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[JAJ]

We had a track day with the BMW club on Sunday. First time getting the car out with the new front bar and FP springs all the way around, as well as dialing back the camber from -3 on the front to -2.9, and the rear from -2.3 to -2.0 on the rear. Also, while it might sound like nothing, I wore gloves for the first time ever (Admittedly "Mechanix" gloves, but grippy none the less).

The FP springs and sway bar were a massive upgrade. And my times show it. Last event, I was ~1.7 seconds off the leading CAMC Mustang, which has had a lot of weight saving done. This event, I was .5 seconds off one of the drivers, and .9 off the other driver. After reviewing the video, I can see that .5 seconds in my driving. And then some. Long story short, I think the leading CAMC car is now within reach with this new suspension, and more importantly, better driving. The car felt much more composed, and flatter through all sections. Transitions from right to left were much more controlled and smoother. There was one high speed section with a transition where with the old springs, I would have had to let off, but was able to stay on the throttle this event.

There was one downfall of less body roll and flat cornering. The rear of the car did not get loose. And that resulted in the fact that I couldn't buy a clean lap. There was also some cones being called that should not have been called, and cones put onto the wrong drivers. My wife was there, and said she didn't see me hit any on my fastest lap, but apparently I hit one. Regardless, this event was more of a test and tune session for me, to get read for the SCCA event in two weeks.

Here is my best run, a 34.010 (Supposedly a cone...). Top time was a 32.6, in a C4 Corvette, and a masterful driver.



AND, as you can see in the foregoing video, the organizers did not set up a particularly safe course, setting the finish at a corner after a long straight that has a ramp right prior to dropping into the corner, and the corner leading right into the paddock, or if you don't get a good bite, a treeline and fence. I almost lost it myself. Here is that video.



One other thing that has long plagued my car. For whatever reason, it has a little electrical demon, that randomly shows up with no ability for me to predict when or where. I start the car, and usually within 2 minutes of starting, sometimes the active exhaust status will pop up on the display. Then it keeps flashing on and off. I also notice the Launch Control turn on and off along with the active exhaust. I do not know why it does this, I cannot replicate it, and when it does this, it is apparently turning on and off a different drive mode. It did this on my first run, and the "service Stabilitrac" light came on, which killed my power, and obviously the TC was on, not allowing me to fully push the car. When I got to the paddock, the service light turned off, but the flickering continued. I turn the car off, and turn back on, and it acted up again. So I turned the car off, and back on, and the issue never came back.

If anyone has ANY ideas on what is going on, I am all ears. I first thought it was an active exhaust sensor issue, but the LC turning on and off lead me to check the LC button. When the issue arises, the LC button does not work. But it does work when the issue isn't happening. I keep the battery on a trickle charger, and the battery has tested good multiple times. So not battery. Last night I disconnected the battery, and will hook it back up tonight. I am hoping maybe a hard reset will fix it. One other thing. Granted yesterday was the first time it's been hot here, it seemed to do it a lot more than normal. Usually I get the issue, then have 10 starts where the issue never happens. I have cranked down all the ground wires I can find, but if there is a secret one someone knows about, please let me know. Like I said, I cannot replicate the issue, and it usually resolves itself if I turn on and off.

The exhaust flap valves open automatically at high rpm and WOT, presumably to protect either the engine or the exhaust, and if this auto function is not working, the ECU throws a code and shuts down all of the performance enhancing stuff, like launch control. That's why the exhaust flap valves are cycled at engine start - you can hear it happen. It sounds like your valves are not working properly.

As for Stabilitrac, that sounds like a wheel sensor issue. They're easy to access, so take the tires off, clean them up and that'll probably keep it from happening again.

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[WItoTX]

The exhaust flap valves open automatically at high rpm and WOT, presumably to protect either the engine or the exhaust, and if this auto function is not working, the ECU throws a code and shuts down all of the performance enhancing stuff, like launch control. That's why the exhaust flap valves are cycled at engine start - you can hear it happen. It sounds like your valves are not working properly.

As for Stabilitrac, that sounds like a wheel sensor issue. They're easy to access, so take the tires off, clean them up and that'll probably keep it from happening again.

I appreciate the insight. I apologize if I was not clear. I am putting the car in Track mode, so the valves are open. I am completely turning off AdvanceTrack. But it does not matter what mode it's in, the issue occurs.

Additionally, I checked the valves, and the valves have full range of motion. The exhaust is clear, no obstructions. The issue will happen in any condition (Hot, cold, warmed up, cold start), with no rhyme or reason.

The stabilitrack, exhaust, and launch control, are all symptoms of the problem. They all happen at the same time (LC turns on and off, exhaust screen pops up, and stabilitrack as a result of the LC turning on) I just can't pinpoint the actual source.

 

[ChipG]

I appreciate the insight. I apologize if I was not clear. I am putting the car in Track mode, so the valves are open. I am completely turning off AdvanceTrack. But it does not matter what mode it's in, the issue occurs.

Additionally, I checked the valves, and the valves have full range of motion. The exhaust is clear, no obstructions. The issue will happen in any condition (Hot, cold, warmed up, cold start), with no rhyme or reason.

The stabilitrack, exhaust, and launch control, are all symptoms of the problem. They all happen at the same time (LC turns on and off, exhaust screen pops up, and stabilitrack as a result of the LC turning on) I just can't pinpoint the actual source.

I had a similar issue. Bought a proper code scanner, which indicated a right front wheel speed sensor fault (just as JAJ hypothesized above). Replaced the sensor, no more issue.

 

[WItoTX]

I had a similar issue. Bought a proper code scanner, which indicated a right front wheel speed sensor fault (just as JAJ hypothesized above). Replaced the sensor, no more issue.

It was flashing exhaust on the center screen and turning LC on and off too???

What code scanner?

 

[ChipG]

It was flashing exhaust on the center screen and turning LC on and off too???

What code scanner?

My symptoms were something along the lines of "Drive modes unavailable" and "Service Stabilitrak." I did not have exhaust specific messages or issues.

I got this scanner:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B0091DJWKG?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

[WItoTX]

Great info, thank you! Work has been light lately so I've been able to do some research. Going to check all the grounds, all the fuses, and also apparently you can access the dtc codes starting the code in engineer mode.

If that fails, scanner is next. Thanks again!

 

[WItoTX]

With work being slow, I was able to dive into at least a portion of what may be the issue this afternoon. Now that Texas summer is upon us, working in the heat is not much fun.

First thing. I checked all the fuses that could in any way pertain to the stabilitrak. All were good. Next, I checked all the grounds I could find, including the grounds under the air-box. All good. Then I reconnected the battery, and started the car. The issue came up almost immediately. Here is a video of what it is doing. Notice now, the LC is not coming on. It is simply popping up for exhaust.



Give it a minute for the HD version to come up. I guess I should have probably let the issue come up, then got on it, spun the tires, and saw how the car reacted. But I was in a neighborhood.

The valves fully open and close. I don't think the valves are the issue.

One other observation. Before I pulled the airbox, it was pretty much every other start-up that I had the issue. I put electric grease on the MAF connector when I was reinstalling the airbox after checking the grounds. After that, I only had one bad start up over the course of about 10 starts. I also noticed my launch control button tends to stick down. Going to pay attention to that now too.

@ChipG did you have the yellow wrench pop up? Because I don't get that issue, and I am thinking I am not going to get a code without it. I ran the Engineering Testing screen, and the codes that popped up were historical, not current, even though when I was looking at the codes, the active exhaust screen kept popping up. Also, the codes it returned didn't have any hits on the Google machine.

I will be pulling tires this week and checking torques on everything I installed, and will be taking a close look at the stabilitrack wires again.

I love cars with personalities. Except when they decide to have a bad day.

 

[ChipG]

@ChipG did you have the yellow wrench pop up? Because I don't get that issue, and I am thinking I am not going to get a code without it. I ran the Engineering Testing screen, and the codes that popped up were historical, not current, even though when I was looking at the codes, the active exhaust screen kept popping up. Also, the codes it returned didn't have any hits on the Google machine.

No yellow wrench in my case, and no exhaust mode pop up. Drive mode not available, service Stabilitrak, and I may have gotten "Hill Start Assist not available" once in awhile.

 

[WItoTX]

Well I got the diagnostic tool yesterday, and ran it. Had some codes pop up thanks to forgetting to connect the MAF sensor after removing the intake tube. I cleared those, and they haven't come back. However, no other codes. The issue still pops up, with no rhyme or reason. I have run the scanner while the code is popping up, no codes.

Some light forum searching comes back with potentially a gateway module issue. I guess it is known to cause electrical gremlins in Mustangs. Has anyone had this part replaced? It looks to be behind the OBDII port/be part of the OBDII port. Apparently it has to be programmed by the dealer too. Any thoughts?

 

[mavisky]

Sorry to hear you're fighting this man, but when I hear of issues like this on used cars it makes me think this may be why it was traded in. Have you reached out to the Ford dealer to see if there was any history on your VIN. May be able to even see some of it on the Ford App.

 

[WItoTX]

Sorry to hear you're fighting this man, but when I hear of issues like this on used cars it makes me think this may be why it was traded in. Have you reached out to the Ford dealer to see if there was any history on your VIN. May be able to even see some of it on the Ford App.

Yeah, part of the issue of a used vehicle. Except for this past event, it was just random, and once every few starts. Even today, it's only been once every 10 or so starts. So it's not a huge deal, but something none the less.

The previous owner sold it because he had too many cars. The place he sold it to called me 2 weeks after I purchased saying the original owner wanted to buy it back, and asked if I was interested.

I'll figure it out. Part of the joys of owning a dream car/toy!

 

[JAJ]

Well I got the diagnostic tool yesterday, and ran it. Had some codes pop up thanks to forgetting to connect the MAF sensor after removing the intake tube. I cleared those, and they haven't come back. However, no other codes. The issue still pops up, with no rhyme or reason. I have run the scanner while the code is popping up, no codes.

Some light forum searching comes back with potentially a gateway module issue. I guess it is known to cause electrical gremlins in Mustangs. Has anyone had this part replaced? It looks to be behind the OBDII port/be part of the OBDII port. Apparently it has to be programmed by the dealer too. Any thoughts?

Does your scanner check all modules in the vehicle? It's possible that it's focused on engine codes from the ECU, and the codes you need to see are from the BCM or the VDM or ABS modules. Some of these modules, like the VDM, are on a secondary "MSCAN" bus that the simplest scanners may not be able to access. In fact, now that I think about it, the IPC (instrument panel controller) is responsible for drive mode switching. The steering wheel buttons tell it what to do and it sends commands all over the car telling various modules (ABS, VDM, Advancetrak, etc) to change to a new mode. It'll kick into "no performance for you" mode if any of the modules it commands is late responding to the command. Similarly, if any of those modules throws a code, it cancels back to the base street mode and pops up a message.

 

[WItoTX]

Does your scanner check all modules in the vehicle? It's possible that it's focused on engine codes from the ECU, and the codes you need to see are from the BCM or the VDM or ABS modules. Some of these modules, like the VDM, are on a secondary "MSCAN" bus that the simplest scanners may not be able to access. In fact, now that I think about it, the IPC (instrument panel controller) is responsible for drive mode switching. The steering wheel buttons tell it what to do and it sends commands all over the car telling various modules (ABS, VDM, Advancetrak, etc) to change to a new mode. It'll kick into "no performance for you" mode if any of the modules it commands is late responding to the command. Similarly, if any of those modules throws a code, it cancels back to the base street mode and pops up a message.

Hmm, you may be on to something. What is the Instrument Panel Controller? The google search just sends me gauges. Is it all part of the gauge cluster?

The previous owner had a wild stereo, and hard wired a lot of it in. I am wondering if a wire got loosened, bumped, pinched, cut or ground loosened..... I'd like to know what I have to tear apart to get to the IPC. Or if it requires dealer programming.

 

[JAJ]

Hmm, you may be on to something. What is the Instrument Panel Controller? The google search just sends me gauges. Is it all part of the gauge cluster?

The previous owner had a wild stereo, and hard wired a lot of it in. I am wondering if a wire got loosened, bumped, pinched, cut or ground loosened..... I'd like to know what I have to tear apart to get to the IPC. Or if it requires dealer programming.

Sorry it took so long to reply - I was at the track yesterday and a bit preoccupied...

The IPC is the physical module that has the speedo and tach instruments on the face. The way the switches on the steering wheel work is that they talk to a Steering Column Control Module which decodes which switch was pressed, and it sends a CAN message to the IPC so the IPC can respond to the driver's wishes. You probably know this already, but everything in the vehicle electrical system is digitized. Any control or button you touch is read by a computer, converted to a CAN bus message and sent out to other modules for implementation. The only controls the driver has that don't work that way are the door handles, the brakes, the clutch and the steering wheel.

The key point here is that if the steering wheel buttons are working at all, then whatever is causing your problem isn't coming from there. The IPC knows what you want, and it's sending out CAN messages to other modules to tell them to switch modes. If it's sending five message to five modules, all of them have about 10 milliseconds to acknowledge the command and confirm that they've acted on it. If one doesn't respond, the IPC will cancel the command for the four that worked and pop up a message to the driver. That's what you're seeing. One of the modules involved in mode changes is either failing or declining to switch modes. Failing means that it's not trying to switch, declining means it wants to but there's a technical problem preventing it. The IPC itself is likely fine - just doing it's job.

It's unlikely that this is caused by the previous owner's stereo. If that was causing it, a bunch of stuff wouldn't work. This is a random event somewhere in the vehicle, something's almost working, but not quite and not all the time.

For something like this, it's probably worth getting a copy of Forscan and an OBD2 dongle (the OBDLINK® MX+ is an excellent choice) and diagnosing it that way. Forscan will do most of what Ford's IDS system will do, and if you have the right dongle, you can see, read and reset all the modules in the car. It can even control the ones that can be controlled. It's inexpensive, powerful and relatively easy to use.

 

[WItoTX]

Sorry it took so long to reply - I was at the track yesterday and a bit preoccupied...

The IPC is the physical module that has the speedo and tach instruments on the face. The way the switches on the steering wheel work is that they talk to a Steering Column Control Module which decodes which switch was pressed, and it sends a CAN message to the IPC so the IPC can respond to the driver's wishes. You probably know this already, but everything in the vehicle electrical system is digitized. Any control or button you touch is read by a computer, converted to a CAN bus message and sent out to other modules for implementation. The only controls the driver has that don't work that way are the door handles, the brakes, the clutch and the steering wheel.

The key point here is that if the steering wheel buttons are working at all, then whatever is causing your problem isn't coming from there. The IPC knows what you want, and it's sending out CAN messages to other modules to tell them to switch modes. If it's sending five message to five modules, all of them have about 10 milliseconds to acknowledge the command and confirm that they've acted on it. If one doesn't respond, the IPC will cancel the command for the four that worked and pop up a message to the driver. That's what you're seeing. One of the modules involved in mode changes is either failing or declining to switch modes. Failing means that it's not trying to switch, declining means it wants to but there's a technical problem preventing it. The IPC itself is likely fine - just doing it's job.

It's unlikely that this is caused by the previous owner's stereo. If that was causing it, a bunch of stuff wouldn't work. This is a random event somewhere in the vehicle, something's almost working, but not quite and not all the time.

For something like this, it's probably worth getting a copy of Forscan and an OBD2 dongle (the OBDLINK® MX+ is an excellent choice) and diagnosing it that way. Forscan will do most of what Ford's IDS system will do, and if you have the right dongle, you can see, read and reset all the modules in the car. It can even control the ones that can be controlled. It's inexpensive, powerful and relatively easy to use.

Thanks for the response, this is incredibly helpful. I am very interested in the forescan tool. While researching, I found at least two posts from you on TMO discussing its capabilities. It looks helpful, however, what does the user interface look like? If I get it, what would I be looking for? Is it like an obvious "Error" message, and if so, does it indicate what the error is? My issue is, if it is full on coding, there is no chance I am going to understand it, or be able to make use of it. If it is as simple as it tells me error, and that the error is located at part xyz, I can figure that out too. Or if it is a simple toggle.

If I download forescan to my laptop, am I able to play around on it? Does it require the OBD reader in order to see what variables there are to work with?

That said, I don't know that it is actually switching modes. It is just popping up on the dash the status of the exhaust valves. It does not change them. And so I sort of tested to see if in fact the modes were changing based on your last message.

What I did was spin the rear tires in track mode, with AdvanceTrack completely off. The car didn't kill the wheelspin, no error messages, nothing. So I am going to retest this hypothesis with the rear tires up in the air. My thought is, if we assume the exhaust valve indicator means the car is switching modes, then the car should try to stop the rear tires from spinning while the front is stationary.

Here is why I am on this hypothesis that I don't think the message necessarily means the car is changing modes. I swapped the springs and sway bars just prior to the last event. Obviously there was a lot of connecting and disconnecting and banging around with wheel speed sensors, magneride cables, etc...I put everything back together, but didn't use any dielectric grease. Then, on the first corner of the event, there was a very big dip, and that is about when the issue started. Here is a video of my first run. You can see going through the first turn it is real slow, and turn 2, the valves are shut. Then the valves open and close throughout the first run, and obviously I am incredibly slow.



I suspect I didn't have a good connection somewhere, and that shock loosened it. I have since greased all the connections, confirmed they are tight and in good condition. Then did my redneck test to see if wheelspin would initiate the problem. And it didn't.

Thanks again for all the help. I will update as I do some more testing.

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