I just bought my black '03 L three days ago (just hit 650 miles!), I went to start it this morning and it sputtered a little and died. Tried it again and it kept running but it was pretty rough, it sounded like an old grain truck (or old 3 ton dump truck) that was started on a cold day. I let it idle for about five minutes and it started smoothing out and eventually it was running as nice as ever. I figured it was safe to drive to the bank and half way there my SES light came on.... the truck is still running like a top though. Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be? I'm 4 hours away from my closest SVT dealership so I won't have time to bring it in until next week. Thanks for the help!
,Marc

 

It is possible that your Idle Air Control valve IAC was sticking...

 

Good time to order a Predator.

 

Dare I ask how cold it was?

 

Mine did that just after I bought it. It would start, but then sputtered and died when I touched the throttle. I fugure it had been sitting in the d*mn dealer's lot for so long, going on 5 minute test drives, that there must have been a lot of condensation in the systems or something. After a good couple hundred miles including a medium-long drive, it never sputtered for me again. Runs great now.

 

you can always take it to auto zone and they'ss scan the the SES problem and tell you exactly what it is FOR FREE

 

Why don`t you just reset the ECM first. It have been just a fluke thing. If not, you can go to any Ford Dealership, it doesn`t have to be an SVT Dealer.

 

That's the right question, he's in Saskabush, down the road from Cadillac.

Let it warm up a little more Marc and get some miles on that thing. She just don't like that -30 chit.

 

You can always take it to a normal Ford dealer, or Lincoln/Mercury dealer. I have mine serviced always at a Lincoln/Mercury dealer... they seem to take far better care of me than any other po dunk dealer around here.

 

ILLINI-SVT

That's exactly what happened! After it cleared up the SES light was on so I asked a guy at the dealership in town here (non SVT) and he suggested that I unhook the battery for a few minutes and see what happens when I start it back up. Well I now have no SES light and she's running great.

It's only a few degrees below freezing here now... much better than last week (-40!!!!!) Thanks for the suggestions though guys, I guess I'm maybe still a bit paranoid that anything bad happens to her. Heck I got my first nasty chip on my hood in the first 200 miles! I was pissed, but really what can you do?!

unclemole,

Hey how'd you know about Cadillac? Do you know anyone around here?