First of all, yes I did a search; both for "limp mode" & "engine power reduced." I read every thread that came up and the only things that I gathered were people that had it happen, and people telling them any number of things that they thought it was. What I'm looking for is the people that got their cars to run after having hit "limp mode." What was wrong, and what was the solution?

This happened to me lastnight at about 2:30 a.m. I wasn't into the gas a lot, maybe 4000-4500 rpm, and it just lost everything. It never died, but would only go about 20 or 25 mph. It felt exactly like trying to go from a dead stop in fourth gear, only the rpms never would build up. I could shut the car off and start it again, but it ran the same way, and I still got the "engine power reduced" message on the DIC. I let it sit overnight, and today it won't even start.

In case it matters, I'm running a 3" pulley, 42lb. injectors, one step colder iridium spark plugs, K&N cai, and an Intense MAF-T (yes, I'm the last Cobalt on Earth with a maf-t). I've had the whole setup on the car for at least 10,000 miles, minus the intake, which has been on the car for about 1,000 miles. Also, it's quite cold here in Cincinnati (20-25*, give or take), but it's been that cold for about three or four weeks now, and I've had no problems, except the occasional cold-idle surging of rpms.

Someone, anyone, please help me. I need to know from the people who have had this happen, how their cars got fixed. Damnit this sucks! Thanks for reading,

Matt Gandenberger

 

wow geeze

 

did you have it tuned to begin with hptuner, intense, or gm state 2?

 

What code did it throw? What was it doin before it went into limp mode? Also, were are you at in CIncy, I am here in West Chester, I might be able to tak e a look if your close.

 

what is your maf-t set at if its set too rich you might need to change your spark plugs. i had my maf-t too rich and it fouled out my plugs. check your settings and change your plugs

 

I know my friends srt-4 will go into a "limp mode" after a certian amount of time because the car computer senses he is pushing more boost than stock or something like that. He just disconnects the battery for a few minutes to rest the computer and starts it back up and the car runs just as fast again. I dont know if that will work on our cars or if its even the same sort of problem, but it could be worth a shot

 

I'm not sure off the top of my head about the base setting on the maf-t. It's either 10% or 15% lean. The WOT I know is set at no change. It's been set this way for quite awhile now, and it did seem to run rich (the black smoke), but pulled hard, and more importantly, ran period. I've never had it tuned, though I've always known that I needed it to be. Could it have been rich for so long that it finally fouled the plugs? I just don't understand how it could all of a sudden decide it didn't want to run.

Matt

 

the best setting for me maf-t is base c wot 1 on my car. change your plugs and try those settings.

 

I've got my stock spark plugs in my tool box, luckily, at home (as opposed to all the other stock take-offs which are in my Mom's garage), so I think I'm gonna start by putting those back in and see if it starts. If anyone else has any other ideas or suggestions, please send them my way. Thanks to all that have responded thus far.

Matt

 

im pretty sure its your plugs i use to mess with my maf-t all the time and it kept going into limp mode because my settings where wrong. good luck with your car

 

First of all, I want to thank everyone that posted back to me. I also thought that I'd post what the solution ended up being, so that the info is here in case someone else needs it.

I ended up putting the stock spark plugs back in. When the I pulled the 1 step colder iridium NGKs out, they were caked in carbon & wet with gasoline. The carbon being from running way rich for way long, and the gas from trying to start the car dozens of times. After the plug change, it started up first try, but after initially revving itself to about 4000 rpm, it ran like total ****, and was still in limp mode. I tried giving it gas to get the rpms up, but finally realized that even pushing the pedal to the floor did absolutely nothing. I then looked at everything under the hood that could be related to the throttle, and it turned out to be that the sensor on the underside of the supercharger, right at the throttle body, wasn't plugged in completely. Apparently the last time I had the supercharger off that connector never got plugged in completely, and it just rattled loose. What an idiot. After plugging it back in, the car started fine and was no longer in limp mode. And, after a short while of burning off that extra gas that was in the cylinders, it ran just beautifully.

Thanks again to everybody that offered their suggestions & helped me get my car back on the road.

Matt Gandenberger