91DA9

Installed a Stage 1 Competition Clutch on my xB2 about 3 weeks ago. Drove all the way to Maryland from Arizona two weeks after install. Clutch was broken in for 500 miles. About halfway through the trip from AZ to MD the car started to develop some clutch chatter during shifts above 4500rpms in every gear. Didn't worry about it too much, figured it's just the new clutch I'll just baby it until I can climb under the car and check things out. I was making a left hand turn tonight, shifted from first to second, second gear fully engaged and then maybe a few feet after the clutch engaged, the front wheels locked up for a split second. They just stopped turning, tires screeched, driving immediately went back to normal and then I noticed that the VSC light was on and blinking an 'OFF' icon. Took the car around the block a few times, and it was operating as normal, the best it has since the new clutch was installed. Shifting is near perfect, clutch chatter only occurs during redline shifts, and only then if I really stomp on the gas during shifts. I think everything is fine, until I get back into my neighborhood and realize that even when I stop, the car won't allow the VSC to be turned on or off anymore, it just blinks. Pull into the driveway 10 minutes later, and a CEL comes on. Car operates as normal. Only question I have is: What the hell is going on here?

swartzautoman

iTrader: (3)

wow thats crazy.
id first start with checking to make sure are the sencers are pluged in nice and tight, and thats none of them are tweeked or anything.

if thats not the issue your gona have to take it apart and see if anything is out of place

coryjames

there is only one electric connection thats the reverse light sensor can you turn off the vsc at a stop byy holding it down for 5 seconds? did you fill the tranny back up with fluid?

91DA9

Thanks guys. Went to an Advance Autoparts yesterday and ran a scan. Code came back: "P0335 Crankshaft Position Sensor A Circuit Malfunction"

Cleared out the code and the VSC indicator turned off. Came up on a yellow light shortly after, downshifted through it, and the xB tried to stall out again like it did a few nights ago, gauge cluster flickered on and on, VSC kicked on and off. Anyone know where this sensor is located?

coryjames

The crank sensor is the two prong connector runing behind the alt i can take a pic when i get home shortly if u need it the sensor itself is on the timing chain cover by the crank pully

91DA9

I'll go take a look...

coryjames

herre is the connector in my hand right behind the alternator


here is where it would be on the motor behind the pully below the water pump

91DA9

Finally figured out what the problem is, but not the source of it. All I know now is that this has nothing to do with the clutch. I keep losing power at random. I'll be cruising along and all of a sudden it's like someone just turns the off, power flickers on and off, so the car tries to stall out then goes back to normal. It's happened to me about 5 or 6 times now, and seems to only occur when it's below 70 degrees outside. Any ideas? Checked all the fuses under the hood, they're alright. all the grounds appear to have good connections. Thinking my alternator might be going bad, but I would think these problems would occur closer together and not days apart.

coryjames

take the negative lead off the battery for about half a hour then hook it back up so the comp resets could just be a fluke

91DA9

Good idea, I'll try that.

08bspxb

did this fix your problem?

91DA9

Having the same problems all over again, except now the car won't start. Pretty sure the 30+ hours of consistent driving from AZ to MD fried the alternator. Anyone know if there's any difference between the alternators on 05 tC's and our xB's?

Spitfire24

hi guys, i'm 91DA9's wifey and i'm hopping in to update. we still need help and are about to go insane from this. :-) i'm just going to copy/paste below what i posted on another forum... hopefully you guys will have some insight? thanks in advance!

-car has 40k miles
-stage 1 competition clutch installed mid-may 2009, driven 4k miles since then, we do have a bit of clutch chatter and yes, it's grabby, no other complaints about it though
-no other engine mods

so about 3 weeks ago the car started stalling out when driving, it's a manual though so it starts right back up, we don't lose electrical. the rpm's just hit zero, the car shudders, and it kicks back up after a split second. it seems to do this once the car is warmed up. when it kicks back on the check engine light is on (throws multiple codes: crankshaft sensor, erratic speed) and the traction control light comes on.

we checked the crankshaft sensor-- it's good.
we checked the alternator-- it was spiking/dipping all over the place-- we replaced alternator with another stock one less than a week ago (and new serp belt). first drive out after that, car gets warmed up (30 minutes on highway) and YAY it starts the stalling thing again. we get home safe but on the drive it stalls 6 more times in 30 mins.

check the alternator again-- it's good
checked relays, fuses, grounds, battery... everything is good

our car is out of warranty due to the clutch we put in, but we paid to have it diagnosed at a scion dealer because we are out of ideas. they are confused by all the codes at first then run more tests (of course they can't get our car to reproduce the stalling) but all they are getting are more random codes. tech thinks the clutch is the problem. i asked him to explain because my BS detector went off, "please tell me how the clutch can cause this when we're sitting in 5th gear not touching the pedal." he could not explain in any logical way whatsoever but still wanted me to pay dealer prices for them to put a stock scion clutch back in.

(sidenote, this will happen in any gear, not just in 5th)

i googled my @$$ off for similar problems with ANY clutch and found none. i am a logical person and his idea vs. our "symptoms" are not adding up to me.

am i losing my mind? need opinions, brainstorming... does anyone think it's possible that when the clutch gets warmed up it disengages on it's own and the car stalls because we're in 5th gear with no engagement? or is there any OTHER way the clutch can be causing this prob?

Steve60

This sounds like a bad ground wire.

It IS NOT the clutch. An electrical problem does not = Clutch, I don't care what kind of clutch you put in the car.

With the car not running, don't even put the key in the ign, with a VOM, see what the battery reads in volts. If it reads less than around 11 +, - you will get some strangeness. The alt will check out fine, even the battery won't have any dead cells & the car will start with 11 volts if the amperage is high enough. BUT the car needs 12v to operate correctly.
This could be way out & not the problem with your car, but I'v seen a bad ground problem before with Toyota. All of my inlaws have had Toyotas for as many years as they have driven cars. Everything looks good and an ohm meter will show a good ground but when it heats up, heavy charge cycle, you lose the needed charge. Most of the time, except for winter - starting the car in very cold will put the alternator in high charge right away, the charge cycle will be in traffic, w/air con on, lights on, radio etc.

Are there any codes? If so, what were they? Other than the crank sensor.

Spitfire24

thanks, that makes sense. i know before we took it to the dealer we checked amps on the battery and it was OK. will run a volt test tomorrow after i pick it up from dealer and let you know. PS, it seems odd and/or sad that a scion dealer would not have thought of trying this? makes me not want to pay the $120 diagnostic.

coryjames

they have to prove that the clutch is the cause and that cant be its just not possible. the ground signal sounds like the problem. this is a joke take it to a different dealer dont tell them about the clutch just say this is happening. sounds messed up to do but no way a clutch will cause that problem.

Steve60

The war on stupid is losing.

I wonder how they think you could believe that a totaly unrelated piece, like a clutch, could be an electrical problem????? "Your tires are low, that's why your key won't unlock the door"......

When the clutch was changed, there could be an engine to chassis ground that was not reinstalled or loose.... You could hook a jumper cable from -post & connect it to the engine & see if that helps.

Lets hope it IS this simple & not a deep problem.

Hannibal

If you took it to the dealer there in Westminster take it to a different dealer as they are a bunch of idiots. I lived there and have had them work on my old car (91 MR2) in the past. I would never take my car back to them again... I will just leave it at that. Look up Russell Scion on rt 40, that is where I take mine and have had no issues with them to date. They seem to have people who have a clue.

Spitfire24

funny you should say that, they did mention the tire-monitor codes (when we bought rims a monitor broke and we just haven't replaced it yet) like it was suspicious and then dismantled and tested every sensor while it was off our car. because a tire monitor can cause stalling??? lol.

of course AFTER we dropped the car off i went and found bad reviews on this dealership. on wednesday i called to speak to the Service Director, left a v-mail, never heard back. on Saturday i called the General Manager. he called me back and seemed to want to rectify the situation. he agreed it needs to be looked at again, and our warranty is NOT void (except for anything clutch-related, obviously), and promised it will be checked out by the master tech come Monday. hopefully they can pull their heads out of their @sses and handle this, because driving a Nissan Versa around really sucks and also because i am a letter-writer and would hate to get them in trouble with Toyota/Scion corporate ;)

p.s. just because this is incredible to me: when we dropped the car off at dealer, i was telling them how we switched out the alternator on our own after one of their service managers told me it was out of warranty. other service manager said, "why the hell would you replace the alternator yourself, that may void the rest of your warranty." so, let me get this straight, the alternator is not warrantied but i'm not allowed to replace it myself either? (dealer alternator + install for '08 xB is just over a grand.) omgwtfbbqaaaargh.

Steve60

TC & XB are both 100amp Alternators. They could be different..................

I like the "why the hell" part. Worthless puke comes to mind.

1K for an alternator, around $156 my cost for a reman & 1 hour in time.... 1K is about what I make a week.