Arrgggh, my DIY boost leak check didn't work. The boost leak tester I made wasn't dry enough and the air punched through the sealant. Oh well. It's up to the professionals now I guess.

One thing I did notice though was that after reconnecting the air intake hose and tightening as much as possible, now the car sputters a bit before stalling. It's not dying right away as before but it is still dying.

 

Do any lights flash like said before. Possibly a car with a key in it light. Sounds like the immobilizer

 

Try to turn on your car with one of the other keys you have.

 

Have someone read the codes and post them.

 

I had the same symptoms with my car. I had a major leak (DV hose had blown off) and this was enough to get it going.

Was it running a bit rich? Yes.

I wouldn't go and drive cross country like that. But it beats being stranded on the side of the road.

 

I didn't notice any lights in the dashboard but then again, I wasn't really looking. I'll try again and look more carefully.

I did try to start it with my other key but the same result. The car stalls after a couple of seconds.

 

I just checked and there are no lights on the dashboard after the car stalls. Does that rule out the imobilizer completely?

Now that the holiday weekend is over, I should be able to get the car serviced this week.

 

One of the mechanics (from the shop that installed the GIAC chip and 710N DV) came over to my house (really nice of them) to check on the ECU chip. Initially he thought that if the chip was the problem, the car wouldn't even start but since the car started (but stalled right after) he didn't think the chip wasa problem.

He was thinking the same as you guys...boost leak. He disconnected the MAF but after doing that, the car wouldn't even start at all. Re-connected the MAF again.

Next was to unplug the ECU chip, re-sat it tightly on the little green boardthe chipseats on and plugged the box back in to the harness. The car started after this. So it was the chip after all.

I tookthe carfor a spinbut the car died again after driving for a couple of blocks. Oh oh. Got the car back to the house somehow.

This time he took the chip out and proceed to re-solder the pins thinking that there was a crack in the solder somewhere, even though no crack was visible. After re-soldering very carefully, he plugged the chip back in, started the car and I took it for a spin again. This time I drove it for a couple of miles and didn't have a problem. Drove it another couple of miles back home and still no problem.

Tomorrow I'm driving to work again in the car and I'm praying that I it doesn't die on me in the middle of the highway because that would be scary.

So I just wanted to give you an update on my problem in case anyone else runs into a similar situation.

 

Long overdue update, if anyone's interested. The chip was re-soldered twice more after it was installed and I still kept having problems with the car either not starting at all or starting and then stalling right away.

A new chip was installed 3 weeks ago and the car has been fine ever since. So it seems that I got a defective chip the first time.

You learn something new every day.

 

Thanks for the update. This thread is now complete and should never be brought up again. Glad youre running strong agian.