late afternoon (3PM) I pulled out of a gas station and directly in front of me was a blue 05 GTO. About 500 yards up the road was a light, it was red and we were at the front. This was the last light on the edge of town. From here on out there are no businesses or residential areas, just a straight and flat four lane highway. When I pull up beside him I stop even and glance over just long enough for him to see me looking and then I ease up just a touch. When the light turns green I am ready but give him a chance and only come out at about half throttle, he waits about my rear bumper as we slowly get up to about 50 and I back off a little to see what he's gonna do. He slowly creeps up beside me and as his window gets to my exhaust I pump it just a bit. With no cats and flowmasters you know it will sound off. As soon as I pumped it he nailed it and IT WAS ON. He got the kick as my nose fell back to about his door and then very slowly I fell back to his rear tire. He shut down at about 95-100 and I ended up back in front just like we started. I was suprised and immediately pumped it again for another go, he nailed it just like the first time and so did I. The truck kicked down as usually and about 3 seconds after that a "puff" sound and the truck went silent, the dash looked like christmas. The GTO set sail and I was still in shock. I put it into nuetral pulled to the right and let it coast as I listened and checked the mirrors for smoke and oil. I didnt see any from the right side and no black trail behind me as I slowed and pulled off the road. I stopped, put it in park and sat there for about 30 seconds. After that, I turned the key and it fired right up, no knocking, no rattle, no smoke. I popped the hood and everything was in order....purring like a kitten. I pulled back onto the road and went back into town and later gave it a couple of test runs. It runs fine with no problems. That brings me to a couple of things....1st, be careful with a new GTO especially kicking at 50 and above....2nd, What the heck happened to my truck. Has anyone ever had that happen to them? I have never even heard of that happening....Thanks. BTW, today Im on the phone with JLP for a short block and after that 21 psi from a new KB....The fatser I go, the faster I wanna go. All because I was picking on a GTO........

 

Never heard of that happening, before. *nm* - Looks like you edited to add your sig line.

As for the '05 GTOs, they're not bad. I bought my wife one (red A4) last month. The 6.0L LS2 is rated at 400/400, but the GTOs are only putting ~330 down at the rears. My stock "360hp" 2000 Lightning put down 327hp and 417lbft. They are either overrated or have horrible driveline loss. The GTOs aren't too quick from a dig, but they pull like a raped ape from 50ish and above. There aren't a ton of mods for the LS2s out, yet, but new stuff is popping up every day.

****I WILL put a disclaimer on this and say that I'm no GTO expert.**** I've only been following them since I purchased one and have little drive time in ours. It's been in the damn shop three times in three weeks. Bad cam AND crank sensors had it down for a week (couldn't find time to get it to the shop), a fuel issue (gage or some other electronics) left me stranded on the side of the road, and it's currently in the shop AGAIN for another Check Engine Light. I've also replaced the battery because the factory Delcos are CRAP.

 

seems to me like if your truck was running right, you would have put him in the rearview at 16lbs boost unless you had major wheelspin. was it running right prior to the "puff"? Specifically, what do you mean by your dash looked like xmas? Maybe your chip isn't making good contact to the terminals and a hard shift disturbed it's contact. Did the gauges do a full sweep?

 

sounds like the chip lost contact to me??

 

maybe the GTO was on the spray

 

I doubt it, from a roll those 05's will move. I raced a buddy at work from a roll. When we hit it ~30, my truck downshifted and broke loose for a split second. That was all it took, he was a 1/2 car ahead of me, and we stayed that way to about 75-80. I may have pulled within a 1/4 car length, but I imagine around 80 he would start leaving me cause of aerodynamics. His car was bone stock 3 days old. I have ~16 lbs on the HEaton also. Maybe if I had my Drag Radials on it may have been the other way around.

 

What are you running for spark plugs>??? -Mat-

 

Mine did that one time last year so I removed/re-cleaned the "chip" contacts and re-taped it in...... it has not done it again.

 

The chip is ok, we kicked from about fifty. I have launched from the hole with DR's on the race tune and race gas. The truck runs strong, best 1/8 ET @ 8.14 and consistant 8.20's. Now I dont run around town with race gas and the chip set on the race side so the truck is a little slower but not by much. All mods are a year old without any problems, this has never happened before. My truck is not slow and I have beat 6 other L's on the road and track. I have beaten an 01 mustang with mods, including a 100 shot when I was running a street set up and numerous new vettes (some modded). The truck isnt slow....Not the fastest, but not slow. The power to weight ratio in a GTO is good and yes they run like a raped ape above 50, if you dont believe me then jump on one. I have beaten several at the track and didnt have any problems. We sat at the light and that was after I sat at the gas station running for 15 minutes or so. I believe my temps were very hot as I am still on the stock intercooler. The biggest thought was that after the first kick with all that boost and a shut down and then another kick within about 10-15 seconds caused a boost bypass and the truck just shut down because it was under such load. When I say the dash lights were on I mean the engine light, batt light ect...The ones that come on before you start it.I dont have the answers but I was hoping someone would say "hell, thats happened to me".....no such luck I guess......

 

sorry, you posted while I was pecking away at the key board....I am slow. I will check the chip but I really dont think that is it. You may be right, I have seen stranger things....I would say he was modded but he was about 50 and there arent many mods available for those yet. I dont know I may be wrong on both accounts.....

BTW the plugs are Denso IT20's (Matt)

 

It happened to me a couple times and it was the chip. Not that it was loose either, just something in the chip. Never figured out why, but swapped to a flasher and that was the end of that. It only happened at WOT and when it shut the truck off you had to turn the key completely off then it would start right back up. If you left the key on and tried to start it it would turn over but not start.

Jody

 

Pull your plugs and see what they look like, probably gonna be surprised.

 

the biggest problem i've heard with the chips is not scraping enough of the conformal coating off before install. there is a ton of goop on the ECU's terminals so you have to be really careful to get it all off. it almost takes a magnifying glass to see when you've done enough. i used a small eyeglasses flat screwdriver which worked great.

 

Nothing can outrun a 4700# Lightning.

 

I worked for a couple hours prepairing the chip and computer for the install. I took the frist coat of gold off down to the silver on all the contact points. It has been flawless for almost a year. I can agree that the symptoms were produced by the chip, I guess thats possible. Its amost impossible to reach a conclusion given the only time this has ever happened and my limited ability to describe the event to yall on here. I will be going to a Diablo or somthing after a new short block and KB. Oh well.....