Stalling on startup and at idle in gear

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maxx4wd

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Also--could be a clogged fuel filter.

When was it last changed?

do our cars have fuel filters? I'm only aware of the pre-screen in tank - I looked along the fuel line and didn't see an external one, but certainly not ruling out the pre-screen - just trying to do all the easy stuff first which I'm thinking I'm about through so will be most likely dropping the tank if the throttle body doesn't work.
 

maxx4wd

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Also--if it's happening when cold--could be the temp sensor.

It will have the engine run rich while warming up to speed up warming process.

If it's not working properly--it can cause malfunctions.

I haven't checked that one yet...it is my understanding that the fuel temp sensor just aids in flushing out vapor bubbles in the fuel during hot starts by increasing the pulse width of the injectors so I'm not sure if that could even influence idle issues that are present hot or cold and for the duration of the engine on cycle...open or closed loops. Im not opposed to swapping it out though at this point I'm ready to just start swapping LOL
 
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maxx4wd

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Ok sorry for the delayed response but I wanted to make a follow up post to reveal the final fix (or at least as far as I can tell). Only time will tell but the stall was resolved by swapping out the 6 month old MAF sensor...lesson learned on that one - never trust a sensor even if it's new. I ended up just stumbling onto the fix by watching my live view data tabs on my RSW software while cranking the motor over...noticed that the MAF was showing 0 grams/s no matter what the engine speed was so I just decided to throw on a new Denso MAF and boom fixed that issue. Also in the process of trouble shooting I ended up picking up one of the OTC fuel rail injector cleaners - ran a bottle of klean-R through the system - flooded the motor but once cleared and running again the motor picked up a TON of power and the idle is butter smooth. If you haven't cleaned your injectors with a fuel rail cleaner - DO IT! I've also picked up 2 MPG in stop and go traffic so looks like I had 2 separate problems adding to the overall issue. Again, only time will tell if everything is running ok but for now she's running like a top. If anything changes or the stalls come back I'll start posting again just in case anyone else runs into this issue. Thanks all for the suggestions and the help, much appreciated.
 

maxx4wd

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UPDATE: so the initial fix worked for exactly 1 week...luckily we were on vacation and ran perfect then the dreaded rough idle (but no stalling) came right back. this time it so so bad that it finally started to throw codes after about a week or so. Long story longer...I had "random misfire code" - "misfires at startup" and more importantly misfires in cylinders 3 and 4. So first thing I tried was swapping to new plugs (didn't think it would work but thinking I might of fouled them when I did the injection cleaning)...after that didn't work I just swapped the coils on cylinders 3 and 4 to 5 and 6 respectively...reset the CEL and waited till it came back...sure enough the misfire followed with the coils so I swapped the offending coils out and she's running like a top again. funny this is the one time I wanted the CEL to come on...made for easy diagnosis.
 
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