Unexplained Limp Mode

Originally Posted by Dallas-Z

I've done some searching and I can't find anything that might explain why my car went into limp mode the other night.

I had finished a long flight back for work and got to the car around midnight in Texas. Them temperature outside was around 55F when I started the car. I drove about 18 miles in 6th gear at an average of 2650rpm (65mph). I turn off the highway and begin my back roads trip to the house when I'm startled to have no power.

At first I thought it was VDC pulling power but I wasn't even getting on the car, so I tried to accelerate normally and BAM, no power. Looked at the tach and it would hit 3500rpm and not give me anymore. Shifted to 2nd, 3rd, 4th and tested the gears, couldn't get past 3500rpm. Turned off VDC to make sure that wasn't faulting the ECU, still could not get past 3500rpm.

I had read that high oil temps cause limp mode, but I glanced at that temp and it was reading 180. Remember, it was a cold night and I was just trying to get home to get in bed. Now, I'm kinda freaking out because I can't even find a reason WHY it would want to go into limp mode. No warning light, no code, nothing, it was frustrating. Also, I assumed (also read around here) that limp mode was capped at 5500rpm and not 3500. So this also raises my concerns as to why it would do this.

If anyone has information on why or how to possibly find a reason for this, it would be awesome. I hope this isn't a trend the car will continue to have causing major work to fix it.

Thanks