Extreme cold ETC malfunction

[Gus_Mahn]

Today after work it was -7F. I started my '03 LS 3.9 V8 and the throttle would not function at all, it was stuck idling at 500rpm, and the message center read something like ETC failure. I let it idle fro about 30 seconds, turned it off, then restarted it. All's been fine since then. Anyone else have this experience or is a sign of an impending ETC failure?

 

[dmifsud]

It's probably your coils, Is your service engine light on? The coils are covered under 07M07 thru Lincoln up to 100,000 miles. That's what i just went thru. If your service light is on go to Autozone or your local auto parts store and get your code for free.

 

[joegr]

Doesn't sound like a coil issue to me, this time. Sounds like the throttle valve actually stuck.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

It's probably your coils

Thanks for the reply. I've just been through that. There's no CE light and no misfires. #3 and #7 coils were bad and I did get ETC failure messages then. I'm sure thats not the issue now, as it was malfunction at startup.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

Doesn't sound like a coil issue to me, this time. Sounds like the throttle valve actually stuck.

That's what I tend to think. Has this issue been seen before?

 

[NYC LS8]

Mine went into fail safe once. Then I had a coil go out a few weeks later.

 

[SoonerLS]

That's what I tend to think. Has this issue been seen before?

I've not heard of it, but when it gets ass-bitin' cold out there, all sorts of bad things can happen. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it were just that the throttle plate froze shut: if the ETC tried to move it and couldn't, the ETC would go into failsafe, but the engine heat, even at idle, could have been enough to un-freeze the throttle.

 

[Gus_Mahn]

I bought the two replacement coils myself. I was hoping to have 3-4 bad ones before taking to the dealer since it's one time only. That way I could put all the new ones on the driver's side, since it's a bigger pain to R&R those coils.

It was bitter cold all day and night. The car started and ran fine twice today. Time will tell.