Wass

At 12 seconds and you will hear a buzz followed by the 3 chime warning sound, and then Svce. Active Handling/Svce. Traction Control appeared on the DIC. At that point it felt and sounded similar to hitting the rev limiter, but I didn't. No CEL light. I've been getting a pulsation in the rear brakes. Stopped the car, turned the engine off, restarted and it was cleared.



The last time this happened I did get the CEL too. Dealership found codes indicating 2 cylinders misfired. Checked the plugs and they were good.

Anyone have this happen and get it resolved?

Mrfitter

i had a plug wire come loose at the coil pack that did that. It looked like it was on rubber boot on but no connection. Check the wires real good . Hope it's that easy. Good luck.

Wass

Checked them and they're good. Thanks.

AzMotorhead

Check the ground at the engine block LH side fwd of the motor mount.
Also check battery condition.

psp6158

This is too common in these cars, here's what I've learned... Battery, plug wires, ecm, EBCM, wheel sensor, wiring under passenger floor at fuse box(connection). Codes should put you in right direction... Mine had a bunch and was the EBCM.

2003Evo

First of all the misfire issue should be investigated a bit further...you said plugs and wires are okay, do you think you drove on bad fuel? I would do a compression check or leak down check to make sure your engine is healthy, with the known head issue anything is possible.
Active handling and traction control are part os AbS module so i would keep an eye on that.

Wass

Thanks for the many suggestions from all who replied. When I got the misfire code, the tech only checked the spark plugs. I never felt it misfire.
It's not bad fuel as the car has been running fine with the exception of the occasional traction control/active handling problem. This has happened 6 times in 2,000 miles. Only one time with the CEL. I'm hoping there will be some codes when I bring it back to the dealership. Perhaps it has something to do with the pulsation from the rear brakes.

This time, I could definitely feel a loss of power for an instant. Half a second. Right at 12 seconds in the video.

2003Evo

Pulsation of the brakes is your ABS kickin in

Wass

They always pulsate, like deposits on the rotor or a runout problem. I will have the dealer look at them and resurface, but the buzz I heard at 12 seconds could have been the ABS. I was accelerating slightly at the time. Could be the EBCM is the problem as suggested earlier. Hoping for some codes when I bring it in to the dealership Wednesday.

erikszr1

[QUOTE=Wass;1589703408]They always pulsate, like deposits on the rotor or a runout problem. I will have the dealer look at them and resurface, but the buzz I heard at 12 seconds could have been the ABS. I was accelerating slightly at the time. Could be the EBCM is the problem as suggested earlier. Hoping for some codes when I bring it in to
Certain engine codes will make make the abs traction control warnings to come on, fix misfire ect before anything else.

Les

That's a good summary. I recently had pretty much every DIC warning and symbol in the dash going off, in addition to the intermittent loss of gauges (full loss or partial loss in random fashion). All the modules listed above, and the things that signal them such as a wheel sensor, talk to each other in one big circuit. All it takes is one bad element in that circuit to ruin the communication between them and set off the warnings. In my case a code reader couldn't even establish a link to pull the codes, but that's very rare. As long as you have a decent dealership it should be pretty easy to isolate and fix your problem. Good luck.

erichg1000

I would be unplugging the steering wheel sensor harness until you figure it out so that the AH and TC are disabled so the car can't go all Christine on you.

08 ATOMIC-Z

Did you by chance have a passenger with you? If you did they were pressing down on the floorboard and your high speed data busses lost communications (the two big blue connectors). It will cause the symptoms you described.

Wass

No passenger. Dealership found a random misfire code again today. No other codes. Engine is running fine. They checked plugs, wires, connections. They can't find the cause.

Did it again on the way home. Third gear at about 5,500 rpms. The CEL flashed and Service Active Handling/Service Traction Control appeared on the DIC. The CEL did not remain lit but the other warnings did continue to flash. I stopped the car, turned the ignition off and then back on. No more warnings. Took it up to red line in third and everything seemed perfect. I can't make it happen! It just does it when it wants to.

Next time it happens I'll take it back to the dealership while it's still flashing the warning in the DIC.

LA_Z06

This has been mentioned, but did you end up checking the battery? Go to Autozone or Pep Boys and get it checked out. Make sure it's capable of taking a full charge.

Wass

I had the service TC/AH problem once with my 09Z and it was the battery. I'd get the warning at idle. I don't think the battery would cause the warning at speed with a CEL. I did put the car in start without running the engine, and the battery is 12.1. Usually 14.5-14.7 at speed.

LA_Z06

A bad battery can possibly cause a check engine light to come on along with the service AH/TC and other messages that pop up on the DIC. Your gauges may even stop working. If the battery is bad, the warnings won't only come on at idle but they can pop up at speed as well.


The point is that I would just check the battery since it's such a simple and easy thing to check. Don't just check the voltage, make sure the state of health and state of charge are both good after driving it around for a while. At the very least it's one more thing to check off the list of possible issues.

rabrooks

This has happened to me when the battery was low. It happened when the tire sensors were not set to the car and it has happened when th starter pulled too much power from the battery when starting the engine while hot with a weak starter

Bill Dearborn

The intermittent misfire is causing the problem. When the misfire starts the ECM sends a message to the EBCM saying it can't do its job. The EBCM sets a code that says the problem isn't here and turns on the Service Message. When the misfire goes away the ECM shuts off the CEL but once a code is set in the EBCM you have to reset it by restarting the engine to get rid of the code. You need to address the CEL issue the AH is fine and doing what it is supposed to do (shut off when the ECM can't reliably control torque).

Check all of the spark plug wires, the wiring from the ECM to the coils and the coils themselves. You could have a coil getting to the point it may fail. Also check your spark plugs. If it isn't ignition related it could be fuel related so check the wiring to the injectors and run some cleaner through the fuel system. Pull the injectors and inspect them to see if they are dirty.

Bill

2003Evo

Flashing CEL is bad..actually really bad that you are supposed to actually stop the vehicle. Flashing CEL means random misfire and you need to take care of that asap. Forget what the dealer says, request a leak down test ASAP..i hope this is not valve related since they keep saying plugs and coils are good