Electronic throttle control maintenance dash alert!?

[blackbetty14]

****! Gassing it out of a u turn across 3 lanes of highway and this **** happens!

Instantly lost all throttle, I'm getting alerts that traction control is on and off at the same time, 4 wheel drive unavailable and on top of that electronic throttle control Maintenance. And I get the nice red lightning bolt icon on the dash. Meanwhile the dash electronics are freaking out flashing service messages/notifications and having no throttle, and rough and fluctuating idle. I could start the truck and gain some throttle control for alittle while and then would loose it again after I slowed down. So I did that 10-15 times before I was able to make it home.

I checked the connection plug that I could see on the TB and it's fine. Truck is a 2014 express 1500 crew cab and it has 9500 miles. This is totally out of the blue.

Looks like I'm going to be calling the dealer tmrw. I just hope they don't need to keep the truck and they don't care about my vararam.

 

[AustinB]

Good luck.

If it were me, and here.. Id call the dealership tomorrow and they'd tell me they're backed up for 3 weeks...

And expect them to keep it for 4 days min, get it back, still have an issue, reschedule, start all over.

IMO

 

[blackbetty14]

Lol thanks for the positivity!

Called dealer and got an appointment tmrw at 8am. We'll see how long it takes. Now I gotta rip the vararam off and put the stock intake back on. Hopefully all the crap with the HIDs won't get in the way.

 

[Hemi450hp]

Have you tried resetting the computer by disconnecting your negative battery terminal yet? That will clear the codes if it was just a temporary glitch.

 

[blackbetty14]

Well I was going to do that Moe, for future reference it's 30 min disconnected? I figured it out tho.

It's my fault for the code. I serviced the vararam filter when I emptied my oil catch can and did a fully synthetic oil change. But it was pitch black out and couldn't see. Today I pulled off the vararam completely as a unit from the TB and their was the problem right in front of my face. I must of left a paper towel in the intake tube which got sucked into the TB and wedged the throttle blade slightly open. I couldn't of seen it as it must off fallen down the intake tube but it's purpose was to make sure nothing fell down into the TB when I was servicing the filter... But the paper towel became the blockage! I feel like an idiot lol. I build motors and transmissions for fun and this is a DUH moment.

I cleaned the TB blade and alittle around the inside for good measure and took a look into the intake which had slight carbon buildup inside the intake. I've been running the catch can since I had got the truck new with 250 miles on it and was alittle surprised to see carbon in the intake. Not sure what it would look like with 9500 on it now if it didn't have the catch can on it but that thing is catching a lot of oil.

Took it out for a spin and she's all good now. Have it heavy gas to 5k and no issues. I'm still concerned why my 4wd and traction control freaked out when it threw the ETC display and lightning bolt. I canceled the appointment tmrw too.

 

[thebeet]

**** happens! Glad it was a easy fix.

 

[BlueRT]

Don't beat yourself up to bad. I rebuilt a carb and the car ran great in the garage. Took it out for a test drive and it ran like ****. So back to the garage to recheck everything and everything checked good again. Drove it on another test drive and it still ran like a pos. To make a long story short I was leaving the air cleaner off on the test drives and the engine was sucking the hood insulation down and smothering the carb! Before it finally dawned on me what the hell was going on the wife was yelling at me to stop all the yelling and cussing in the garage!

 

[blackbetty14]

Yea, still not sure if I need the dealer to delete any stored codes... From what I've read we can't clear these codes or really read them via the OB2 port.

Ha! Nice with the carb! I guess we're only human.

 

[doz]

Well I was going to do that Moe, for future reference it's 30 min disconnected? I figured it out tho.

It's my fault for the code. I serviced the vararam filter when I emptied my oil catch can and did a fully synthetic oil change. But it was pitch black out and couldn't see. Today I pulled off the vararam completely as a unit from the TB and their was the problem right in front of my face. I must of left a paper towel in the intake tube which got sucked into the TB and wedged the throttle blade slightly open. I couldn't of seen it as it must off fallen down the intake tube but it's purpose was to make sure nothing fell down into the TB when I was servicing the filter... But the paper towel became the blockage! I feel like an idiot lol. I build motors and transmissions for fun and this is a DUH moment.

I cleaned the TB blade and alittle around the inside for good measure and took a look into the intake which had slight carbon buildup inside the intake. I've been running the catch can since I had got the truck new with 250 miles on it and was alittle surprised to see carbon in the intake. Not sure what it would look like with 9500 on it now if it didn't have the catch can on it but that thing is catching a lot of oil.

Took it out for a spin and she's all good now. Have it heavy gas to 5k and no issues. I'm still concerned why my 4wd and traction control freaked out when it threw the ETC display and lightning bolt. I canceled the appointment tmrw too.

Get a DS tuner Then you can read and delete your own codes.

And for future, you do not have to disconnect for 30 min. Pull the negative cable, turn on truck and hit the brake pedal a couple times. It will instantly drain any life it had. THrow the cable back on and no need to wait.

 

[blackbetty14]

Awesome thanks!

Seriously considering the tuner but the tuner with Hemi fever is like over $500 lol. And it's only really worth it to run premium gas and I'm cheap and run 87 lol.

 

[R.L.K.]

Wow , glad all is well !

@ doz , very interesting Sir , I've never heard of that ? Not to high jack , but I'm interested in details . I'll ask here just incase others would like to know .

Does the drivers door need to be closed ? When turning on the truck and tapping the break pedal .

After hitting the break pedal I'm assuming you turn off the truck? And remove the fob ? Prior to reattach of the neg terminal ?

I've heard to disconnect both cables and touch them together for several seconds for a soft reboot of engine & body control modules. ... any truth to this ?

 

[doz]

Never touched batt cables together personally. Always just drain the battery with brake. Doesnt matter if doors are open. Turn the lights on, do whatever. All you are doing is draining the system. System will drain on its own after 15-30 minutes, you are just speeding up the process. Brake uses a lot of power

 

[R.L.K.]

Never touched batt cables together personally. Always just drain the battery with brake. Doesnt matter if doors are open. Turn the lights on, do whatever. All you are doing is draining the system. System will drain on its own after 15-30 minutes, you are just speeding up the process. Brake uses a lot of power

Thank s for your response Sir !

 

[ramlover06]

Thanks for allowing me to join the forum. I am having some issues. I have a 2008 I use for a daily driver. Anyways, I am getting the lightningbolt light. I didn't want to mess with it so I took it to the garage.
They replaced the throttle body.
Problem was still there
They replaced the crankshaft position sensor. They told me the 08's throttle position switch/ sensor and TB were one and the same
Problem still there.
I replaced the battery
Problem still there
They reprogrammed the computer.
Problem still there.
Now they want to replace the computer, I don't think that's the problem. The lightningbolt comes on intermittently and sends the truck into limp mode. If I shut it off and restart it, I am fine for a few miles. My question is, what else could be causing this? Is there another sensor in there that could be bad that they are missing? I don't want to put another $500 dollars in it when I don't think the PCM is the problem
08 dodge 1500 with the 5.7 hemi.
Any ideas?

 

[DILLIGAF]

Awesome thanks!

Seriously considering the tuner but the tuner with Hemi fever is like over $500 lol. And it's only really worth it to run premium gas and I'm cheap and run 87 lol.

Still worth it depending on the Mods you have.

Im planning a 87 Tune with HF since Im putting on headers / Exhaust / Intake / Cat delete and 180 Thermostat. hope all goes well

The Can 87 Tune didnt impress me at all on the Diablo so far.