The last month or so (since its been cold), I've tried to keep up my SOC. Occasionally, it will drop low and I'll simply hold down the accelerator to 2,000 rpms with the car in neutral for a couple of stoplights and get it back up to midrange. What I've noticed on a couple of instances is the engine seems to skip or miss every couple seconds. It almost feels as though its jumping. Whats up with this? No other problems when accelerating under load.

 

Haven't had this problem, but I wouldn't worry so much about your SOC in winter. If it gets too low, the car will regen on its own.

 

No check engine lights on. Bad fuel? Hope it clears itself. If its freezing in your area you may want to try gas line antifreeze? May have condinsation in the tank. H

 

The engine was still kind of cold (2-3 bars on temp) but I did kind of wonder if it was bad fuel. I'm not quite sure how a car acts with bad fuel as I usually try to get my gas at reputable places. Would a bottle of injector cleaner be in order?

 

It won't hurt things any, but I'd suggest just finishing off this tank and going back to your regular gas. It's likely just a blip or a little bit of condensation in the tank. If something were really wrong, your dash would light up like a Peterbuilt.

 

The skipping or missing is the governor protecting you from over revving the engine! It doesn't happen at 2K RPMS, it happens at about 4K when in neutral; at least on my car. As for maintaining SOC, I would let the car manage that. Forcing SOC charge by revving it to 2K+ RPMS in P/N is a serious waste of gas and should only be used when the car is extremely low (1/2 bars) and is not regen'ing on it's own while driving.

You will get the exact same results if you try to drive over 112MPH, I know, I have done it on a really long straight stretch in East Texas (I-20).

From the PDF Unlinked owners manual, page 168:

Engine Speed Limiter
When the vehicle reaches the
maximum speed in any shift position,
you may feel the engine cut in and
out. This is caused by a limiter (112
miles per hour, 180 km/h) in the engine’s
computer controls. The engine will
run normally when you reduce the
speed to below the maximum.

 

I'm familliar with a rev limiter, but I do know I had the engine at 1900-2000 at a couple of lights to a) warm it up more (not auto stopping and runnning anyway) and b) kepp up the low charge while I was at it. I filled up with a different gas and I haven't had it happen since. Makes me wonder...

 

I hate to recommend this but it seems like one of the only ways to narrow it down. Try revving it at a stop light to 4K or 5K rpms and reaching the rev limiter. It certainly will not do damage, that is what the limiter is for.

Does it feel the same as when you first experienced the "miss"? If so, that should ease your fears of it being a gas or serious engine problem. If not, well, it could be the gas I suppose?

Also after it does the "miss" while revving in N/P, you could try to replicate it while in D and on the highway, put the pedal to the floor...does it "miss" now?

If you reach the same RPM level while moving (below 112mph, 180km/h) and don't experience the "miss" it's definitely the governor causing it.