# having problems after vb from level 10 install



## Blu04max (Dec 1, 2010)

I'm going to try and describe my prob the best I can long story short. I bought my 04 max then my re5f22a started to give me the all to common symprtoms. Stumbled across level ten on this website actually so I decided to go on a road trip. I get the vb done and the car drives great for a good week. One day I go to start it and it hesitates the goes into failsafe mode I drive it home I get in it again and its driving ok 5min later the serp belt gets to loose and the car dies. I bring it to a shop mechanic tells me it was loose charges me 20 bucks. The car again drives fine then the next day dies in the same fashion now the only difference is that it will start up again but only to be in failsafe mode. I then turn the car off and a few minutes later turn it bak on and its out of failsafe mode. Plz plz help


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## Blu04max (Dec 1, 2010)

Also when the car starts now it dies within 20 min and all da lights on the dash come on that's when I try to restart it and its in failsafe mode


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## 05SmokeSE (Mar 23, 2011)

You've got a couple of unrelated symptoms there. I'll just address the "shuts down and starts back up a few miniutes later" symptom.

That particular symptom is an indication of a crankshaft position sensor (CPS) going bad. The CPS is a solid state device that tells the car's computer (power train control module - PCM) the position of the crankshaft. The PCM uses that information to tell the spark plugs when to fire. If the CPS fails, the car shuts off just like if somebody reached over and turned off the key! After a few minutes when the CPS cools down, it starts working again and the PCM can fire the plugs so you're back running. Unfortunately, the CPS is adversely affected by heat, which eventually causes them to fail completely. But they will fail intermittently for some time before they finally die for good.

Just a thought, but that could be it, particularly if the car shuts off just like somebody turned off the key.


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## Blu04max (Dec 1, 2010)

Thanks for the reply Smoke and I will definetly look into that,, also do you have any idea of what could be sending the car to failsafe mode??? Thanx in advance


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## 05SmokeSE (Mar 23, 2011)

Well... 

A car will go into failsafe (or limp-home) mode if ANY of the major sensors that feed engine operating condition information to the PCM fail.

As soon as a sensor fails and stops sending its input to the PCM, the PCM goes into failsafe mode and immediately starts using default values for that specific sensor from look-up tables stored in the PCMs non-volatile ROM. That's why the car still runs and you can limp home.

The single worst sensor to fail is your Mass Air Flow meter (MAF). That sensor tells the engine how much air is coming into the engine's intake so that the fuel injectors know how much fuel to inject. It is the engine's sole input to indicate engine load.

If your MAF dies, your engine will run like crap in failsafe mode since the look-up table values are very general and not compensated much for varying engine load conditions.

Other sensors that might fail and put you into failsafe mode are: oxygen sensors, engine coolant temperature sensor (ECT), air intake temperature sensor (AIT), etc.


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## Blu04max (Dec 1, 2010)

Ok that makes sense because when I got my valvebody done part of the process was to clean the MAF sensor so maybe the guys messed up somewhere hmm,, possible. Well I do appreciate the help smoke the problem sucks especially considering I've put so much money into these past couple of weeks. So are the possible causes of my problem pretty cheap or are they going to be wallet breakers.

Plus let me give you some more details of the car when it dies,, all the dash lights come on as it turns off,, I loose my power steering also

Another question if its a faulty sensor why does is start up fine the first time with out being in limp mode then after it dies and I turn it on its in limp mode,, y isn't it in limp mode initially.


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## 05SmokeSE (Mar 23, 2011)

Blu04max said:


> ... if its a faulty sensor why does is start up fine the first time with out being in limp mode then after it dies and I turn it on its in limp mode,, y isn't it in limp mode initially.


Yup, that's a good question.

The only answer I can come up with is that on most cars the PCM has got to see the same failure indication from a particular sensor several times in a row upon successive start-ups before it will throw a code, turn on the check engnie light, and go into failsafe mode. Unless it sees several successive failure indications from a sensor, it won't.

That's my best shot at it from reading the service manuals.


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## Blu04max (Dec 1, 2010)

Ok I c, that's probabky why the car is now stuck in limp mode n won't come out like u said the bad sensor is probably done completely, I did drive today bcuz of an emergency and by the end of my voyage this happended.. But ne way my mechanic said he will clear the codes then when they pop back up he said to bring it back to him.. I've been asking around and it seems ppl who have had the same problem solved it by: either replacing the cam shaft sensor, crank shaft sensor, or its a faulty ground wire connection the transmission.. So I will have my guy look into all these things carefully. I appreciate the help Smoke I will keep u posted. Thanks.


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