... even hooned it around the school parking lot so he could feel the no traction control and advanced settings... parked it, again, no problems.

Got in it a little while later to run to the parts store and the grocery store, and it ran fine to the parts store... but on leaving the parts store, it took off strongly, then stalled out again... restarted and it ran fine.

Another run in the next parking lot, and it ran smoothly, stopped smoothly, never acted up. 3rd stop, and it showed up again, and chugged out AGAIN. Then it ran fine, drove it home, got out the OBD2 scan tool... no codes... it acted up again... still no codes thrown. I did a data collection on it, and am trying to read through it right now... the only oddity I can see is the TPS reading seems like its stuck at the 12 - 15 % range... and, this acted up again while in the middle of the data collection.

I'm going to pull the plugs when the engine cools down a bit, and take a read on them. I am also going to recheck the MAF since it was unplugged / plugged back in last week when I was checking the transmission fluid level, and I noticed it was plugged in oddly yesterday and replugged it in (after running it really hard for about 10 miles down a very twisty bits road... where I exceed the speed limit by a factor of 2 in more than 2 places... and slowed to below the speed limit only 1 time (at the dreaded railroad tracks) until I got into town... that was on the same tank of fuel, and it is now 80 miles into that tank. Maybe a bad tank of gas? I normally refill at about 1/4 - 3/8 tank (this was a little above 1/4, about 140 miles to empty) and it was at the normal place that I never seem to have fuel problems with (been using the same chain for 30 years, literally, only ever had fuel issues with them 1 time, and they ended up comping a tank of fuel AND the repair bill to drain, replace filters and refill)

Anyway, already long story a wee bit longer: Is there anything else I should be checking besides the plugs, the fuel line, the MAF and the TPS? I can't think of anything, but this is an intermittent no coder that has me a bit stumped... any suggestions would be more than appreciated!

 

[scooby]

Boost leak. When the engine sucks in "un-metered" air it has no idea with what it's supposed to do.

 

[Paisley Pirate]

Possible, and I will look at the tubes when I have it opened up...

the only problem is, this is happening at idle (no boost, so it would be in vacuum) and even when throttling up off idle. Again, thanks for the idea, and I will look at it, but it doesn't seem quite likely... especially since it is still being intermittent.

 

[Stefan1235]

Torn vacuum line maybe?

What RPM does it idle at by the way?

 

[Paisley Pirate]

750 +/- 20. It drops and sputters hard just before dying. Again, not a solid hit, it's intermittent. It acts up, then settles down and acts like normal, and then goes away again.

Worried about a hole rubbed in the intercooler hose (from having the aluminum tube out the other week) and it is rubbing against the power steering line that is right there. It does NOT have a hole all the way through, unless it's microscopic, and I missed it somehow, I haven't checked it with a liquid test yet, but it handled the stretch test with no problems... it's scuffed on the outer layer only. Still, I will address that when putting it back together.

1 spark plug out so far (stopping for lunch/supper break) and it is dirty and black on top with brown high speed glazing underneath that. Pretty much what I expected from a set of 60k mile spark plugs... the black soot on top is definitely from today... the high speed glazing is built up over that many miles... again nothing glaring or AHA sticking out so far... too bad I don't have a new set of plugs to throw in her today... I'll clean and reinstall and order a set with the new air filter.

Speaking of air filters, I had the box out a couple of weeks ago, and when I opened it up today, it didn't seem like the air filter was seated onto the MAF tube quite snuggly... maybe dirty MAF, but it doesn't show it at a glance. I will use some cleaner on that, in case that could be doing something (again no codes anywhere)

Still suspecting the TPS, because the low reading on a 60 point sensor read was 12.2 and the high was 19.5... it may be my code reader not catching, but it could be the TPS out of whack, but not bad enough to set a code yet.

 

[volvodrummer]

Check your C.A.P coupler at the intercooler and at the turbo. I've had one loose cause all those symptoms.

 

[Paisley Pirate]

Actually, the fix was very close to that last one... it was indeed a pressure/vacuum issue... and an idiot newbie mistake on my part (that I am still kicking myself over)

Here ya go:

Yep, turbo to intercooler pipe o-ring... apparently, when I had it out a couple of weeks ago, I split it when I reinstalled it. Don't know how I managed to do that, but since it *is* split, I had to have done it... anyway, it was in place until I removed the tube today to get at the coils/plugs... it must have been mostly sealing most of the time, but occasionally would twist itself just enough to cause a leak, and then whammo...

Honestly, I was pushing the car pretty darn hard yesterday, and not having any issues with it... I blame my buddy who test drove it this morning!! LOL!

So, there's the solution. Thanks to everyone for the suggestions! I really appreciate the thought. Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!

 

[volvodrummer]

Glad it was a simple fix!