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Another 'Engine Power Reduced' Thread...

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Old 02-10-2011, 11:15 AM
  #11  
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Average Battery Life Exp it supposed to be about 5-6 years. I had a original AC Delco in my Trans Am and the post rotted out back a few years ago but long story short I was told by more then one that they were suprised it lasted that long.

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/genera...o-battery.html feel free to check out, this is my prev exp with Batteries.
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Old 02-10-2011, 11:37 AM
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We are putting lots of throttle bodies on. Mostly large SUVs but also on some of the smaller vehicles. When one is acting up you can hear the stepper motor chattering inside the unit.
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Old 02-10-2011, 11:51 AM
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Originally Posted by ChevyMgr
We are putting lots of throttle bodies on. Mostly large SUVs but also on some of the smaller vehicles. When one is acting up you can hear the stepper motor chattering inside the unit.
So these drive by wire TB's are they just a bad batch or a bad run or the life exp is basically crap??
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Old 02-10-2011, 12:51 PM
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Originally Posted by BlackScreaminMachine
So these drive by wire TB's are they just a bad batch or a bad run or the life exp is basically crap??
We see it mostly on higher mileage vehicles, but can happen on low mileage vehicles. Problems are only occuring when the outside temperature is cold. And mostly happens to vehicles that are not garage parked at night.

We just took one apart from a Tahoe and it could be that the 2 arms in the TPS, that sweep back and forth are being affected by the cold, which makes the stepper motor start buzzing and then the ecm loses or gets erractic signals, which causes the reduced power. This is only a theory though.

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Old 02-10-2011, 02:56 PM
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I'll have to keep an eye on the car, I would be interested in if this ever happens to my wife's car. Has around 24k and is parked outside. It has a intermitten horn issue, but thats bout it.
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Old 02-10-2011, 08:05 PM
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Originally Posted by ChevyMgr
We see it mostly on higher mileage vehicles, but can happen on low mileage vehicles. Problems are only occuring when the outside temperature is cold. And mostly happens to vehicles that are not garage parked at night.

We just took one apart from a Tahoe and it could be that the 2 arms in the TPS, that sweep back and forth are being affected by the cold, which makes the stepper motor start buzzing and then the ecm loses or gets erractic signals, which causes the reduced power. This is only a theory though.
Let me ask you this, if the TB cuts out, is it possible that it cuts off your acceleration? I'm not sure that I'm explaining my self correctly, but what happens with mine is that once the engine power reduced message displays and the check engine light comes on, it goes into I guess idle mode where my revs drop down to about 1000 and my speed drops to about 5mph just as if I were sitting on flat ground and released the brake with it in drive. When this happens my gas pedal is pretty much useless as it does absolutely nothing no matter how hard or how many times I press it. Luckily both times it has happened I've been in traffic and going slow anyways, can't imagine the outcome if this were to happen while I was doing 70down the highway Very dangerous!
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Old 02-10-2011, 08:15 PM
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On a weird note just to add to this already confusing situation, I replaced my battery on Saturday night and drove it three times since then with no problem, this morning it happened again and when I brought it to Autozone they checked the battery and told me it was BAD!!!! What are the odds of the battery going out in four days? Could it my alternator causing all these issues?
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Old 02-10-2011, 11:32 PM
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Franco Fanfuria-

Have the auto parts check the alt output, (FREE) they simply hook up to your rides 'leads' & it checks everything.
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Old 02-11-2011, 08:51 PM
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I Went back to the auto parts store this morning,since the one yesterday didn't have my battery in stock and after running the load test again, it still came back as a bad battery. They told me it was just probably shelved too long and a cell in it went bad but my alternator output was good and doesnt seem to be having any problems charging the battery. Put the new one on a ran it down the highway for a bit to get a decent charge on it and as of right now, check engine light is off and my ride seems to be running great. I plan on doing another load test tomorrow morning after it has sat all night and hopefully this will be the end of my dilema Thanks alot to all of you for your advice and thoughts. I will keep you updated if there are any changes.
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Old 02-11-2011, 10:31 PM
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Hopefully you're good to go.....

That's what bites, getting a battery that has been on the shelf for too long..

I remember getting a new un-filled one & a Bag of acid, take en home fill battery, charge to full & away ya go.. That was a while back tho.. (obviously)..
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