The Under the Hood Show
Dear Motor Medics, I’ve been having issues with my 2008 GMC Acadia. The “service engine soon” light comes on, then the “trac-off” and “ABS” lights come on and when they do the message center displays “reduced power” and I can’t drive because I have no throttle response.
When I take this thing into my shop, it works for them because it only happens about once a week.
Mike in Daytona, Florida
Dear Mike, That’s a ton of stuff going on there, but I suspect they might all be connected.
Over the past year we have seen no less than 20 vehicles exhibit this set of symptoms and they all turned out to be the same, a failed throttle body.
The throttle body is electric and is the part that regulates how much air enters the engine. There is no cable connecting the throttle pedal to the engine as in the past.
This system, as you can imagine, must be calibrated exactly and have sensors to make sure that the vehicle does not have unintended acceleration or throttle loss.
When the engine computer senses a failure in any of the internal circuits, the system goes into reduced engine power mode. It will need to be diagnosed to know for sure.
If replaced, make sure you keep a receipt for the work in case GM decides to recall it for safety reasons, which could possibly make you eligible for a monetary reimbursement on repairs.
Take care, The Motor Medics
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