The infamous "ENG PWR REDUCED"
Senior Member
Joined: 04-04-2008
Posts: 1,658
From: Arlington,TX
Just got home early Saturday morning from a 1 day road trip and on the way home mine did the same thing. Just passed 10K miles. After about 10-15 min of driving I could feel it start to act normal again so I stoped every 50-60 miles to turn the car off for a few min and restarted it to see if I could get the light to go off. It appeared that as long as the check engine light was on i had an effect on the gas mileage. Finally after a couple hours the light finally went off. Car acted fine rest of the ride home and the light has been off since.....
Senior Member
Joined: 08-06-2007
Posts: 359
From: Edison, NJ
Jdans431 - please keep the group posted on what happens - the "engine power reduced" message does not appear unless there is a fault somewhere. It's definitely best to take it to the dealer when the CEL is on and the fault codes are present. I had the same message with my HHR and the first time I took it in (after clearing the codes myself) the dealer could not find anything wrong. If there is a real problem, it will get worse to the point where you will not be able to drive yours. In my case, there was a bad electrical connection. The dealer had to find it to fix it, because, eventually, driving my HHR was not possible. Good luck!
Senior Member
Joined: 02-25-2008
Posts: 330
From: Bethlehem,PA
Jdans431 - please keep the group posted on what happens - the "engine power reduced" message does not appear unless there is a fault somewhere. It's definitely best to take it to the dealer when the CEL is on and the fault codes are present. I had the same message with my HHR and the first time I took it in (after clearing the codes myself) the dealer could not find anything wrong. If there is a real problem, it will get worse to the point where you will not be able to drive yours. In my case, there was a bad electrical connection. The dealer had to find it to fix it, because, eventually, driving my HHR was not possible. Good luck!
All the reading I did on this topic, some have serious problems with this messaage and some make it sound like it self corrects. I saw everything from clogged fuel injectors, variance in accelorator linkage and electrical as you said. We'll see what happens this week. Got a lot of driving to do this week
Senior Member
Joined: 02-25-2008
Posts: 330
From: Bethlehem,PA
So here it is. After the light staying off yesterday, I drove to work today and the light came back on and the engine power reduced message came back with a vengance! By the time I got to work I felt like I was in a salt shaker, the car was vibrating so badly. I had the car towed to my dealer using Chevy roadside assistance. Turns out I need a new throttle body. They should have it done tomrw.
I was pleasantly surprised that the warrenty covered the tow and the rental car that I am going to get later today. Should have my car back tomorrow night.
I was pleasantly surprised that the warrenty covered the tow and the rental car that I am going to get later today. Should have my car back tomorrow night.
Thread Starter
New Member
Joined: 02-13-2009
Posts: 11
From: Fall River, Nova Scotia, Canada
Well, a bit of an update. This past weekend I brought my car in the the used dealer I bought it from two weeks ago to have the safety sticker updated (it was 4 months old). I asked them to check the codes, as the car has been progressively getting worse.....after the first time I had the issue, the CEL went off and everything was fine, but now sometimes it comes on almost instantly after I start the car and get moving, and other times I can drive for a couple of hours with no issues. The fact that the fault is intermittent tells me it's likely a wire going to ground somewhere.
Anyway, the dealer hooked the car up, and sure enough, it's throwing the codes indicating the Throttle sensors. They're ordering a new throttle body for me, but I'm going to be adamant that they check the wiring harnesses as well. This morning on my way to work, it felt like I was trying to accelerate by pushing molasses through the fuel injectors. It's dangerous if I'm pulling out into traffic, and then can't accelerate fast enough to keep up with the flow of traffic. I am pleased however with the fact that the used car dealer didn't even slightly hedge on fixing the problem: they acknowledged that they would do whatever it took to make it right, even though they could have just requested that I bring it to a Chevy dealer for the warranty work. Good on 'em!!
Anyway, the dealer hooked the car up, and sure enough, it's throwing the codes indicating the Throttle sensors. They're ordering a new throttle body for me, but I'm going to be adamant that they check the wiring harnesses as well. This morning on my way to work, it felt like I was trying to accelerate by pushing molasses through the fuel injectors. It's dangerous if I'm pulling out into traffic, and then can't accelerate fast enough to keep up with the flow of traffic. I am pleased however with the fact that the used car dealer didn't even slightly hedge on fixing the problem: they acknowledged that they would do whatever it took to make it right, even though they could have just requested that I bring it to a Chevy dealer for the warranty work. Good on 'em!!