Picked up my 888 GT last night and put 50 miles on it. Went for a drive today up in the mountians (2 lane, lots of curves 50-60mph). At about 150 miles on it...it started sputtering and dying at the intersections and stop lights. No waring lights, gauges normal. AC on or off ws the same. I had to throw it in neutral to keep the revs up around 2K to keep it running. It still died about 6 times to get it back to the dealer. Needless to say I'm not very happy right now.

I had similar problems with my 02 GTP 40th, mostly fit and finish issues, but issues just the same requiring 5 or 6 trips to get it right. Great car after that, but very frustrating. I'm hoping I don't get to have another round of the loaner car blues!!

Any ideas on what the problem might be other than bad gas? Also would like to know more about what my options are with the dealer when you have problems on day one? For all you guys who don't have yours yet, you wont be dissapointed...when its running :)

Hmmm, sounds like it could be a bad MAF.

Hmmm, sounds like it could be a bad MAF.I had a similar problem on a 6cyl car, it was the MAF, hope it is on yours also...good luck!

Try degreasing the MAF with WD-40. Perhaps the bloke who put'er together touched it with his greasy fingers?.... :p

Did it keep doing it when you returned to lower altitudes?

or maybe the guy detailing the engine bay hit the MAF with water...

I hope that's all that's wrong with it. It did it all the way to the dealer and died right right in front of the sales manager when I pulled up in the lot. what worries me is having to work the transmission like that with less than 200 miles on it.

Its not a transmission problem. But I dunno how a detailer could have hit the sensor with water.... And for that matter, water dries...

Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF) What does it do and where is it installed?

Mass Air Flow (Sensor), I believe, and it measures how much air is entering so it can put in the right amount of fuel.

You just need the $66.00 exhaust mod! :gr_jest:

What I need is the extended warranty!!

6 year 72K for 10 a month!!!

This also could be the oil filter... I heard that you need to keep a good filter in there on these motors! Dont go cheap. maf is the sensor cylindrical piece in the air intake tubing. Real easy to tkae off and clean... but I doubt thats it. if it is then detach the whole assembly from the TB, get some deep creep Sea foam and spray the TB and MAF. Any oil that has built up there may cause this problem but should have trigered Engine lights. I had this problem with my Monaro (GTO) from the K&N CAI... the oil that you use to lube the filter would come through the Tb and send all the sensors off..... dealer will charge like $150 to clean or you could buy a $10 can of Sea foam.

I wouldn't try and fix this problem yourself. You just bought a 30k dollar car. Bring it back and have the stelarship fix it.

What I need is the extended warranty!!

5 yr 100,000 miles on engine operation alread paid for in purchase price.

Sounds like the MAF or the throttle position sensor (if it has one). I had one of those go out of my 87 GTA I used to have. I had to stay on the gas or it would die.

Its not a transmission problem. But I dunno how a detailer could have hit the sensor with water.... And for that matter, water dries...

I know its not the transmission, thanks!! I'm talking about having to throw it in neutral as I approached intersections and then popping it back in gear to keep it from dying...

It's at the dealer now.. I will post what I find out later today.

Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF) What does it do and where is it installed?

The MAF is a device that measures incoming air in three ways.

1) Intake air speed measured in Hz.
2) Intake air volume measured in lbs/hr.
3) Intake air temp

It is located in the intake setup, just after the airbox. If any air is leaking AFTER the MAF do to poorly connected parts, breaks, etc, it allows unmetered air to get into the engine and the O2 sensors can’t compensate enough to tell the PCM to add more fuel, so typically you run lean, lean enough to stall/stumble the engine.

I wouldn't try and fix this problem yourself. You just bought a 30k dollar car. Bring it back and have the stelarship fix it.


Ditto. Did the dealer find anything? It's odd that you didn't light a SES light though. I believe the lemon law kicks in after 3 failed attempts to repair the same issue. Make sure your service problem reports are consistent.

The lemon law varies from state to state.

Daym....soo what did the dealer do?? they better have taken care of this..what is the final outcome?? jus curious..... sorry that happend dude.
i had alil scare....when i was on pain meds..forgot to tighten the gas cap all the way.....the check engine light came on the following morning..( im like 2 blocks from the gas station..didnt notice it)....i was like oh ****.wtf.....than thougth about it...GMs biggest check engine light issue...Gas cap not on correctly lol

Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF) What does it do and where is it installed?

It's attached to the intake tube right after the air filter. It job is to measure the mass of air that will enter the plenum.

Well, the dealer just called and told me that the PCM is bad. He says that it had misfire codes on 3 cylinders. I guess that explins why it ran like ****....With that in mind, is there anything I should be concerned about and address with them? They are installing a new PCM tomorrow morning.

I'm curious, but was the Check Engine Light on for this? I don't think I remember it being mentioned. A mis fire will make the CEL flash.

I'm curious, but what the CEL on for this? I don't think I remember it being mentioned. A mis fire will make the CEL flash.

in english please...

CEL = Check Engine Light, a yellow light on the dash telling you to service the engine soon, typically tied to emissions or computer problems so you bring the car in for a check up.

Sorry to hear that it was a bad PCM. Not sure of the consequences of an engine that is misfiring.

I think worse case scenario it would go into limp home mode.

I think worse case scenario it would go into limp home mode.

It's hard to say when the PCM itself is bad... you may not get any trouble codes or failsafe operation if the brain is defective. Your car could act like HAL 9000.... "Dave... just what do you think you're doing, Dave?" ;)

If my G8 starts talking to me I'll be rich! LOL

if it's just the pcm, i wouldn't worry about it..

The MAF is a device that measures incoming air in three ways.

1) Intake air speed measured in Hz.
2) Intake air volume measured in lbs/hr.
3) Intake air temp

It is located in the intake setup, just after the airbox. If any air is leaking AFTER the MAF do to poorly connected parts, breaks, etc, it allows unmetered air to get into the engine and the O2 sensors can’t compensate enough to tell the PCM to add more fuel, so typically you run lean, lean enough to stall/stumble the engine.

The intake air temp is usually a separate sensor (I haven't seen a G8 yet) located before the MAF. The MAF just mesaures intake air speed (which is used to compute the volume for the mixture control).

Update...They changed out the PCM and it did not fix the problem. Says it idles normal, but when under load it still misfires...They've gone to GM for help, who says it could be a relay or something....WTF??

Let them keep it until they get it right. These cars are so new the mechanics are better off to call GM Tech Service and have them walked through it. When you do pick it up, try to do it early in the day so you can drive it and if you have any issues take it right back while the Service Department is still open.

Just my $0.02.

I also had a similar while finishing a PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) for a Saab 9-3 Conv. After I finish testing everything which was running normal I gave the car to the detailer. 30 minutes later the detailer in a panic calls me in saying the car wouldn't start. The car would crank and nothing more. They changed the plugs, injectors, DI, finally the top saab technician realize that the BCM took a nose dive at the last second thus taking it from another brand new Saab just to give it to the customer waiting the purchase car. The sales man wanted to put the blame on me for damaging the car. How could I damage a brand new car after testing every electronic cookie the car had to offer.

Problem is I'm starting to wonder weather or not I want a car that has an engine that has been misfiring within the first few hours of operation. Surely that can't be a good thing on a new motor?? ..I'm starting to think I may want to get a different car or a free warranty...I do trust my service rep. and he has always been good to me in the past. We'll see what happens!!! Right now I'm not a happy camper!!

I also had a similar while finishing a PDI (Pre Delivery Inspection) for a Saab 9-3 Conv. After I finish testing everything which was running normal I gave the car to the detailer. 30 minutes later the detailer in a panic calls me in saying the car wouldn't start. The car would crank and nothing more. They changed the plugs, injectors, DI, finally the top saab technician realize that the BCM took a nose dive at the last second thus taking it from another brand new Saab just to give it to the customer waiting the purchase car. The sales man wanted to put the blame on me for damaging the car. How could I damage a brand new car after testing every electronic cookie the car had to offer.

Mind me asking what the resolution was? If they are changing plugs, I don't want the car..

Mind me asking what the resolution was? If they are changing plugs, I don't want the car..


The tech's assumed it was bad plugs when they notice the fuel being injected into the cylinder which fouled out the plugs. After they replace them the car wouldn't start any way. So after trying multiple diagnoses on the car they gave the car to the top mechanic who after a few minutes of testing with their tech 2 system (a oversize game boy which does practically everything on any GM vehicle) he realize he couldn't communicate with the BCM (Body Control Module or cpu) thus replacing it with another one from another brand new Saab all this was done while the awaiting customer was waiting for her brand new car.

steve any update on your car?

Update...They changed out the PCM and it did not fix the problem. Says it idles normal, but when under load it still misfires...They've gone to GM for help, who says it could be a relay or something....WTF??


Ja, what's up with your car?

I've had 3 cels for misfire. They have pinned it down to the fuel pump after replaceing the O2, intake manifold. They are replacing the sending sensor for the fuel to complete the job.


Now to battle the rough idle issue.......

I had a Honda Gold Wing were robots install the spark plugs.

One had the cermaic cracked. I wonder if the rough idle issues can be traced down to spark plugs. Seems weird that a rough idle is normal.

No other V8 I've test driven or owned has had this issue.

Maybe I should have bought another Rotory RX 8

what i find odd is that my car will idle very smoothly at one stop light...and then get the "shakes" at the next light. very weird...i've never had a car that had such an "irregular" idle as my g8... :( but no light tripped here yet... :)

what i find odd is that my car will idle very smoothly at one stop light...and then get the "shakes" at the next light. very weird...i've never had a car that had such an "irregular" idle as my g8... :( but no light tripped here yet... :)

exact same thing here with my GT
don't forget the 6th gear :whine:

Once I got the VMS tune the rough idle was over 50% better and it idles consistently now matter how u drive it.

but, why can't gm get this thing to idle properly on it's own...?

exact same thing here with my GT
don't forget the 6th gear :whine:

i'm beginning to think our g8s were seperated at birth! :)

OMG!
.............. is that true?

I haven't noticed any idle problems in mine.