Foosh

Headed to work this morning and not more than 1/4 mile from my driveway I felt a shudder, loss of power, engine was missing, feeling much like "limp mode," and was accompanied by a flashing CEL. I pulled off the road, shut down for a few seconds, restarted/rebooted, and everything was running smoothly again, but CEL is now solidly illuminated. All the codes above are emission system malfunction codes. Engine was still cold, and I was being gentle as I always am until oil is up to normal operating temp.

This is a 1/18/18-built Z51, M7 with 1200 miles. Dealer wants it flatbedded which will happen tomorrow, but I'd appreciate any thoughts or similar experiences.

Woodson

Good luck.

Rebel Yell

Sorry to hear that my friend. I hope it was just "one of those things", and it will be good to go.

Foosh

Thanks. One of my big concerns about giving up my flawless '14 was something like this.

A quick Google search indicates all 3 codes are related some aspect of oxygen sensor or possible ECM malfunction. One write-up suggests that ECM can put the engine into "fail-safe" (limp) mode when it detects the O2 sensor malfunction, which is completely consistent with what I experienced this morning.

orca1946

I would think you can drive it to dealer.

kenownr

It's a NEW car -- maybe a plug wire loose? We've read all kinds of weird codes popping up and limp mode. -- tom

Foosh

Perhaps, but just because it ran smoothly for a few minutes after restarting doesn't mean the misfire, and limp-mode won't recur on the way to the dealer. After the incident, I drove it 1/4 mile back home and put it in the garage.

Dealer, OnStar, and Chevy Roadside assistance all recommended the flatbed given the obvious engine malfunction. Moreover, I sure as hell don't want to get blamed for engine damage by driving it to the dealer.

Billy346

I can't help but think its a bad sensor of some kind. I had something similar happen on my boat. The darn thing would start and run fine, but when I pushed the throttle forward to get on plane the whole thing would cut out and the engine alarm would sound. Took it to the boat mechanic and it took him an hour or so to replace the sensor. Of course, I think I paid him something like $500.00 to replace the sensor. ........Moral of the story, be glad it's under warranty.....and it's not a boat!

NSC5

The "input" or first exhaust stream O2 sensor for one bank cylinder has a malfunction in its heater circuit. Could be a loose plug or wire fault issue but it is likely that this sensor had an infant failure in its heater element.

With the flashing CEL and missing it sounds like the engine controller was being fed wildly incorrect data from that sensor and responded by going into its safe mode which chooses a new set of average parameters that should result in a reasonable fuel/air mixture while ignoring the results from the sensor.

Going via flatbed is safest as long as the driver knows what he is doing. It should be a simple fix at the dealer.

bigfainer

your choice on what dealer flat bedded to or does it have to be closest dealer?

Foosh

Exactly what I was thinking after reading the write-ups for all 3 of the codes. I'd also guess infant mortality on the sensor.

With regard to the flatbed, I'm armed with a long Y-harness, and J/T hooks for the chassis jack points. Chevrolet Roadside Assistance let me choose a dealer which was not the closest one. We happen to have one of the best Corvette techs in the country at the dealer it's going to, and they've committed to only letting him touch it.

NSC5

Sounds like it will be in good hands! Sensors, like other car components, are designed to a low price point and there will be infant failures. If mil spec parts were used for cars only billionaires would drive and the rest of us would be commuting via foot or bicycle.

bimmerborn

I had a bad battery connection on a different new car. On a cold day after 1-2 mile of driving the very same happened to me: Engine shudder, flashing CEL, multiple emission codes, and CEL stayed on. I drove to the dealer. They diagnose for a day and ended up saying the battery connection was loose.

themonk

My only concern, and not to be a Debbie Downer, is that with all my experience in the car business I never had a O2 sensor trip a flashing CEL causing a car go into limp mode. Perhaps the C7 has different way of doing things, I dunno.

Good luck, hopefully it's just a bad O2 sensor.

LT4CMG

This^^^

Happened on one of my cars, diagnosed as a defective battery. Dealer replaced the battery and never had the issue again.
Hope it's something minor like this Foosh. Good luck buddy.

drs

Hope it's something minor.

DickieDoo

O2 Sensor heater control circuit... i do know that some subsequent codes can get thrown off as a result on one particular issue so it looks much worse than it actually is...
I could have sworn i'd seen that code before as a mis-fire and it was usually a bad coil. guess not...

Yaupon

Foosh, sorry to hear this is happened to you...keep us posted on how the flatbedding and dealer fix goes. Agree that you should let them flatbed the car to the dealer vs. you driving it to the dealer. Why potentially put yourself on the hook for further damage by driving it to the dealer. All the best to a quick and easy repair. Appreciate all your help to CF.

Foosh

My car has been driven almost every day since delivery, and this was the first sign of any issue.

SLOWRYDE