mapper
01-02-2014, 02:58 PM
I have had a mixed opinion of my XC for the nearly 2 years I have owned it. The primary reason is the fuel economy. I hated it. I bought the car to get to a lot of back country trailheads for hiking, exploring, what not. I was expecting to get decent highway mileage. Over 20k I was lucky to get above 22mpgs. Sure, that isn't horrible but a lot of SUVs with real 4wd and a low range can get similar highway mileage so I have been torn about whether to keep the XC or get a beefier vehicle.
At any rate. in the last 2k I have had occasional stalling during gear changes. Mostly on the highway and it felt like a misfire, but a really bad misfire...like the engine cutting out then starting up again. It started slow and become more and more frequent. Died on me one time only, on a steep hill in terrible snow while traction control was operating. NEVER gave me a CEL!!!! I had one brief CEL after a fuel fill-up that I attributed to the gas cap as it went out on its own.
However, the car always ran and I don't use it as a daily driver so I just sort of lived with it for a little while and planned to address it this winter when I knew I'd be driving it more...and my pending home purchase was completed.
Before a recent trip, SLC to phoenix, I stopped by my indy (Utah Imports in Salt Lake City, great guys!!) to be scanned. He found a hard code for the fuel pressure sensor. He checked the real-time pressure readings found them to be suspect. He suggested replacing the sensor. Not a cheap part but he could get one in an hour and I was leaving on my trip soon so I went for it. He said it was a relatively common problem area and had confidence it would fix my stalling. I was in a hurry to get on the road so I threw the new part in my glove box along with my tiny travel tool kit and took off on the trip. I started having some real stalling problems in Vegas.
Decided I better put the new sensor in. Easy 1 bolt (t25, if I recall) install on the end of the fuel rail. Bleed off pressure first using the schroeder valve and have a rag handy to soak up the fuel that spills out of the rail. I replaced it at a trail head in about 20 minutes, working slowly and letting dogs get some exercise.
Car has run beautifully ever since. I just got back from the trip, SLC to Phoenix and back, with lots of side tripping along the way. Averaged OVER 25 mpgs for the whole trip. I had never, ever in over 20k miles of ownership had a previous run/tank above 25 mpg average. I got 27.4 mpg on one tank of back highway driving, 450 miles on the tank with 1.5 gallons to spare!
I'm pretty sure my new fuel pressure sensor was causing me problems for a long time and now that it is replaced it has improved my fuel economy enough to change my opinion of this car in a big, good way.
At any rate. in the last 2k I have had occasional stalling during gear changes. Mostly on the highway and it felt like a misfire, but a really bad misfire...like the engine cutting out then starting up again. It started slow and become more and more frequent. Died on me one time only, on a steep hill in terrible snow while traction control was operating. NEVER gave me a CEL!!!! I had one brief CEL after a fuel fill-up that I attributed to the gas cap as it went out on its own.
However, the car always ran and I don't use it as a daily driver so I just sort of lived with it for a little while and planned to address it this winter when I knew I'd be driving it more...and my pending home purchase was completed.
Before a recent trip, SLC to phoenix, I stopped by my indy (Utah Imports in Salt Lake City, great guys!!) to be scanned. He found a hard code for the fuel pressure sensor. He checked the real-time pressure readings found them to be suspect. He suggested replacing the sensor. Not a cheap part but he could get one in an hour and I was leaving on my trip soon so I went for it. He said it was a relatively common problem area and had confidence it would fix my stalling. I was in a hurry to get on the road so I threw the new part in my glove box along with my tiny travel tool kit and took off on the trip. I started having some real stalling problems in Vegas.
Decided I better put the new sensor in. Easy 1 bolt (t25, if I recall) install on the end of the fuel rail. Bleed off pressure first using the schroeder valve and have a rag handy to soak up the fuel that spills out of the rail. I replaced it at a trail head in about 20 minutes, working slowly and letting dogs get some exercise.
Car has run beautifully ever since. I just got back from the trip, SLC to Phoenix and back, with lots of side tripping along the way. Averaged OVER 25 mpgs for the whole trip. I had never, ever in over 20k miles of ownership had a previous run/tank above 25 mpg average. I got 27.4 mpg on one tank of back highway driving, 450 miles on the tank with 1.5 gallons to spare!
I'm pretty sure my new fuel pressure sensor was causing me problems for a long time and now that it is replaced it has improved my fuel economy enough to change my opinion of this car in a big, good way.