Just came home from work with the GXP. It has 34,000 on it and has been perfect. Went back out to run an errand and upon starting the car it sputtered, so to speak, then ran a bit rough in park. The idle seemed to rise a bit and so I shut it off. I repeated this a couple of times with the same sputtering results then a little bit of an elevated idle. I decided to drive it carefully to see if it would straighten out. Moments later I got on it a little bit and the engine pinged as if the timing was off or the fuel was low octane (93 is always in it). I also noticed that my temp gauge was not functioning. Suddenly, the temp gauge was fine and the car was completely back to normal. This whole issue seemed to clear itself within 3 minutes as a guess. I drove it for several miles after this including stopping for an errand and it has been fine. I got on it, drove it different speeds and all was perfect. It has done the sputtering thing very briefly a few times before but I was speculating that I just didn't hold the ignition key long enough as I tend to just have a habit of "tapping" it on real quick. Maybe that sounds crazy, don't know. Anyway, it is running fine now. Just a fluke ? Maybe the car played an April fool on me I hope. Anybody who may know what this is, I would surely appreciate your input. Thanks a bunch.

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Worst news ever - it survived....

Loose battery cables or grounds maybe?

Thanks, I'll have to check that. The symptoms seem to point at a coolant temperature sensor but yet no code was ever thrown. It's strange that a code never showed.

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Worst news ever - it survived....

I checked the battery cables and they were tight but the positive cable had a lot of corrosion/battery powder all over it. I gave both terminals a good spraying with battery cleaner to get rid of that. By the way, the car has done this just once so far since this last posting - which was before I cleaned the terminals. Not sure if this battery corrosion would have affected warm starting but I will wait to see if it does this again. And yet again when it did sputter for the few minutes last time, there was no code thrown. I must have the strangest problem ever with the car. It seems that you can't diagnose anything on a car anymore without a code.

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Worst news ever - it survived....

I'd recommend turning your car to run or accessory or whatever the halfway point is, put on your seat belt, and then try starting it every time you drive. It's better to let all of your electronics turn on before jolting your car with a super fast start. I always wait until my CD starts playing and fans start blowing before ignition.

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Brangeta Design Group www.brangeta.com
me = '06 Grand Prix GXP, mom = '02 Camaro SS 35th Anni, sis = '95 Camaro Z28, dad = '92 Vette

Thanks for the advice. I will try that. The car has been perfect so far after cleaning off the battery terminals and re-securing the wire to the coolant temp. sensor. We shall see how it holds up.

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Worst news ever - it survived....

Update to this problem: The issue was due to the ect sensor (electronic coolant temp. sensor). The wire connected to it didn't look like anything much of a problem but when I jiggled it a little I found that the connection was not complete. I disconnected the wire connector, blew any dust or moisture out then re-connected it securely and have not had the problem since. No more issues with the temp. gauge and engine sputter combination. I had the car detailed last summer and they unfortunately did the engine which I had forgotten can be a problem. Also, the location of the sensor is not that great as it is next to another engine component and I wondered if the front and back engine torque could have jarred it loose as well. Anyway, this may seem to be something we all might want to check being it is supposedly considered a master sensor which can mess everything up. Hope this helps anyone who may come across this problem.

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Worst news ever - it survived....

How did you figure out the name of that wire? Is there a parts manual available for our cars?

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Brangeta Design Group www.brangeta.com
me = '06 Grand Prix GXP, mom = '02 Camaro SS 35th Anni, sis = '95 Camaro Z28, dad = '92 Vette

It was the connection of the wire to the ect which caused the problem. Through online research, the symptoms pointed at the ect as the possible problem. So just re-securing the connection as well as cleaning it out is what eventually fixed the problem. I found the sensor through online research as well being that I'm no mechanic. No code was ever shown - why ? no clue. But this is what took care of the problem.

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Worst news ever - it survived....