I don't know where to begin on this situation because it has been 4 months of hell. All I can say is, be persistant w/the service MANAGER if you are having these problems. "The Squeeky wheel gets the oil". Here is my story short and sweet, otherwise the long version will take 3 pages.

Traded in an 04 AT base 8 that I bought new. I bought an AT Grand Touring 04 w/36k and w/an 8 yr/100k warr. and it has been a problem since day one. Here are the problems:

#1. Small shaking when at idle, stopped, and in drive.
#2. Rough idle (around 500 rpm) when at idle, stopped, and in drive.
#3. Tap on the gas pedal during the above situation #2 and the car would stall.
#4. Pinging noise around 5k rpm
#5. Loss of pwr, more noticable off the line, passing, or in cruise where the car had to increase rpm's to maintain a certain speed.
#6. Been to the dealer approx. 15 times during this 4 mnth process.

This went on four 4 months as I went back and forth to the dealer and they couldn't duplicate the situation. They called tech every time and this is what they did to try and BANDAID the problem.

#1. Run 93 octane (I always have, and told them this)
#2. Stop running the car below 1/4 tank of gas (had a 04 8, never had the problem at all, ever, even ran that car at times under 1/4 tank or less)
#3. Changed the CAT ( still ran like crap)
#4. I personally paid for a carbon cleaning (still problems)
#5. 4 PCM updates, 1 was sent to California (same problem, & worse gas mileage ever)

As my patience was running out and 4 rental cars later. I finally started to document when these situations were happening, such as: Time, date, and MOST IMPORTANTLY THE OUTSIDE AIR TEMPERATURE. This is an outside air temp problem and the car will register as if it is running at a normal temp. I took the car out for a test drive NEAR the dealer and during 95 degree weather, it started all this crap, I immed. called the serv. mngr (practically know each other on a first name basis by this point) and told him it is still acting up and to be outside cause " I am coming back AGAIN". I pulled up, set the parking brake, left it in drive (this simulated being stopped, and in drive) and he FINALLY witnessed the situation. He was relieved to see it happening and immed. called tech. I said I was tired of bringing it to the dealer and I want the area rep to meet with me. The next morning I met the rep and he asked me if I would agree to let him do an update again on the PCM ( he said the update was being tested in Vegas (very hot there) as we were in the meeting) and that he is confident that this would solve the problem. He agreed w/ me that this was outside air temp problem, and if this didn't work, he would replace the eng. Well, as you can see in the title of the thread, "it didn't work". I picked up the car a week later( after their download to the PCM) and it stalled in the middle of an intersection, and ran worse than before.

All I can say about this situation is, Be persistant, get the car to duplicate these problems in front of the serv. manager, and make sure you tell him/her to call the area rep. Make sure your warr. is good, and if not, get an extended warr. to cover the cost of a possible eng. change. It must be hot outside 90/95 degrees. The serv. mngr took my car home for a weekend in 80 degree weather and had no problems.

I hope this has helped someone, because this has been a horrible experience. If the dealer does a PCM update and youhave no more problems, then you were blessed, but keep an eye on the situation. The car will now have a new eng w/an old car and I am worried the value is down the crapper.

Please feel free to email me if you have any questions.

erjjet

 

I have felt your pain. I too have a new engine, but no confidence that this summer will be any better than the last one. I suppose I should have bought the extended warranty (55K now...).

 

I think you can still purchase one through a secondary company. Have you had problems w/the new engine?

 

Have you had problems w/the new engine? I think you can buy an extended warr. even after yours expires. Not sure though.