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2004 Chevy 6.0 low idle and stalls

Max Attitude

Max Attitude

Typical White Person
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Location
Alto, MI
This work truck has been sitting for maybe 5 days went to start it up and the battery acted dead. Jump started it and drove around to charge it up but the rpms would dive if I let off the throttle. It stalled twice before I got it back to the shop. The first time it stalled it wouldn't start again as if the battery was dead. 10 seconds later it started right up. The voltage gauge shows around 14 volts so I don't think it's the alternator. The battery cables are tight and all the wires are on the spark plugs. The mas airflow sensor was replaced not too long ago....I checked the plug and it was all intact. I believe it's some sort of wiring issue. Any ideas? I'll bring my Predator scanner tomorrow to check for codes.
 
What does it idle at when it does run? I have seen them run at 400 RPM after doing what yours is doing:
K&N air filter? Pull the IAC out and look for a dirt build up. The idle air control motor does a touch to see where it is at and knocks off the dirt at the contact point. The rest of the dirt chokes air and drops RPM till it will not run.

Clean IAC and you are back on the road... Check for dirt leak.

I hate K&N over the dirt they let by and issues like this.
 
If the battery is dead or low even, fix that first. I've seen way to many parts thrown at cars to fix stalling issues, that in the end ended up being a bad battery. An 04 6.0L will be a drive by wire, so there is no IAC to worry about, and if it drives around at all, I wouldn't suspect the TPS as the fail safe when there is a TPS fault in a DBW system is they lose throtle control. The idle speed and stepper position is all adaptive by nature as the engine will adapt to how much throttle to give at a given load. When the laternator is working harder, the PCM cannot react fast enough to compensate for the added alternator load and it will stall out. You may have other issues, but I would hate to see you spend money throwing parts at a problem that isn't there.
 
THEFERMANATOR said:
If the battery is dead or low even, fix that first. I've seen way to many parts thrown at cars to fix stalling issues, that in the end ended up being a bad battery. An 04 6.0L will be a drive by wire, so there is no IAC to worry about, and if it drives around at all, I wouldn't suspect the TPS as the fail safe when there is a TPS fault in a DBW system is they lose throtle control. The idle speed and stepper position is all adaptive by nature as the engine will adapt to how much throttle to give at a given load. When the laternator is working harder, the PCM cannot react fast enough to compensate for the added alternator load and it will stall out. You may have other issues, but I would hate to see you spend money throwing parts at a problem that isn't there.
Click to expand...

Any ideas what those other parts could be? Maybe I could test them or check them? The battery shouldn't be dead or low. It will fire right up sometimes and others I've had it where it will stall and not start, 10 seconds later it fires right up like it has a full charge. It's gotta be something other than the battery.

Could someone explain what Drive by wire means and also TPS. What is an idle air control motor? Sounds like it does a similar job to the MAS. I guess I'm out of the loop when it comes to gassers.

Thanks for the replies. :thumbsup:
 
Drive by wire means no throttle cable Jared and TPS ( the likely culprit IMHO) is Throttle Position Sensor.
 
THEFERMANATOR- you were right, battery. Thank you. I swapped one in from another truck and it runs good. I've never seen a battery act so wierd. One thing I noticed...every time I put it into park the rpms drop and it stumbles a little bit then they come back up to normal operating range (6-700rpm?) Something wrong here or somewhat normal?

Thanks btfarm and everyone else for the input.
 
Most likely you need to pull the intake tube off and clean out the throttle body. The way GM designed the throttle body to quiet down the intake noise was to build up a ridge around the throttle blade. This improves the throttle control and quietens it down, but that ridge will carbon up in the idle area and cause all kinds of idle issues. Also it needs to relearn the idle position after a battery change. But a low or weak battery is the #1 cause of idle stumble and stall, or a start and immediately stalls upon idle down. I've seen guys throw a thousand dollar throttle body in for this issue(import throttle bodies are big $$$, and many are not serviceable), and then end up putting a battery in to fix it.
 
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