First Track Day Gremlins

[Les]

Hey guys,

Newbie here, I just had my first ever track day at Barber Motorsports Park on March 16-17. I had an amazing time but had a few issues arise on my 2014 Mustang GT that I’m trying to find solutions for.

After wrapping up the first day and driving to the hotel, the traction control and stability control lights came and stayed on until I restarted the car a few times. The following day of tracking was trouble free until the afternoon when the lights came on again (reverse lights were stuck on too). I ran a session like this and it went away by the next session and didn’t return until the drive back home. It hasn’t happened again since. When these lights were on I was unable to do anything with the traction control buttons.

I’m assuming The LCD screen popped up a warning message each time but it literally only showed up for a frame and I missed it every time. (I was able to capture it on my GoPro footage but the words are indiscernible). It looked like it said “something ON”

Also, the car started making a loud whining noise the second day after my first two sessions. It sounded like it was coming from behind the engine (my instructor and his friend thought it was the clutch TOB) but maybe it’s the alternator? It increased with RPM. The whining comes and goes now and it’s very quiet now. I’ve never had to replace an alternator before but maybe that explains the electrical gremlins? The car runs great otherwise.

Just wanted to see if there had been anyone else with these issues before.

 

[67GTA]

Hey guys,

Newbie here, I just had my first ever track day at Barber Motorsports Park on March 16-17. I had an amazing time but had a few issues arise on my 2014 Mustang GT that I’m trying to find solutions for.

After wrapping up the first day and driving to the hotel, the traction control and stability control lights came and stayed on until I restarted the car a few times. The following day of tracking was trouble free until the afternoon when the lights came on again (reverse lights were stuck on too). I ran a session like this and it went away by the next session and didn’t return until the drive back home. It hasn’t happened again since. When these lights were on I was unable to do anything with the traction control buttons.

I’m assuming The LCD screen popped up a warning message each time but it literally only showed up for a frame and I missed it every time. (I was able to capture it on my GoPro footage but the words are indiscernible). It looked like it said “something ON”

Also, the car started making a loud whining noise the second day after my first two sessions. It sounded like it was coming from behind the engine (my instructor and his friend thought it was the clutch TOB) but maybe it’s the alternator? It increased with RPM. The whining comes and goes now and it’s very quiet now. I’ve never had to replace an alternator before but maybe that explains the electrical gremlins? The car runs great otherwise.

Just wanted to see if there had been anyone else with these issues before.

Assuming the squealing noise can be heard when the car is idling, does the noise change (or stop) when you apply light pressure to the clutch pedal?

 

[Les]

Assuming the squealing noise can be heard when the car is idling, does the noise change (or stop) when you apply light pressure to the clutch pedal?

Yes, it can be heard idling. I’ll have to double check with light pressure, but with the clutch fully engaged or disengaged, the noise stayed the same. From what I remember, it didn’t change as the pedal was pressed as well.

I should’ve noted, the car has 83k miles as well. Original everything powertrain wise.

 

[TMSBOSS]

First track day at Barber.....I'm Jealous.

ABS lights. I assume you are running the ABS fully stock. Are you turning the Advance track off? Are you noticing the Advance track intervening in turns? Did you notice Hot rear brakes at the end of a session??

Many if us have switched from the stock ABS module to the Boss R/S module which eliminates the advance track functions. The reason for doing this is to stop the application of rear brakes by the ABS/Advance track system. Are you ready to track your car without the assistance of Advance Track should be the first question.

The sound you are hearing?? TOB is possible. Get it on a lift and check it out.

 

[67GTA]

Yes, it can be heard idling. I’ll have to double check with light pressure, but with the clutch fully engaged or disengaged, the noise stayed the same. From what I remember, it didn’t change as the pedal was pressed as well.

I should’ve noted, the car has 83k miles as well. Original everything powertrain wise.

Got it, if it stayed the same with a full press, that would likely rule it out. To check the alternator, carefully place a long prybar on the alternator and put your ear on the other end. Bad bearing sounds are amplified through and you’ll noticeably hear it through the handle. Use the same technique on the idler pulley (top one, closest to the water pump pulley) - they have a bearing and I’ve had one fail. Place the prybar directly on the bolt head.

 

[Les]

First track day at Barber.....I'm Jealous.

ABS lights. I assume you are running the ABS fully stock. Are you turning the Advance track off? Are you noticing the Advance track intervening in turns? Did you notice Hot rear brakes at the end of a session??

Many if us have switched from the stock ABS module to the Boss R/S module which eliminates the advance track functions. The reason for doing this is to stop the application of rear brakes by the ABS/Advance track system. Are you ready to track your car without the assistance of Advance Track should be the first question.

The sound you are hearing?? TOB is possible. Get it on a lift and check it out.

I’m already wanting to go back, such an awesome track, haha.

I put the car in sport mode and left it in 4th gear the majority of the time. I was able to get it on the limit of the tire on some of the corner exits and didn’t really notice the assistance of advancetrac if there was any. I’m running 340 TW tires so hopefully I’m not maxing out the stock TCS capabilities already. I didn’t push it too hard I thought. I assume the rear brakes got fairly hot since the black paint on both my centric front/rear rotors started flaking off. I was running G-Loc R8s front and rear if that matters any.

 

[Les]

Got it, if it stayed the same with a full press, that would likely rule it out. To check the alternator, carefully place a long prybar on the alternator and put your ear on the other end. Bad bearing sounds are amplified through and you’ll noticeably hear it through the handle. Use the same technique on the idler pulley (top one, closest to the water pump pulley) - they have a bearing and I’ve had one fail. Place the prybar directly on the bolt head.

I’ll give the pry bar technique a shot. It’s so weird because it sounded like it was coming from behind the engine but I guess the sound resonates weirdly in the engine bay.