P2138 but seemingly complicated

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06-24-2018, 07:14 AM
Tyrannosaurus

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P2138 but seemingly complicated

Hello! I'm hoping someone has an idea because 3 shops later, I'm about to pull my hair out and haven't had my car in like 8 months now. 2009 Chevy aveo 5 speed

It started with P0011, but after my mechanic said to take it to the dealership, the transmission and clutch went out en route. Get to the dealership and they get code P0171, which my mechanic also got. That was a cracked intake duct. My car had classic signs the clutch was out and we knew it had a hole in the transmission. I told them repeatedly the revving and whatnot was likely the transmission as it was not doing that before and the hole wasn't there before. Anyway, they insisted, without a code for it, that it was the accelerator pedal. They replaced it and immediately had code P2138. Then they insisted that code was due to a bad ECM. Replaced that. Relearned everything. Codes disappeared. Except they didn't, they had just reset it and it came right back. I didn't have them do the transmission (don't trust them), so then I took my car to a transmission shop and they replaced everything. It left the dealership in February, I've been making payments on my transmission so I just picked it last Monday.

Had it about 20 minutes and the check engine light came on (it was on when I picked it up and they reset it, said it was likely just because they forgot to reset it). My car was then very difficult to move. Was getting gas and couldn't get out of my spot. Eventually it moved, but my rpms would act normal for the pressure I applied to my gas pedal, but it wasn't speeding up normally. I'm talking like 2 blocks to get to 10mph. Took it back to the transmission place and they said the sensors on my accelerator pedal weren't correlating. I told them the dealership just replaced it before I took it to you guys so they confirmed with the dealership that it was under warranty.

Get to the dealership like 20 minutes later. Confirm it's free if the part is faulty. Mind you, I hate this dealership. Hate. I recorded conversations with them for a reason. Anyway, they call me later that day and say they deemed the part to be faulty, it'd be in tomorrow, they'd let me know. About 2pm the next day I get a call. Guy says they put in the new part but it didn't fix it, he'd call me right back. 2.5 hours go by so I call. He says it's good to go and just had some corrosion on my wire harness. Weird because the transmission shop noticed corrosion and checked it all out and deemed it was fine. Anyway, huge fight with the dealership where they tried to bill me hundreds for cleaning up wires, but they never asked me if I wanted it done etc etc. But my car STILL isn't fixed. Same code (P2138) and same issues accelerating. Now I feel like they caused the code and idk what to do. It'll run normal for a while now, then start acting up again. I live out of town and have a 30 miles commute to work so I'm worried about taking it to test out. The transmission shop says they can't get it to act up even though it was acting up when I brought it to them and they've cleared the code several times and it keeps coming back and acting up.

Does anyone have any ideas? I attached a copy of what they did to my car earlier this year. This code was NOT showing prior to them removing the original accelerator pedal and replacing it according to my paperwork. Y'all wouldn't even believe how bad this place is. I posted my conversation with them on my FB page because at the end of it a grown man stormed off on a motorcycle, no joke lol. But I need help:( Attachment 11540
06-24-2018, 07:27 AM
RaevynCarrion

Sounds to me like a throttle position sensor. Rock Auto has them online for around $20 or so, you can change it yourself in about an hour with a basic tool kit, unless your can has an electronic throttle body, in which case you need to replace the whole body. Still pretty simple, only expensive if you go to a parts store.

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06-24-2018, 07:40 AM
Tyrannosaurus

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaevynCarrion

Sounds to me like a throttle position sensor. Rock Auto has them online for around $20 or so, you can change it yourself in about an hour with a basic tool kit, unless your can has an electronic throttle body, in which case you need to replace the whole body. Still pretty simple, only expensive if you go to a parts store.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

I honestly have no idea if it has an electronic throttle body. I can ask my mechanic (he's great, just doesn't have all the computer stuff the dealership has...and he hates my car lol).

My mom manages a branch of Keystone Automotive so I can get parts for cost.
06-24-2018, 03:25 PM
Tyrannosaurus

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaevynCarrion

Sounds to me like a throttle position sensor. Rock Auto has them online for around $20 or so, you can change it yourself in about an hour with a basic tool kit, unless your can has an electronic throttle body, in which case you need to replace the whole body. Still pretty simple, only expensive if you go to a parts store.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

Okay I asked my mechanic and he said usually when those go bad the car will die when you idle? It's not dying at all
06-24-2018, 03:38 PM
RaevynCarrion

I've been having similar issues with an 04 Aveo. The symptoms you described can be anything from and idle air control valve to an EGR, bad MAP or MAF sensor, catalytic converter, and so on. If the tps is bad, it'll cut your engine, if it's just dirty on starting to die it may not.

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06-24-2018, 04:24 PM
Tyrannosaurus

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaevynCarrion

I've been having similar issues with an 04 Aveo. The symptoms you described can be anything from and idle air control valve to an EGR, bad MAP or MAF sensor, catalytic converter, and so on. If the tps is bad, it'll cut your engine, if it's just dirty on starting to die it may not.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

Would it run rough? It sounds perfect, just not when I accelerate. Well, if I shifted it wouldn't be revving, but then I'd be in a higher gear going 10mph. I have to ride the clutch in 1st to speed up at all, and if I ease off the clutch too soon, it acts like it's stalled (revving stops if I'm in the right gear for my rpms) but it's not....just quietly not speeding up. I CAN get it up to speed, just takes forever and makes everyone behind me mad because the process repeats at every single stop. I hope I'm explaining this right.

The only insight I have is that my accelerator pedal sensors aren't correlating. I just have no idea why.

Apparently when my clutch went out a pin or spring holding it together broke free and shot through the bell housing. This appears to be when whatever is going on started. But I can't think of anything that blow out could've destroyed to cause this problem.

I didn't realize we have another gmc dealership in town so I think I'm going to call them in the morning. That or sweet talk my mechanic into taking it for a while. It would be nice to have some sort of idea what's going on though :-/. I mean I know what is happening, just not why.
04-10-2021, 04:52 PM
Highfill tech

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyrannosaurus

Hello! I'm hoping someone has an idea because 3 shops later, I'm about to pull my hair out and haven't had my car in like 8 months now. 2009 Chevy aveo 5 speed

It started with P0011, but after my mechanic said to take it to the dealership, the transmission and clutch went out en route. Get to the dealership and they get code P0171, which my mechanic also got. That was a cracked intake duct. My car had classic signs the clutch was out and we knew it had a hole in the transmission. I told them repeatedly the revving and whatnot was likely the transmission as it was not doing that before and the hole wasn't there before. Anyway, they insisted, without a code for it, that it was the accelerator pedal. They replaced it and immediately had code P2138. Then they insisted that code was due to a bad ECM. Replaced that. Relearned everything. Codes disappeared. Except they didn't, they had just reset it and it came right back. I didn't have them do the transmission (don't trust them), so then I took my car to a transmission shop and they replaced everything. It left the dealership in February, I've been making payments on my transmission so I just picked it last Monday.

Had it about 20 minutes and the check engine light came on (it was on when I picked it up and they reset it, said it was likely just because they forgot to reset it). My car was then very difficult to move. Was getting gas and couldn't get out of my spot. Eventually it moved, but my rpms would act normal for the pressure I applied to my gas pedal, but it wasn't speeding up normally. I'm talking like 2 blocks to get to 10mph. Took it back to the transmission place and they said the sensors on my accelerator pedal weren't correlating. I told them the dealership just replaced it before I took it to you guys so they confirmed with the dealership that it was under warranty.

Get to the dealership like 20 minutes later. Confirm it's free if the part is faulty. Mind you, I hate this dealership. Hate. I recorded conversations with them for a reason. Anyway, they call me later that day and say they deemed the part to be faulty, it'd be in tomorrow, they'd let me know. About 2pm the next day I get a call. Guy says they put in the new part but it didn't fix it, he'd call me right back. 2.5 hours go by so I call. He says it's good to go and just had some corrosion on my wire harness. Weird because the transmission shop noticed corrosion and checked it all out and deemed it was fine. Anyway, huge fight with the dealership where they tried to bill me hundreds for cleaning up wires, but they never asked me if I wanted it done etc etc. But my car STILL isn't fixed. Same code (P2138) and same issues accelerating. Now I feel like they caused the code and idk what to do. It'll run normal for a while now, then start acting up again. I live out of town and have a 30 miles commute to work so I'm worried about taking it to test out. The transmission shop says they can't get it to act up even though it was acting up when I brought it to them and they've cleared the code several times and it keeps coming back and acting up.

Does anyone have any ideas? I attached a copy of what they did to my car earlier this year. This code was NOT showing prior to them removing the original accelerator pedal and replacing it according to my paperwork. Y'all wouldn't even believe how bad this place is. I posted my conversation with them on my FB page because at the end of it a grown man stormed off on a motorcycle, no joke lol. But I need help:( Attachment 11540

check the speed sensor plug make sure they didn't pull wires out of the plug this can cause an error to the pcm and throw the p2138 code.
04-10-2021, 05:37 PM
Tyrannosaurus

Eh, it has been almost 3 years. I believe the issue was the dealership damaged my wire harness so they replaced it. It started blowing holes in hoses way too often, even ones I just replaced so I caved and parked it in my driveway and bought a new car.

I should add, it also kept eating through new tires in weeks (I drive about 300-350 miles per week) and was leaking oil...and this was after I just replaced the shocks, ball joint, tie rods, etc. So more than just the hoses made me give up lol
04-13-2021, 11:50 PM
charpx1

well, dealerships are the bain of us all. i took mine because the HOLD light was (is still) flashing and they blamed the ECM & TCM and assured me that it was taken care of. didn't get but a mile down the road and the light starting flashing and running rough. took it back the next day and then they said that they couldn't duplicate the problem but i know that when i dropped it off that the check engine light was on. i suggested the throttle body and air intake duct and they said that it looked fine. LIARS! they didn't even look at it. if they had, they would have seen that the air intake hose was nearly in two pieces and when i changed the throttle body, it looked pretty gunky inside. so, now i'm wondering, how do i clean out the air system because i'm sure a lot of dirt and grime has been sucked in and so that is probably why i'm still getting occassional flashing HOLD light and rough engine. oh, can't go past 40 when the HOLD light is flashing and it seems to act up more when day temperature is more than 70. ugh...