GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

This weekend I was going to clean my throttle body on my car.I own a 2003 Vibe GT w/ CAI and Exhaust. So I disconnected the battery and took it out. After I did that I decided to just do it the next day. Well I go out to hook up the battery to go to the store and go to turn the engine over and there is the CEL light on. So I decide to just go for a ride and see if driving will turn it off. I pull out of the driveway and start to accelarate and at 3,000 rpm the engine starts to putter like the ECU is stopping power. Does anyone have any idea what would of tripped the CEL and why it is putter. I for the first time filled the car up with different gas and I am wondering if that is the reason. I have from the day I got the car up in Amoco and this week put in Speedway. Any help is greatly appreciated...............

welcome to genvibe. glad you decided to finally post! lol. (lurker! )did you let the car run about 10 mins first before you drove it? the car needs to idle and let the ecu run through a few cycles before you just go and drive. also, you mentioned you recently got gas. recent enough that you may have not tightened the cap much? that will also throw a CEL. it takes about 3 drive cycles for the ECU to fully reset itself. if i were you, i'd unhook the battery again, check the gas cap, check all your hoses and clamps on the CAI. then reconnect the battery and let the car idle for a good 10 minutes. then take it for a drive but don't be hitting lift! let it go through its drive cycles first and hopefully that will clear up your CEL.

Quote, originally posted by Most Wan-TED »I pull out of the driveway and start to accelarate and at 3,000 rpm the engine starts to putter like the ECU is stopping power. Does anyone have any idea what would of tripped the CEL and why it is putter.It sounds like your MAF sensor is either disconnected or blown.http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=15740

Either the MAF or you disconnected something in the CAI when doing the battery or just forgot that you did. Most likely the second. You might want to clean the MAF also when you do the TB. It's not the reset, it won't behave that badly. You in limp mode.

The guys are on to something here. There is quite a failure somewhere along the line that has caused the PCM to keep the revs limited to 3,000 to prevent whatever problem that may be present from causing further damage to the engine. In the past, this has usually been the mass airflow sensor...You didn't happen to disconnect it *before* disconnecting the battery, did you? That's been known to zap these things from what I've seen.Not much of a way to get that sucker out of "limp home mode" until you find the source of the failure and get it corrected. Best case scenario, something is disconnected. Worst, something needs to replaced. Get the codes read and go from there...

Well I let the battery sit over night disconnected. So I go out today and clean the MAFS. Hook the battery back up and start the car. CEL is still on. So I let it idle for a couple of minutes and then remember that I did not hook the MAFS back up. So I disconnect the battery let it still for a few minutes and hook the MAFS back up and reconnect the battery. BOOM the CEL is off and the car is idling at 1500 great. So I leave it idling and start cleaning up the yard because we had a party the night before and I hear the car die. (removed)!!!!!! I walk over and sure enough it died. So I turn her over and now the car is idling at 400 RPM and spiking to 900 RPM and just keeps going back and forth and then just dies.And I can hear the CAI just sucking air. So I disconnected the battery and will try again later. Does this sound like a bad MAFS or is it something else.I no longer have a CEL which makes me beleive the MAFS is still working. I checked the CAI for loose hoses and very thing looks OK ,but just to be sure there is only the on hose that plugs underneath correct and the cap that goes on the block. Right... Alot of water came out of the tail pipe which is not normal for my car when it was idling. And if it is a MAFS where is the best place to get one junkyard or Autozone. I really do not think this would be covered under warranty. Any ideas??????????? Thanks in advance!!!!

Quote, originally posted by Most Wan-TED »And if it is a MAFS where is the best place to get one junkyard or Autozone. I really do not think this would be covered under warranty.Others here (like Mavrik) had their MAF replaced under warranty after they messed with it. It seems you may have to reinstall the stock air box before returning to the dealer.http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=16314

I've got a spare MAF if someone needs one cheap. I would still double check and make sure that you didn't lose a hose connection on the CAI or source. If you didn't disconnect the MAF the first time that you pulled the battery, it shouldn't be the problem since the problem appeared without any MAF disruption.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I never have read about a bad MAF throwing a CEL?

What is making me think it is the MAF is the fact the car will run fine with a CEL when the MAF is disconnected and will sputter and idling rough when it is plugged in. Quote, originally posted by ragingfish »I've got a spare MAF if someone needs one cheap. I would still double check and make sure that you didn't lose a hose connection on the CAI or source. If you didn't disconnect the MAF the first time that you pulled the battery, it shouldn't be the problem since the problem appeared without any MAF disruption.Ragingfish I am interested in the extra MAF you might have. Throw me a price. I am outside of Milwaukee so that is no problem to get it here fast. Let me know!!!!As far as hoses on the CAI isn't there just the one that is connected to the bottom of the CAI with a clamp and a cap that goes on the block. I can't seem to remember any other hoses. I have also read over on Matrixowner of a couple of guys disconnecting there batteries and frying their MAF.

I just sent you a PM about the MAF but I don't think a battery disconnect should blow it. Pulling it without a disconnect is usually the problem.

I had the same problem except that they replaced all the plugs and did some other things. it was done under warranty but the damn thing was throwing out some wierd error codes.

my vibe did the same thing few years back. I went to drive out the driveway and I couldn't go over 3000 RPM dealer came and got it and replaced the MAF sensor. parts can just go bad.

I never said anything about having a sensor, sorry dude.

Yeah I know.. I wanted to Quote GoodVibe and put your name instead. Sorry Dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well I got a new MAFS from Goodvibe and the problem is solved. Let it idle for 10 minutes and is good as new. Somehow I must of shorted it out taking the battery out. Thanks for the help everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

glad you got it fixed.

Quote, originally posted by Most Wan-TED »Well I got a new MAFS from Goodvibe and the problem is solved. Let it idle for 10 minutes and is good as new. Somehow I must of shorted it out taking the battery out. Thanks for the help everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 I did the same to my MAF when I installed my CAI so don't feel to badly about it...

yes, just don't let the GF then install it without problems in front of a bunch of other people. (like at a car meet....)

Quote, originally posted by trdvibe »yes, just don't let the GF then install it without problems in front of a bunch of other people. (like at a car meet....) I didn't lose anything I felt was important over it lol.

nothing that you care about anyways. lol