showing in cluster. Car ran fine all day, i was idling for a little while sitting in my 03 STR (which i picked up today anyway, i was going through all the settings in the car, setting the memory seats, setting the radio stations, etc. I shut the car off for about 20 minutes, then restarted it, and the Yellow light came on, and it now says restricted performance in the cluster, although i drove a few blocks away and it seemed to be running fine. Any ideas?? my first thought was an 02 sensor or something, my vw's had a nasty habit of this. Thoughts?? also the check engine light is on solid, if i disconnect the battery, think it will go away??or is it a hard code that must be cleared?

EDIT: just got done doing a search, geeezzzzz this is going to be a tough one to diagnose. Any chance of it disappearing overnight??? ill try restarting in the a.m. and see what happens. Will post tomorrow night.

 

Go to your nearest auto parts store (Advanced, Discount, Pep Boys) and have the codes read and write them down on a piece of paper.. We cannot help you without knowing what codes your car is throwing.. And no the CEL won't go off from disconnecting the battery, but you can reset the codes while you have the code reader plugged in and it will.. Sometimes my car will throw a CEL and restricted performance for "Running too lean" or similar codes to that and I will clear it and not see another for 4 months... so it might just be a glitch.

BUT if you just bought the car you may have been "had" by the seller and he may have know the car had issues, so I would call him and inform him of your problems, just so its on record..

FYI: if you plan on taking the car to a dealer, do not reset the codes or they will have a harder time diagnosing the problem.

Let us know which codes you have after you retrieve them with a scan tool..

 

P0171 Fuel Trim System Lean (Bank 1)


this was the code displayed. Took it to my uncles service station, grabbed his code reader, and reset it. No issues now. Anyway, thanks for the info though. I will keep an eye on it. If i have to grab a reader i will, but damn i love this car.

 

Okay much better... Chances are with a P0171 is that your mass air flow meter (MAF) may be going bad or might just need to be cleaned..
If you have never cleaned it, its very simple to do: Simply remove the top of your intake box, remove the feed tube to the engine, unplug the MAF sensor, buy a can of MAF cleaner (any auto parts store), hose down the sensor while the lid is out of the car, let it try for 10 minutes, and reinstall..
While your in there you may also want to put your ear around the engine (while its running) and see if your hear a hissing noise, as a vacuum leak can also throw this code.. Just keep in mind that the round black pancake looking object on the engine is the PCV breather and its supposed to make a hissing noise, but thats the only thing that should.. Your mainly looking for any cracked or split hoses especially around where they connect to hose barbs..

 

Brake booster line going from your brake booster to lower intake . There is a quick release in the aluminum to the plastic pipe the pipe gets deformed and leaks. Very common also check that the intercooler rubbers arent leaking my money is on the booster line . Passenger side is bank 1

 

jag_genius, ill check that out wednesday morning when i raise it up to look fora small oil leak. I wanna say the line to the oil cooler is the cause. Also, what is the easiest way to determine the amount of boost i am running??? im used to working with turbos and the such, but never really dealt with superchargers, AND NO I AM NOT MOUNTING A FRIGGIN BOOST GAUGE IN THE VEHICLE. :-)

why i am asking, is for some reason, i drove a 2005 str and i could really hear the supercharger wind up around 3500 rpm...but on mine, not so much........it still runs fine by the way, no check lights in the past week. Also i took it on a 700 mile round trip this weekend, and averaged 25 mpg. Honestly its way more than i expected.