2007 Saturn Ion 3 with 2.2 liter engine.

Son was driving it. He said the check engine light came on, and there was a loss of power. I just read the codes:

P0121 – Throttle / Pedal Position Sensor / Switch A Circuit Range / Performance
P2135 – Throttle / Pedal Position Sensor / Switch A/B Voltage Correlation

So I did a little research. There is a throttle position sensor on the throttle body. Could this be the culprit? If so, I don’t think I can purchase just the sensor – I think I have to purchase a whole new throttle body.

A little more research shows there is an “accelerator pedal position sensor.” Is this a different sensor? Is it a sensor attached to the pedal?

 

Yes there is a sensor on the pedal. And yes the throttle body is replaced as a unit. If you replace the throttle body, you'll need to do a throttle position relearn. Doesn't take long. Just cycling the key a few times.
I wanna say those are actual pedal codes. But can't remember off hand.

 

So you had to replace the entire throttle body?

 

More than likely the pedal. I've replaced more pedals than I have throttle bodies.

 

Wow. Is that a hard task? I'm not sure if I have the same problem, but for the past few days or so, when sitting idle, in park, or drive, but mostly parked, the rpms started jumping. Kinda going down a tad bit than back up. For reference, kinda like it wants to die due to fuel running too low. Of course, that's not the issue.

Today, while sitting parked, it went down a tiny bit, then shot up in rpms as if I pressed the gas pedal and sounded off chimes. The engine light lit up. Not the usual one but the one all the way on the right with the down arrow in the middle. I immediately shut the engine off. Like 5 minutes later, I started it back up, and everything was fine. I had already had some throttle position codes pop up a few days ago, but what happened today added more. I have a total of 5 now. Do you know what the issue might be? I attached a screenshot of the DTCs

I should mention that yesterday, or the day before, I went driving, and I noticed the pedal needed a little more push than usual. Pretty much a loss of engine power. I think that's when I got the first few codes about throttle position. It was bad to where I almost didn't go to work. I pulled over and cleared all codes, and that "fixed" it. I could tell something was still off with the pedal tho. Not really noticeable unless you drive it all the time like I do. I have to push the pedal a tad bit down for it to rev up like usual. Only at the start of taking off. Like the pedal is not adjusted or synced perfectly with the throttle body. Kinda offset, if that makes sense. Idle has been a little ruffer than I remember as well.

Sorry to ramble. Just don't wanna leave anything out. Probably should have started a new thread.

Thanks

 

Try cleaning the throttle body. Seafoam or power foam.
If you move the butterfly while doing so, it'll need to be recalibrated

 

Didn't realize you replied back, as I didn't receive an email notification. I did a throttle body reset/ recalibration this morning and I haven't had noticed any of the symptoms I was having. The idle is smooth now rather than slightly jumpy. I did the method of turning the key to accessory and pushing the gas pedal multiple times. Here is the vid I found on YT and followed the 1st method. There were three methods but the first one seemed to have worked


Thanks

 

TO ALL

PLEASE STOP SPLITTING THE SAME TOPIC ACROSS MULTIPLE THREADS. IF IT IS A CONTINUATION OF AN EXISTING UNRESOLVED ISSUE, KEEP IT ALL IN THE SAME THREAD.

FRANKLY I DON'T CARE THAT NOBODY GAVE A CRAP ABOUT THIS ON OTHER FORUMS WHERE YOU WERE BEFORE YOU CAME HERE. NOT RELEVANT.

I DON'T ASK MUCH.
THIS IS BASIC LOGIC.
PLEASE USE IT.
---"Cranky"
---------------------
I've been having this issue for some weeks now where my car goes into limp mode and throws throttle codes. They don't all come at once. It'll eventually reach a total of 4. There in the screenshot but they are:

P1516
P2101
P2119
P2135

I recently topped off my oil with leftover 5w20 synthetic from my other car, instead of the usual required 5w30. I have since switched back during my last oil change. I don't think that's the cause, but I'm just throwing that out there.

This happens mostly on cold starts after the engine has warmed up. Doesn't happen all the time. It makes the other engine light with a downward arrow come on. At first, weeks ago, when it first started to happen, it would happen while driving and go into limp mode. I found I could clear the codes, and it would go away and remove that secondary engine light. And the car would drive fine.

Now, it does it after warming the engine up and attempting to put it in gear. The rpms shoot up, making the car jerk like I pressed the gas pedal down a lot. I quickly park it and shut the engine off and let it sit for 2 or 3 minutes, and when I start it back up, the engine light is off, and everything is fine. Sometimes, it'll do it again again, and I sit for a minute and start, and it's fine and drives normal. Sometimes, while idle or parked, the rpms slightly fluctuate but a tiny bit, going down, not up. A few times recently, it dipped pretty low, sounding like it wanted to shut down but didn't. Those few times, I just pressed the gas, and that usually kinda wakes it up to stop sinking, kinda.

Anyway, I thought I got rid of it by doing some procedure I found on youtube where you press the gas a few times with the engine off or something like that. Maybe it kinda fixed it for a while, maybe not. I have to try the other methods. Didn't get to them. I think I might be able to do it with my scan tool.

So, about OEM vs. aftermarket when it comes to throttle bodies. Is it a bad idea to go with aftermarket for this part? Wouldn't mind saving money. I haven't determined if it needs to be replaced. Still have to try the other two relearn/reset methods, and then figure out what test to do (any tips would be appreciated), but just I'm case, I was wondering

Other than this, the car drives pretty decent.

Thanks

 

Just thought it would make since to start a new thread since I was basically asking about aftermarket vs. OEM. But.... O!

 

Update: Turned out that my throttle body was going out. The relearn, according to Google AI, is basically automatic. You just start the engine and let it idle for 10 minutes. Cars driving like normal again 😀