[mherwick]

I have a 2012 Chrysler 200 with a 4-cylinder. Within the last 2 weeks the ETC (electronic throttle control) light has been coming on intermittently. Sometimes the traction control light comes on when the ETC light comes on and sometimes it's just the ETC light. The check engine light is not on and there are no stored codes except for 2 in the ABS system. Those codes are C121C (Torque Request Signal Denied) & U0401 (Implausible Data Received from ECM/PCM). I cleared them a day ago but they have not returned yet even though the ETC light has come on since. When the ETC light comes on, you can tell the throttle is limited and power is affected. The system seems to regain control and return to normal regardless of whether you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal when just the ETC light comes on. When the traction light comes on with the ETC light, which seems to happen only when my wife is driving, she will pull the car over, shut the car off and restart it in an attempt to get the vehicle back in normal mode. Not sure if that is necessary or if the car will snap out of the faults on its own if you're a little more patient with it. The problems seem to occur on both hills and level grades. The battery is brand new within the past week, thanks to the fact that in order to check it and the connections, I had to remove the wheel, inner fender and some bracketry so I just decided to replace it with a brand new factory battery instead of putting a 6 year old battery back in.

I have looked on the forums and it seems most people get some check engine codes, which I am not (other than the 2 ABS codes). I've read where some have replaced the ETC and the problem seemed to go away while others it did not seem to make any difference. Our car only has 70,000 miles so I find it hard to believe that the ETC, PCM or ABS module are failing. Not impossible but I would like to think the quality is better and the parts will get more life before they have issues. We live in NE Ohio so we have seen our share of really cold temperatures as well as a caustic environment due to the chemicals used to melt the snow and ice. This makes me think that I should be checking connections, wiring and grounding.

Because the traction light comes on sometimes I also think that I should look at ABS sensors or wheel speed sensors since it appears the vehicle thinks a wheel is slipping and in an effort to regain control limits the throttle. If I have an intermittent issue in this area I could see where sometimes I see a traction light and others I do not. I should get my hands on a dealer type scanner tomorrow so I can monitor the ABS system in real time to see if I have an issue there. I'm thinking maybe a "lazy" sensor or something that wouldn't necessarily throw a code as a specific ABS sensor for specific wheel but still cause the ETC to act up.

A few questions, is there a common connection or ground that will cause these symptoms? Are there any other components or sensors that I should look at that might be giving bad inputs to the PCM to cause the ETC light to come on and act up? Are there any tests that I can do to eliminate certain components?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Dale_K]

I'd look closely at the basic condition of the battery and battery connections. Sometimes a weak battery can cause a bunch of lights and codes.

 

[mherwick]

Thanks! When I replaced the battery last week, I cleaned the terminals of the new battery as well as the battery cable clamps. I also applied terminal grease before I tightened them.
The car acted up for the next two days like previously described. However for the past three days it has been fine which is weird since I didn't do anything to it since replacing the battery.
Would it have taken the car a few drive cycles to purge any previous errors/faults after replacing the battery? Note that the battery was disconnected for about 20-24 hours before reconnecting with a new battery. Also no check engine lights or codes were stored; only the two ABS codes as previously described.
Thanks!

 

[mherwick]

After some more thinking it could have been that the new battery wasn't fully charged and therefore supplied lower voltage than the systems needed at first so the lights continued to come on until the battery was fully charged and the car had seen a certain amount of drive cycles. After a certain number of drive cycles, the system determined all is well. Car has been running fine for the past four days.

Would like to hear from anyone else on this. Thanks

 

[Dale_K]

I'd suggest buying a volt meter that plugs into the power port. It helped me a lot in understanding an issue with a different car. You can monitor it while you're driving and at different rpms. You should see about 14-15 volts driving. In my case the alternator was a little weak. It would have been easier to figure out if the alternator quit completely.

Glad your car is back to normal.

 

[dflahe]

How’s it running now?

 

[dflahe]

Did you get this fixed ?? I'm gonna be getting my Throttle Control Module replaced Friday..$560.00 !!! But I can't drive it now !!

 

[Chrysler200 FTW]

We hust had to replace the throttle body on our 2014 2.4L at about 46K. I changed the OEM battery first since it was almost 4 years old, and tried the throttle body reset several times.

 

[t_taylor]

My car's doing the same thing. I'm going to see if cleaning the ABS sensors help or not. Mine is a 2014 2.4 with 82000

 

[SRT200]

I have a 200 with the 2.4L 6spd, and bought it with 31k and now has 102k miles, only issues related with yours I had is the Lightning Bolt reduced Output light and the ETC lit up on me about 6 months ago and would do it every day. I got to work by turning key to on and then slowly pressing gas pedal to floor 6x and then starting it up to relearn and reset everything.

It returned a couple days later and I remember in my SRT that the intake is all plastic, so I tightened the throttle body to the intake and it was coming loose, stupid plastic really should not be coddled around high heat objects!

Been good and runs great.

 

[Johniscool]

I have a 2012 Chrysler 200 with a 4-cylinder. Within the last 2 weeks the ETC (electronic throttle control) light has been coming on intermittently. Sometimes the traction control light comes on when the ETC light comes on and sometimes it's just the ETC light. The check engine light is not on and there are no stored codes except for 2 in the ABS system. Those codes are C121C (Torque Request Signal Denied) & U0401 (Implausible Data Received from ECM/PCM). I cleared them a day ago but they have not returned yet even though the ETC light has come on since. When the ETC light comes on, you can tell the throttle is limited and power is affected. The system seems to regain control and return to normal regardless of whether you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal when just the ETC light comes on. When the traction light comes on with the ETC light, which seems to happen only when my wife is driving, she will pull the car over, shut the car off and restart it in an attempt to get the vehicle back in normal mode. Not sure if that is necessary or if the car will snap out of the faults on its own if you're a little more patient with it. The problems seem to occur on both hills and level grades. The battery is brand new within the past week, thanks to the fact that in order to check it and the connections, I had to remove the wheel, inner fender and some bracketry so I just decided to replace it with a brand new factory battery instead of putting a 6 year old battery back in.

I have looked on the forums and it seems most people get some check engine codes, which I am not (other than the 2 ABS codes). I've read where some have replaced the ETC and the problem seemed to go away while others it did not seem to make any difference. Our car only has 70,000 miles so I find it hard to believe that the ETC, PCM or ABS module are failing. Not impossible but I would like to think the quality is better and the parts will get more life before they have issues. We live in NE Ohio so we have seen our share of really cold temperatures as well as a caustic environment due to the chemicals used to melt the snow and ice. This makes me think that I should be checking connections, wiring and grounding.

Because the traction light comes on sometimes I also think that I should look at ABS sensors or wheel speed sensors since it appears the vehicle thinks a wheel is slipping and in an effort to regain control limits the throttle. If I have an intermittent issue in this area I could see where sometimes I see a traction light and others I do not. I should get my hands on a dealer type scanner tomorrow so I can monitor the ABS system in real time to see if I have an issue there. I'm thinking maybe a "lazy" sensor or something that wouldn't necessarily throw a code as a specific ABS sensor for specific wheel but still cause the ETC to act up.

A few questions, is there a common connection or ground that will cause these symptoms? Are there any other components or sensors that I should look at that might be giving bad inputs to the PCM to cause the ETC light to come on and act up? Are there any tests that I can do to eliminate certain components?

Thank you for your help!

Intake gasket is probably your problem causing a big vacuum leak my 2013 Chrysler 200 done that and intake gasket replaced no more problem it was melted from heat over time

 

[Johniscool]

Intake gasket is probably your problem causing a big vacuum leak my 2013 Chrysler 200 done that and intake gasket replaced no more problem it was melted from heat over time

Will code for throttle body but it is the intake gasket leaking which causes the throttle body to not work correctly that’s why it codes for throttle body but it is not the problem intake gasket is

 

[Johniscool]

Will code for throttle body but it is the intake gasket leaking which causes the throttle body to not work correctly that’s why it codes for throttle body but it is not the problem intake gasket is

Throttle body gasket can also set codes for throttle body as well mine and a friend of mine was the intake gasket behind the plastic intake manifold

 

[Jhills]

We hust had to replace the throttle body on our 2014 2.4L at about 46K. I changed the OEM battery first since it was almost 4 years old, and tried the throttle body reset several times.

How do you do a throttle body reset

 

[200_S_AWD]

Welcome to the forums. I Googled this question and was taken aback about how much out-of-date and mis-information there was on this ETC reset/relearn procedure. It does need a capable scan tool to perform this properly.
Is yours a 2014 2.4L? What fault codes do you get? Have you tried erase them and they came back?
They won't erase with a battery disconnect like the old days, you need a scan tool to erase them. Many auto parts stores will let you use their customer OBD2 tool to read and erase codes. They may not be allowed to erase them under the store policy, but you can.
The drive-by-wire TPS is internal to the throttle body. The APPS is at the gas pedal. They are not to be confused with one-another.

The procedure:
watch

 

[dinkinszoe]

I have a 2012 Chrysler 200 with a 4-cylinder. Within the last 2 weeks the ETC (electronic throttle control) light has been coming on intermittently. Sometimes the traction control light comes on when the ETC light comes on and sometimes it's just the ETC light. The check engine light is not on and there are no stored codes except for 2 in the ABS system. Those codes are C121C (Torque Request Signal Denied) & U0401 (Implausible Data Received from ECM/PCM). I cleared them a day ago but they have not returned yet even though the ETC light has come on since. When the ETC light comes on, you can tell the throttle is limited and power is affected. The system seems to regain control and return to normal regardless of whether you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal when just the ETC light comes on. When the traction light comes on with the ETC light, which seems to happen only when my wife is driving, she will pull the car over, shut the car off and restart it in an attempt to get the vehicle back in normal mode. Not sure if that is necessary or if the car will snap out of the faults on its own if you're a little more patient with it. The problems seem to occur on both hills and level grades. The battery is brand new within the past week, thanks to the fact that in order to check it and the connections, I had to remove the wheel, inner fender and some bracketry so I just decided to replace it with a brand new factory battery instead of putting a 6 year old battery back in.

I have looked on the forums and it seems most people get some check engine codes, which I am not (other than the 2 ABS codes). I've read where some have replaced the ETC and the problem seemed to go away while others it did not seem to make any difference. Our car only has 70,000 miles so I find it hard to believe that the ETC, PCM or ABS module are failing. Not impossible but I would like to think the quality is better and the parts will get more life before they have issues. We live in NE Ohio so we have seen our share of really cold temperatures as well as a caustic environment due to the chemicals used to melt the snow and ice. This makes me think that I should be checking connections, wiring and grounding.

Because the traction light comes on sometimes I also think that I should look at ABS sensors or wheel speed sensors since it appears the vehicle thinks a wheel is slipping and in an effort to regain control limits the throttle. If I have an intermittent issue in this area I could see where sometimes I see a traction light and others I do not. I should get my hands on a dealer type scanner tomorrow so I can monitor the ABS system in real time to see if I have an issue there. I'm thinking maybe a "lazy" sensor or something that wouldn't necessarily throw a code as a specific ABS sensor for specific wheel but still cause the ETC to act up.

A few questions, is there a common connection or ground that will cause these symptoms? Are there any other components or sensors that I should look at that might be giving bad inputs to the PCM to cause the ETC light to come on and act up? Are there any tests that I can do to eliminate certain components?

Thank you for your help!

 

[dinkinszoe]

I have a 2012 Chrysler 200 with a 4-cylinder. Within the last 2 weeks the ETC (electronic throttle control) light has been coming on intermittently. Sometimes the traction control light comes on when the ETC light comes on and sometimes it's just the ETC light. The check engine light is not on and there are no stored codes except for 2 in the ABS system. Those codes are C121C (Torque Request Signal Denied) & U0401 (Implausible Data Received from ECM/PCM). I cleared them a day ago but they have not returned yet even though the ETC light has come on since. When the ETC light comes on, you can tell the throttle is limited and power is affected. The system seems to regain control and return to normal regardless of whether you lift your foot off the accelerator pedal when just the ETC light comes on. When the traction light comes on with the ETC light, which seems to happen only when my wife is driving, she will pull the car over, shut the car off and restart it in an attempt to get the vehicle back in normal mode. Not sure if that is necessary or if the car will snap out of the faults on its own if you're a little more patient with it. The problems seem to occur on both hills and level grades. The battery is brand new within the past week, thanks to the fact that in order to check it and the connections, I had to remove the wheel, inner fender and some bracketry so I just decided to replace it with a brand new factory battery instead of putting a 6 year old battery back in.

I have looked on the forums and it seems most people get some check engine codes, which I am not (other than the 2 ABS codes). I've read where some have replaced the ETC and the problem seemed to go away while others it did not seem to make any difference. Our car only has 70,000 miles so I find it hard to believe that the ETC, PCM or ABS module are failing. Not impossible but I would like to think the quality is better and the parts will get more life before they have issues. We live in NE Ohio so we have seen our share of really cold temperatures as well as a caustic environment due to the chemicals used to melt the snow and ice. This makes me think that I should be checking connections, wiring and grounding.

Because the traction light comes on sometimes I also think that I should look at ABS sensors or wheel speed sensors since it appears the vehicle thinks a wheel is slipping and in an effort to regain control limits the throttle. If I have an intermittent issue in this area I could see where sometimes I see a traction light and others I do not. I should get my hands on a dealer type scanner tomorrow so I can monitor the ABS system in real time to see if I have an issue there. I'm thinking maybe a "lazy" sensor or something that wouldn't necessarily throw a code as a specific ABS sensor for specific wheel but still cause the ETC to act up.

DID YOU EVER GET IT FIXED IM EXPERIENCING THE SAME ISSUE NOW AND IF SO HOW DID U FIX IT

 

[200_S_AWD]

Welcome to the forum. Have you tried a different OBD2 engine code reader? Some generic readers have difficulty reading codes on some cars.
If the warning lamp comes on, the should be a stored fault code kept in PCM memory for the next 40 starts or so,
even if the light goes back out.

The ABS and ESP depend on the electronic throttle to get the car out of a skid. So ETC problems will affect other systems.
There should be no need to guess & the modules themselves are usually not the problem. I have replaced throttle body assemblies on these, but I'm not saying that yours is bad. Always diagnose first.

If you can't come up with a scan tool that can read codes or test the throttle components, it may be worth paying 'the man' his diagnostic fee for an answer (even if you decide to decline the repair and do the work yourself).

There are bulletins on wire rub-throughs and connector terminals intermittent contacts. Sometimes unplugging and plugging a connector back in will 'scrape' any oxidation/corrosion off of a contact and restore dependable operation.
Let us know what you find.

MIL= malfunction indicator lamp (ck eng, ABS, etc).
ETC= electronic throttle control (throttle body).
TPS= throttle position sensor. (throttle body).
APPS= accelerator pedal position sensor (gas pedal).
ESP= electronic stability program (uses the throttle & ABS to get a car out of a skid).
DTC= diagnostic trouble code (fault code). Stored= did happen. Active= is happening.