Coincidence or not.... So I put engine cleaner in to my 2006 H3... about a week later I was sitting idling and my vehicle just shut down.... Weirdly enough, I sat for a bit and it started right up and made it home. The next day, I am rolling downtown and come to an intersection and again the vehicle just dies..... within a minute or so it fires back up and away I go.... after a short distance it shut down again... then starts back up after a minute or so... this happens several times till I make it home. I can feel the RMP's dropping as I come to an intersection so I would try and keep them up but to no luck... the next or so, I got it out on the highway and made it about 20 miles before it shut down again, then again, then again... I made it to my location and after a couple of hours needed to return home so I kept the RPM's up and after about 10 miles I was merging onto a highway at 70 mph and everything just shut down once again... Eventually made it home and it sat for a day or two and then I took it for an oil change hoping it would be the fix.... nope, got there with no issues but on the way back it shut down again.... I let the battery go dead a couple of times to lose the engine light and when I initially take it out I can drive for about 10 minutes before things kick in again and shut me down.... wait a minute it fires up again, drive a bit then repeat......grrrrrrr.....Now I had some one look at it and they had trouble duplicating the issue and I told him just turn it on and let it idle for a bit longer... sure enough it just shut down. Now I am not mechanically smart what so ever but I do believe that the engine cleaner i put in messed with something and still continues after an oil change.... Suggestions please... and much appreciated!

 

Welcome to HF. Pleas do not post anything in the FAQ section as it tells members to NOT post in that section.

What pray tell is "engine cleaner"? Was it doing this before using engine cleaner? If not, why use engine cleaner ever?

Letting the battery go dead does ZERO to clear codes, your H3 stores the last 300 ignition cycles in flash memory battery or no battery. Your engine will start and run with or without any oil or additive, nothing to do with it.

Your thread title says Reduced power Traction Failed.................. but you do not mention it in your post. Where does that come into play?

Simple stuff. Your Battery Terminal Connectors, are they still the crappy azzed OEM connectors? If so, get rid of those and install a quality aftermarket set like Stingers or your favorite brand.

 

WTF...

 

Well I was looking forward to a few rips from my post which is all good I can handle it.... As for the engine cleaner... what's done is done... but yes I hear ya, why even do it. As for the message that comes across my dash, Reduced Power Traction Failed, Reduced Power Service Stab Sys Traction Failed, it comes across immediately as the car is shutting down... everytime. The longer the vehicle sits, the longer I can drive the initial time I head out to go some where. As for issues before, there weren't any really. Off and on it may have seemed like my RMP's would run low when I would come to a stop light but other than that, nothing... The first time this happened I was sitting in a parking lot waiting with it running and it just shut down and said Reduced Power Traction Failed, Reduced Power Service Stab Sys Traction Failed, but started right up after a minute or so. Had a mechanic look at it and initially he could duplicate the problem until I told him to just let it sit there and run till shuts down and sure enough it did... He addressed the battery connectors..

 

How did he "address the battery connectors"? If he says he tightened the OEM Battery Terminal Connectors he would be full of chit, takes a replacement with quality aftermarket set, the OEM connectors are defective and will fail eventually every time. I am asking because this is much more important than you think. That alone can cause a ton of electrical issues, including yours. Yes, a loose battery connection can cause all or part of your problem.

The messages you are seeing in the DIC are two things, can be caused by entirely different problems, or partially related. You need to have it scanned and post stored codes if any. If you want help here, we need the actual code, not some Bozo's summary of what they tell you.

If you want something to do, it won't hurt, but it is easy. Clean your Throttle Body with CRC Throttle Body Cleaner. There are threads here on how to do it.

Another easy thing is to inspect and clean your ground connections, your truck is old, weather up there sucks in the winter, corrosion creates poor electrical connections. Search how to locate them and do that.

Beyond that, there can be a problem with your PCM, a failing Throttle Body, or a failing Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor. Might be 30-40 things that can cause your situation.

 

OP sounds like your rig needs some TLC.

Start with what Doc Olds has suggested and consider the standard maintenance and preventive maintenance items to get it up to speed.

 

SCAN AND POST THE CODES!

 

Hi There, I went through the same failure mode some time ago, I replaced the accelerator pedal assembly and the throttle body but the problem always come back.... at the end, it resulted to be a false contact in one of the wires of the throttle body harness. I got that harness on ebay for about $20 and that fixed permanently my problem. From time to time, that happens again (normally when the weather starts to switch from hot to cold) but I simple go straight to that connector, unplug and re-plug and that's it.....connections is reestablished. No PCM replacement, Battery, battery cables etc....for me that problem was just related to that harness. Hope this information helps.