Mike7143 Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 Hey everyone, gotta 2012 SEL V6 with 88k miles. Maybe a year ago now, driving down a road coming up to some real rough spots, pot holes. Traffic slows to about 5-7mph and as we're all kinda dodging holes, car is kinda bouncing around, I notice no response from the throttle pedal. Look down, engine is off, bunch of lights on. Put hazards on, shift to park. Try to start the engine, nothing. No cranking at all... so I'm like, crap. Turn ignition off, take key out, wait 10 seconds. Put key back in, key on, all looks ok. Crank, engine starts, put it in drive, and off we go like nothing ever happened! Chalked it up to who knows what, maybe some intermittent short, real rough roads... who knows. First and last time this happened... until today. Wife's driving car this time, going about 30mph, smooth roads. She's braking to come into a roundabout, foot off brake and back to throttle to leave when nothing happens. She said the engine was off, bunch of lights on. She put it in park, tried to start it, nothing. Calls me freaking out. Loading kids up into the van to go rescue and she calls me back saying she just turned the car off, took key out, then started it back up again, no issues, and she was off on her way... So that's now the 2nd time that's happened. Any ideas? Is this the throttle body issue? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Mike7143 said: Hey everyone, gotta 2012 SEL V6 with 88k miles. Maybe a year ago now, driving down a road coming up to some real rough spots, pot holes. Traffic slows to about 5-7mph and as we're all kinda dodging holes, car is kinda bouncing around, I notice no response from the throttle pedal. Look down, engine is off, bunch of lights on. Put hazards on, shift to park. Try to start the engine, nothing. No cranking at all... so I'm like, crap. Turn ignition off, take key out, wait 10 seconds. Put key back in, key on, all looks ok. Crank, engine starts, put it in drive, and off we go like nothing ever happened! Chalked it up to who knows what, maybe some intermittent short, real rough roads... who knows. First and last time this happened... until today. Wife's driving car this time, going about 30mph, smooth roads. She's braking to come into a roundabout, foot off brake and back to throttle to leave when nothing happens. She said the engine was off, bunch of lights on. She put it in park, tried to start it, nothing. Calls me freaking out. Loading kids up into the van to go rescue and she calls me back saying she just turned the car off, took key out, then started it back up again, no issues, and she was off on her way... So that's now the 2nd time that's happened. Any ideas? Is this the throttle body issue? Hi Mike. Although blind Internet diagnosis can not really rule a lot out, it does not sound like a throttle body issue. Could be anything from a simple loose battery cable connection (tighten them all down), to something much deeper. I would begin with checking and tightening all the battery connections and see how things go. If it is not the battery, it will be hard to track it down on a shade-tree mechanic basis. Intermittent problems (twice in a a year) are hard enough to track down when you have access to all the proper diagnostic equipment. I would also recommend going to your local big box automotive store (AutoZone etc) to have them check your OBDII for any stored DTC codes. Most perform it as a free service. If any of our tech members have more specific information that may help, I am sure they will jump in. Keep us updated and good luck. Edited October 12, 2020 by bbf2530 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike7143 Posted October 12, 2020 Author Share Posted October 12, 2020 Thanks for the reply @bbf2530 Unfortunately I know what you mean, I work in a service dept myself for heavy duty on-highway automatic transmissions and often times we come into issues where it's likely the OEM's wiring and I know it's not fun to let them know that, and this is a fresh reminder for myself now that the shoe's on the other foot and I'm the customer! I did just now track down the customer satisfaction letter and it mentions that engine power will persist, but at reduced level. Being that in both situations it completely turned off, and I don't have any lingering dash lights, perhaps it's not the TB issue. I'll double check battery connections but I don't think that's it as I've recently replaced the battery, but you never know! Good tip on hitting up the bigbox auto parts stores. I've got a bluetooth adapter but quite honestly it never seems to work right, but perhaps that's cause I've not bought and of the full-paid apps that are out there. Interested to hear if anyone else has had this occur though! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbf2530 Posted October 12, 2020 Share Posted October 12, 2020 9 minutes ago, Mike7143 said: Thanks for the reply @bbf2530 Unfortunately I know what you mean, I work in a service dept myself for heavy duty on-highway automatic transmissions and often times we come into issues where it's likely the OEM's wiring and I know it's not fun to let them know that, and this is a fresh reminder for myself now that the shoe's on the other foot and I'm the customer! I did just now track down the customer satisfaction letter and it mentions that engine power will persist, but at reduced level. Being that in both situations it completely turned off, and I don't have any lingering dash lights, perhaps it's not the TB issue. I'll double check battery connections but I don't think that's it as I've recently replaced the battery, but you never know! Good tip on hitting up the bigbox auto parts stores. I've got a bluetooth adapter but quite honestly it never seems to work right, but perhaps that's cause I've not bought and of the full-paid apps that are out there. Interested to hear if anyone else has had this occur though! Hi Mike. You are very welcome. Sorry I could not offer more. We do have some tech members here, so still hoping one of them can assist you. Keep us updated. Your information may help others in the future. And good luck. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fuser Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Did you see the wrench light up on the instrument panel? That is an indication of throttle body problem. If there is a problem with the TB, then you will see higher RPM's than normal. Did you get a recall notice for re-programing? Had to replace the TB on my 2012 SE in 2017. Fortunately had already taken it in for the recall and was not stranded on the road when the TB went out. This reads like an ignition control issue. If occurrences increase in frequency then you need to get it checked. One day it will not re-start after a short cooling down period. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eGuru Posted October 25, 2020 Share Posted October 25, 2020 Since every time that a restart was successful the ignition key was removed and then replaced, I would suspect a bad ignition switch or its connector. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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