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2012 Limited 3.5 Problems

3068 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by  Leo28a
Hey guys/gals, this is a big post, so bear with me...

I’ve got a 2012 with roughly 120k. Recently it started idling really rough and lit up the CEL, along with “Service Advancetrak,” the TCS lights, and the wrench. It went into low-power mode twice as well. Usually when this happens, all I need to do is pull over and shut it down, wait about 5-10 minutes and restart and she’s fine. All the lights go out and it drives normally.

The last time this happened, about a week ago, I went to the local O’Reilly and had them pull the codes. I had the following:

U0401
U0402 (both are comm errors between the TCM and PCM)
P0102 (Issue with the MAF sensor)

I firmly believe the 0401/0402 codes are just a loose wire, as it’s very intermittent and doesn’t stick around for long.

Secondly, whenever I fill the tank (unleaded only, no E85), the car doesn’t want to crank over. It has the push button start and will attempt to crank over until it times out, usually about 10 seconds. It takes 3 tries until the engine finally cranks. Once the engine starts, I can stop/start all day with no problems.

I’ve got 12.6v in the battery with it off and 14v with it running. Alternator checks good too. I doubt it’s a starter issue because it’s trying to crank.

SO...

Could all of this be solved by replacing the fuel pump? I’m wondering if the rough idle could be caused by fuel starvation and the hard/no cranking at fill up be caused by a bad pump?

I’ve been to 3 dealerships and 2 shops, and nobody seems to have a clue. Before I spend what could be thousands trying to fix the problem I’m curious what you guys think.


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Do you fill up your tank while engine running ??

That would be the cause of not starting at the gas station.

If not, I would pull the charcoal canister check it out clean it gently with compressed air. Or replace it if necessary.

Regarding the MAF code
I would just pull it out spray it gently with some parts cleaner if it’s too black dirty

One more thing, I would check all body ground cables and engine ground too and make sure they are in good shape “shiny” with no corrosion nor green crusties !

Also, I would pull all transmission connectors, check them out all the wires a little tug test and spray the connectors with some contact cleaner.

And you should be all set after all that’s been done.


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