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Engine Quits Intermittently

Hi HOF.

Absolutely, when a such situation is happening it gets you anxious to solve the problem and ask for advises.
There are so many grounds on the XLR that could have an effect for a solution.

There are some chances that a module start to send some signs of its end and could be replace however cleaning the grounds is economical and it is worth to try it.

For an headlight that as a poor lighting it is evident that the ground needs to be clean or replace however for an electronic module it is not always evident.

The same for a battery, cleaning the connections is not all.... the connections on frame and on the starter are most the time forgotten and that could be the reason why often a quality battery its life expectation is reduced.

Grounds needs to be clean and inspect each spring time, as our XLR are getting older, that is the way to keep them rolling with the least problems.

Be patient…..

IAM
 
I’m having the same issue, has there been any advance on finding the fix to our problem?

Here was my post and information I’d posted the other day here on the forum
HAS ANYONE HAD THIS ISSUE AND KNOW WHAT FIXED IT?
About 6 weeks ago I was traveling home from a car show, while in the hot rod mood I was using the tap shifter option, I was almost home and coming down the hill to turn back our road, when the engine just up and shut off while driving, I got off the road and stop, then tried to restart it and it just turned over, i waited a few minutes it fired back up and ran fine! So after that, I drove it to shop and they said the only thing that they could find was all in the history , but no new codes. They check battery and it was weak so we replaced it ! A week later we drove the car to Oceans City and back, about 4 hrs each way plus cruising around while there. I went out on few other trips to local area and it was fine, but I didn’t use the tap shift option until again today heading to a car show ( I guess you could say I was curious) and again it shut off..... lucky, right before the car show, so drifted into parking area, right out front. Did the same thing tried to restart, cranked but would not start, so walked around at the show and hour and half later jump in and fired right up! It ran perfect all the way home about 20 minutes! Kind of weird but kind of scary too! Any ideas or information would be well appreciated! Thx Dan


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Similar problem although I've had no issues restarting the car. I have purchased a ODB-2 bluetooth scanner (BlueDriver) that logs vehicle data on my Iphone while I drive. If the problem happens again I'm hoping this logged data will provide a clue as to what happened.
 
Latest update: we ordered a ECM Engine Control Module which came in today and they installed it , just went and picked up the car, and drove towards home about 10 miles and noticed the engine light was on! Turned around and drove it right back, and dropped it back off! Left a message I guess it will be Monday until they look at it again [emoji849]


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Last edited:
My first thought was the problem possibly being caused by a faulty engine control module. Please update as to the status of the fix after you get the engine light sorted out.
 
90% of the time a failure that fixes itself after a bit of time is usually due to electrical connections either in the ignition switch , main power or as mentioned grounds. A loose or bad solder joint can do these things but most of the time since its temperature related it can be dublicted. These problems members are having do not seem to be that way.
 
I was talking to an '05 XLR owner who had a problem with the car not shutting down - he would press the off part of the ignition button and his car would not shut down. The fix was a new ignition switch. Makes me wonder if that could be the possible cause of sudden engine shut down - bad or loose connection in the switch? It is a part that goes through many cycles over the course of many years.
 
Well another waste of $900 of trying the new ECM! Got Roxy’s back yesterday, drove home about 25 minutes, parked in front of garage to let her cool down, before putting her in the garage to clean her up and about an hour later went and started her up. Once again sound like it was running on 1 cylinder, when trying to give it more gas it doesn’t even recognize the petal I floored it and didn’t change how the engine was running. So now I learned that I should purchase a fuel pressure gauge and when this happens, check the pressure, even tape it to windshield. Question can some shoot a picture of which connected this fuel gauge hose connects to and a location! Thanks Dan


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Well, after a period of a month or so of no issues with the car, the intermittent engine quitting issue occurred again. The engine quit 3 times within 5 minutes after leaving the house. Each time the engine restarted normally when I pressed the the start switch. The car then acted fine and after reaching my destination (another 10 minutes) the car would not shut off, even after multiple presses of the off position of the ignition switch. So I drove back home and this time the car shut off normally. As it appears to be an ignition switch problem I ordered a new switch and installed it a few days later. So far so good - the car is running normally now, will give it a few months before I'm confident of the fix though.
 
That not shutting off sounds like more of the start-button!
We are still test driving Roxy with a new ground wire spliced in to the original wire and is attached to a new spot on the frame! DRIVING HER....TIME WILL TELL!


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Make sure you guys fill this out.

[FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/VehicleComplaint/[/FONT]
 
NEW UPDATE: Word to the wise for XLR Owners If your ride is just shutting down while Cruz’in or starts up and sounds like it’s barely running on 1 cylinder, [emoji849] it very well maybe like mine was! And yes, a little while after the shut down it will start back up and run fine like nothings was wrong! The ground wire to fuel module maybe not be grounded as should be at the frame connection and could be causing this! VERY “CHEAP FIX” if you can fix it yourself ! You will need a short piece of #12 wire to reach the frame from the ground wire at the connector area , drill a hole in the frame and grind to bare metal at hole, use a heavy duty self tapping screw to attach new ground wire to frame! The fix is behind the rear drivers side wheel, remove rear wheel and inner plastic cover and look towards rear seat side for top 4 wire connector (see pictures) don’t cut but skin to wire and wrap and splice, then solder the new wire to bottom black wire and attach to frame! WHALA!! It fixed my 2005 for about 4 weeks now and it’s been running fine![emoji6] DON’T GROUND THE TOP GREY WIRE, like I did ITS A THE ⚡️HOT⚡️ WIRE[emoji20] and will blow the fuseThis was after dealership 1000$ bill for a new EMC[emoji849] which didn’t work!!!
Hope this helps anyone with this problem! It’s sucks when our baby’s don’t run, but it sucks even more when the is so simple and cost damn nothing but could cost thousands and nickel and dime us![emoji6]

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Thanks for the write up, Dan!

I need to make a note to myself to check battery & grounds first for any “weird” problem before visiting the dealer!
 
I think the problem is fixed. I replaced the starter button assembly after I couldn't shut the car down. It's been 3 months now and I've had no issues, the car is running completely normally.
 
I think the problem is fixed. I replaced the starter button assembly after I couldn't shut the car down. It's been 3 months now and I've had no issues, the car is running completely normally.

Good for you.

We seems to get some similar problems for many of us.
An electrical problem could have many reasons, from a bad ground up to a switch.

My recent experience was for a bad alternator (or generator ), a bad noisy bearing creating the belts to slip and not giving the proper amps.
The voltage was showing OK, however the amperage was very weak, it is like when you having a shower with poor water pressure giving you a poor rinsing.

The XLR has not the reputation for having a fine electrical out put system, the battery, the grounds are not of the best, and since most of us are low yearly mileage drivers, the electrical components ( modules ) that needs a lot of energy, and after many years ( and mileages ) it gets weak or fails ( battery ) or we get poor experiences like engine stalling or lights come on the dash info center.

It is expensive to make a such repair and since last spring time, my car now runs fine, the center screen of info center panel now can be seen properly.

Glad to have made that repair, what is next now.

IAN
 

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