It is gear drive, but not worm gear It does move freely if the grease has not solidified, that is when it is dangerous to move it.. That does not mean that the electricals are good. It works in a very complicated way.
If it was really coked it might take several drive cycles to relearn.

 

Well right now it's giving me P0223 Throttle Position (TP) Sensor 2 Circuit High Voltage And it's engine low power engaged or something like that. So I didn't know if I need to do the relearn procedure on it and if I can do that without a computer or what.

 

Relearn is idle for 10 minutes then drive normally for a week. No code indicates the need for it just weird idle.
Did you do anything to the TB while the power was on?
You might have broken the TB. Probably the plug is not connected fully or a wire is broken.
The TB has 2 sensors that measure opposite position. one is percent open the other is percent closed.
The #2 sensor measures between .25V and 4.6V. The inputs are 5Vref and low ref. P0223 means it measured greater than 4.6V for longer than 0.2 second. For #2 that means open circuit. Reduced Engine Power is part of the code.

 

Wondering what the VVT codes were, and why they weren't stored. The car very much seems to be in limp mode. Maybe borrow a different scanner?

Might as well pull the valve cover. Not that much work. Check the timing chain tension. Look down the front of the chain case at the front guide. Well worth the trouble, considering the consequences of bent valves.

I use CRC throttle body cleaner. No need to touch the butterfly. Just spray, soak, spray again. I like their little kit with two small spray cans, one with throttle body cleaner and one with MAF cleaner. Nice clear directions.

 

Post #3. Said he removed valve cover and checked the timing chain.

 

The VVT codes were stored, but I had cleared them after replacing the sensors to see if that fixed the issue. It also had gone into limp mode one other time and I had to pull the battery cable for 30 minutes to get it to reset. But I'm waiting to do that until I get the new throttle body on and hopefully that'll just take it out of limp mode and I won't have to reset it by the battery. I'm pulling the valve cover again tomorrow while I have everything off, I figured I might as well do it again just in case I missed something the first time.

I believe the codes were:
P0010 Intake Camshaft Position (CMP) Actuator Solenoid Control CircuitP0013 Exhaust Camshaft Position (CMP) Actuator Solenoid Control Circuit

I know when I tested both of his VVT solenoids they both were reading infinite ohms and neither would click with voltage applied. Those codes had been on for a while he said, but never really caused a problem. I figured the ECM was just using the stored data to run the car.

I also looked at the maf sensor and it looks brand new, as well as no codes related to it.

 

Codes clear themselves when the condition is fixed. It might take a few ignition cycles
If it goes into limp mode there is a reason. The reason can be divined from the codes stored and current. It takes a lot to make limp mode possible, like a clogged cat and whatever damage caused it to fail.
Resetting the computers does not fix anything it just makes all of the OBD testing start from scratch. If it can't see it it doesn't exist, yet.
I sense that a lot of the story is missing. Like how long was a CEL ignored or "not noticed" before it was brought to your attention, and were the Traction and ABS light on being ignored/ not noticed. Many people don't think lights on the dash are worth mentioning or are unrelated. If there were P0010/P0013 they would be lit.

As I tried to explain the VVT valves are PWM not on/off they don't click and it depends on which terminals you test for ohms. It should be infinite between each terminal and the housing, 5-9 ohms between A and B. But P0010 and P0013 mean that both valves are either bad or the circuit is otherwise compromised. doubtful related to the rev limit.

 

Well after replacing the catalytic converter and the throttle body everything is back to normal. I'm not sure which one fixed it, But since I had already ordered the catalytic converter for $100 bill I figured I might as well put it on too.

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and help.

Please close this thread as I'm not sure how to do it.

 

We don't usually close threads.

 

We leave them open for future readers.
glad you’re back on the the road , enjoy the ride.