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2008 Recall (Throttle position sensor)

92K views 49 replies 34 participants last post by  Cek2 
#1 ·
Got a letter in the mail from GM today it was in ref. to vehicles equipped with V8 engines may have condition where the throttle position sensor may cause the engine to run rough and cause the malfuntion indicator lamp/or engine reduced power message to illuminate.

It says "do not take your vehicle to a chevy dealer as a result of this letter unless you believe that your vehicle has condition described as above"

What are they going to do if you take it in there? Why wouldn't I take my truck there to have it fixed reguardless if i have the symptoms or not?

Thanks guys
 
#4 ·
Bout time I heard something about this my truck has had this code the past few months. Guess its time to take a trip to the dealership.
 
#50 ·
If you don't have a scan tool I wouldn't take it off and clean it,I did the shoot the sea foam thru the throttle body,and it kk eot throwing code p0121,TPS,so I figured by the whole TB and get the sensor too.but the truck didn't like the new one and I'm waiting for my scantool and now a 75 buck fix is up to 250,and I've been reading and it could be the pedal position sensor,it also shows the TPS and PPS is on the same circuit,it will be upwards of 400 if I got to buy that pps,if you can shoot the seafoam do that if that doesn't work,get ready for the wallet,in still a foot been a month.i hope this helps,cause my truck at any given time jumps 3k rpms,if someone has felt with this has a better out come please let me know
 
#7 ·
Hi Guys,

New here, but this is a treasure trove of info. Quick question, does anyone have a copy of the letter that was sent in November regarding the TPS, or know where it would be posted? Being the idiot that I am, I threw it away thinking it would be listed in the recall center of my GMC account or easily found somewhere online. Since it wasn't a recall, the dealer has no record of it and the GMC-800 number I called told me to contact my dealer.

I am taking it in on Monday b/c it is running like dog [blank], but the condition matches exactly what the letter described. I would like to have the letter in hand in case they give me a hard time.

Thanks Fellas, any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
#8 ·
it's not a recall. It's an "extended service policy" and you don't need the letter. All you have to do is take your vehicle in for diagnostics, and they will identify the issues, if it's the sensor, then GM will foot the bill. If it's not, then you're out some cash. You can send a PM to "Gm Customer Service" on this forum, and the will help you out with everything, very, very good bunch of people that run that account on here.
 
#9 ·
Thanks B-diver. Hoping it is the TPS - rough idle, bad fuel economy, check engine light on...if not, the old girl has an extended warranty that if it is something else I hope it is covered.

Appreciate the quick response, and for the tip on "GM Customer Service". I saw alot of Matt's posts on here just clicking around, good for GM to offer that type of service.
 
#10 ·
Thank for you the compliment. As stated, for special coverages, the vehicle has to have the matching symptoms and dealer diagnosis to qualify for the service. If not, there is likely to be some kind of charge such as a diagnostic fee. If you do take it into the dealership, please let us know how the services goes. If you any issues, feel free to contact us privately with your VIN#, situation, name + contact information, dealership, and current vehicle mileage. I hope all is going well and that you have a great week! Regards.

Matt,

GM Customer Assistance
 
#11 ·
GM Customer Service said:
Thank for you the compliment. As stated, for special coverages, the vehicle has to have the matching symptoms and dealer diagnosis to qualify for the service. If not, there is likely to be some kind of charge such as a diagnostic fee. If you do take it into the dealership, please let us know how the services goes. If you any issues, feel free to contact us privately with your VIN#, situation, name + contact information, dealership, and current vehicle mileage. I hope all is going well and that you have a great week! Regards.

Matt,

GM Customer Assistance
Matt,

I have a 2007 gmc sierra with the max package that came with the 6.0 and a couple of weeks ago I had this exact problem come about where the engine power reduced message came accross the instrument panel and the truck hardly ran, it really scared me, I was really close to where I was going and made it there fine in first gear (because it shifted really hard if I let it shift), I turned the vehicle off and called my mechanic, when I came out to my truck a couple of hours later it ran fine and the light did not reappear, I had my mechanic pull the do a diagnostic check that day and it was a code related to the throttle position sensor, he cleared the code and told me to keep an eye on it if it happened again. I believe I have the exact problem that is being talked about in this forum, the only problem is that I have now cleared the code and it is running fine, and if I take it in to the dealership I worry that my dealership is just going to tell me to take a hike. I am the original owner of this vehicle and have had very limited problems with this truck, I just don't want to be left stranded out somewhere stuck with 1st gear in powersaving mode if there is a recal that will remidy the problem.
 
#12 ·
Ive been having this problem with my truck now for about a year. It first started with reduced power stability track shuttion off and traction control shutting off along with throwing codes P1516, P2138. Sometimes if i shut the truck off it would go away, other times it wouldn't. I just so happen to carry an OBII reader in my truck and would clear the codes and restart the truck, everything would be fine. Im in the military and left on deployment to the middle east and when I came back I stopped getting the reduced power and the codes. But randomly it would shut off stability track and some fault with the brakes where the break light would come on. If I keep driving the the break light goes away. As soon as i shut the truck off and start it back up everything goes away. In the last month my transmission would act funny in second gear, bucking of sorts.(transmission only had 40,0XX miles on it. i brought it to the dealership because my warranty was still good(till the end of that month) they said because it was lifted that they would ask there shop manager about it and they would give me a call. I got tired of waiting for the phone call that i knew would never come and bought a built transmission with all forged internals because of the lift. I understand that its lifted and its "modified" now with the new transmission it was driving fine and now out of the blue it wont shift into second gear. From what I have been told this would be caused by the TPS problem. Looking for some guidance from GM CUSTOMER SERVICE on what I should do. I live in hawaii the dealership out here has been nothing but horrible service i have a rust spot on my roof of the cab, i brought it to them they took pictures and said they would get back to me because of my corrosive warranty. that was 4 months ago and im still waiting on there phone call. I also brought it to them to have them relearn my tire sensors because i have new rims and tires. they laughed and said no. i also asked them if they would recalibrate my speedometer they laughed at me and said no. i even asked them to change my rear ujoint on my driveshaft and they also said no. None of it I asked to be done under warranty just asked if they could do it as a normal charge. Ive had nothing good at all to say about the dealership also the same dealership i bought the truck from. So if im having these problems how do I get them fixed if the dealership out here wont even look at my truck and has horrible customer service because im not "a local"? I tried sending gm customer service a PM but because i just signed up for this forum i came across googling problems with my truck i cant send messages out yet.
 
#13 ·
navydiver7 said:
Ive been having this problem with my truck now for about a year. It first started with reduced power stability track shuttion off and traction control shutting off along with throwing codes P1516, P2138. Sometimes if i shut the truck off it would go away, other times it wouldn't. I just so happen to carry an OBII reader in my truck and would clear the codes and restart the truck, everything would be fine. Im in the military and left on deployment to the middle east and when I came back I stopped getting the reduced power and the codes. But randomly it would shut off stability track and some fault with the brakes where the break light would come on. If I keep driving the the break light goes away. As soon as i shut the truck off and start it back up everything goes away. In the last month my transmission would act funny in second gear, bucking of sorts.(transmission only had 40,0XX miles on it. i brought it to the dealership because my warranty was still good(till the end of that month) they said because it was lifted that they would ask there shop manager about it and they would give me a call. I got tired of waiting for the phone call that i knew would never come and bought a built transmission with all forged internals because of the lift. I understand that its lifted and its "modified" now with the new transmission it was driving fine and now out of the blue it wont shift into second gear. From what I have been told this would be caused by the TPS problem. Looking for some guidance from GM CUSTOMER SERVICE on what I should do. I live in hawaii the dealership out here has been nothing but horrible service i have a rust spot on my roof of the cab, i brought it to them they took pictures and said they would get back to me because of my corrosive warranty. that was 4 months ago and im still waiting on there phone call. I also brought it to them to have them relearn my tire sensors because i have new rims and tires. they laughed and said no. i also asked them if they would recalibrate my speedometer they laughed at me and said no. i even asked them to change my rear ujoint on my driveshaft and they also said no. None of it I asked to be done under warranty just asked if they could do it as a normal charge. Ive had nothing good at all to say about the dealership also the same dealership i bought the truck from. So if im having these problems how do I get them fixed if the dealership out here wont even look at my truck and has horrible customer service because im not "a local"? I tried sending gm customer service a PM but because i just signed up for this forum i came across googling problems with my truck i cant send messages out yet.
I am so sorry that you are not having a good experience with your local dealership. I would like to get involved and get to the bottom of your issues. Could you please private message me your name, address, vehicle identification number, and current mileage. Also what if the name of the dealership that you are working with? I truly appreciate your time and patience.

Jessica L.
GM Customer Care
 
#14 ·
I've got a 2007 Silverado, 5.3L V-8 with Active Fuel Management. At 98k miles I finally had the engine replaced by GM because of the oil consumption issue, this was after about a year of haggling and almost 40k miles from the onset of issues. Fast forward to today, 146k miles, I started my truck up as I left work, put it in drive and was going down the street, I turned onto another street and accelerated to about 40mph when the engine went into limp mode, service traction control and stabilitrak disabled lights came on the dash. I push the OnStar button and they ran the diagnostics and gave me the 2135, 0420 and 0121 codes. I limped it home but had to stop 3 times to turn it off, let it set and then restart again because it wouldn't move at all. I'm calling the dealership to see if this is covered under the warranty of the new engine or not. If not I'll do the work myself. I had some issues last week with it somewhat skipping while it was going down the road but I put different gas into it on Saturday and seemed to go away until today.

Tony
 
#15 ·
My husband has a 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 4.8L engine - having problems with the idle, acceleration, power ,etc. Took vehicle to dealership and they stated the the TPS sensor was bad, throttle body dirty, fuel pump bad, etc etc. I changed the fuel pump and cleaned the throttle body but problems still exist. How would I get the TPS replaced under the "recall" or "extended service policy" mentioned above? Thanks for you help in advance!! Heather
 
#16 ·
HeatherVela said:
My husband has a 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 with a 4.8L engine - having problems with the idle, acceleration, power ,etc. Took vehicle to dealership and they stated the the TPS sensor was bad, throttle body dirty, fuel pump bad, etc etc. I changed the fuel pump and cleaned the throttle body but problems still exist. How would I get the TPS replaced under the "recall" or "extended service policy" mentioned above? Thanks for you help in advance!! Heather
Heather,

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue with your vehicle. I am happy to assist you with finding out if there are any open recalls associated with your vehicle. Please private message me your VIN.

Best regards,

Jennifer T.
GM Customer Care
 
#17 ·
Glad I saw this thread, wanted to post my experience with the issue:

About a week ago I started to hear "ticking" as I was decelerating and seemed to notice that the downshifting wasn't very smooth. Shortly thereafter, the engine light came on and I started to notice that acceleration wasn't very smooth and sometimes very delayed when coming out of a stop. Yesterday morning I got into my truck and the engine light was off. I thought that maybe whatever quirk it was was gone because I didn't notice any of the symptoms in the first 10 minutes of driving. Then...... when I was stopped at a traffic light with my foot on the brake, my truck suddenly jumped forward a few feet and the engine started running really rough. The "Engine Power Reduced" notification came up and the engine light came back on (obviously). I shut the engine off and waited for about 5 minutes, gave the engine a turn, and it started up just fine and I was able to drive about 10 miles to the local dealer.

They took the truck in, called me about an hour later and informed me of the throttle position sensor issue. They ended up replacing the throttle position sensor and giving the computer a software update. It was all covered by the extended GM warranty.

2010 Silverado 1500 LT
48,000 miles
 
#18 ·
It seems that the good gesture by GM is no help to people who drive their truck daily. I just bought my 2008 Sierra (That was not cheap!!) and I was told by the dealer that it has to be under 120,000.(It's not) I also own an 05 Trailblazer and was told the same thing about a fuel sending sensor and it has a bad cluster. The mileage should not be an issue if the vehicle has the problem. I also own an Escalade with the same cluster problem. Just had it fixed. I am beginning to think I need to purchase something other than GM products. Breaking me up to be a GM owner :(
 
#19 ·
Today my 2008 Silverado 1500 WT 4.3L 52K miles CEL came on and the truck went into reduced power mode. Since then it has done that 3 other times. If I let it set and restart, it usually returns to full power. The code is p2138 Accelerator Pedal Position (APP) Sensor 1-2 Correlation. Dealership said there was no power train coverage remaining due to time and no service bulletins or recalls specific to the problem. I had this same issue a couple years ago and I think the dealership replaced the pedal assembly. I am frustrated to be dealing with this again on a truck with so few miles on it! Anyone have any advice about some things I can try on my own?
 
#20 ·
I don't think there is much to do but replace the pedal assembly, sorry!
From what I understand (which is limited) the TPS and the pedal sensor need to have open communications, when one of them starts acting up nobody's happy.

Changing it it yourself will save some ca$h
**please check the part number before ordering, I'd hate for you to get the wrong part
http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/2008/c ... ensor.html
 
#21 ·
Hi all

New to this forum and since I'm not of a mechanic mind, please be kind. Is there a 2007 Recall that is similar to this one for 2008?

My husband and I have a 2007 Silverado that has been having idle issues for about a year. At first it was intermittent - rough idle going from 500-1500 rpm very sporatically. The dealer could not do anything because there were no codes and they could not recreate the problem in the shop. There is only 18,000 miles on the truck.

Well now the problem is ever present and the dealer acknowledges there is a problem but the codes (PO175 & PO121) do not seem to help out the repair. Throttle assembly and fuel pump have been replaced but the engine still revs up and down on its own. We have to brake hard in parking lots and traffic queues to make sure we do not run into the vehicle in front of us or put the gear into neutral while waiting at a stop light or else the engine stalls.

Any helpful insights that I could pass along to the dealer would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
 
#22 ·
my 2008 recently came up with the same message. I had the code read at a local parts store and it did confirm what I have been reading here that the throttle body control sensor was to blame. It also had a pedal position sensor code. I called the dealership which wasn't much help. So I need some advice from you all on what to do next. Being new to the forum I can't PM GM customer service with vin and mileage. Don't really have the funds to drop a ton of money so was hoping it would fall under the service clause. If it doesn't is this something I can do myself I have pretty much pulled it all apart just to check wiring but didn't remove the sensor. thanks in advance for the help and for the great forum..
Matt
 
#24 ·
Hey gvfd3,

First and foremost, welcome to the forum! Always good to see new members. Sorry hear about the throttle position sensor in your Silverado. It's good to hear a dealership was able to help and provide you with the information you were seeking. Although we're not trained as technicians, we can always contact the dealership on your behalf and review things further. Please feel free to reach out to us via email at socialmedia@gm.com. We're always happy to assist any way we can!

Sincerely,

Eddie A.
GM Customer Care
 
#26 ·
Looks like its my turn- I have a 2008 GMC Sierra 1500 5.3- on the way to work this morning truck bogged down and popped up, reduced engine power mode, stabilitrack, traction control. Never died but was rather difficult not being ran over while limping into work. Scanned and received P2138. Cleared code and all appears fine however I haven't left parking lot. All that to say a quick search brought me to this thread. Any chance someone at GM Customer Care can run vin to determine if the 2008 recall applies to my truck?

Thanks - Matt
 
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