2008 Buick LaCrosse "Reduced Engine Power"

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Oct 28, 2023 | 05:01 PM

RA31525

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Same problem

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maplehighlander

Hello, Hoping someone can shed some light on this issue I've been having. I have a 2008 Lacrosse and it'* been getting progressively worse about throwing a "Reduced Engine Power" alert. It started early this winter and happened once while I was getting into work. Went in to work, came back out, started and worked fine for several months. Recently, as of last month it did it again with my fiance driving. We took it to the shop at that point and they could not find the issue, checked throttle body that was clear, they theorized there was moisture in the connection points and sprayed in some water displacer and us $100 for their time. I recently had a mechanic friend run the codes for it and it pointe to the pedal sensor, Ordered and replaced that, no difference, in fact worse this morning. A factor may be that I've found is that it is worse in hot and humid weather conditions. It may very well be an electrical issue but I'm not sure where to track it down and shops have been less than helpful with this issue.

Additional information
-Previously I could clear the issue by Turning the car off, removing the key and opening the door
-The Traction control light will also come on occasionally
-The drivers side airbag light is lit constantly lately
-"Service tire monitoring system" is on constantly after aforementioned mechanic friend tried to re-learn the tire positions with a tool. I have a rotation coming up so we figured we'd deal with that at that time.

Any insights into this issue would be appreciated, I'm pretty sure it'* something electrical based on the behavior, but I'm not sure where to look or adjust to fix that problem.

Thank you.

I have the same car and the same problem.Did you get it figured out?

Last edited by CathedralCub; Oct 30, 2023 at 01:48 AM. Reason: Added quote from original thread so this thread would know what is being discussed

Oct 30, 2023 | 01:39 AM

CathedralCub

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CathedralCub is a splendid one to behold

Maplehighlander posted once then never returned to answer questions. We may as well treat this as a new issue.

With all of those oddball things together I feel like asking:

- How old is the battery?

- How many volts does it show with everything turned off?

- How many volts does it show when the engine is idling after warming up?

Last edited by CathedralCub; Oct 30, 2023 at 01:47 AM.

Oct 30, 2023 | 01:41 AM

CathedralCub

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Copied question for a new member and different vehicle to the beginning of this new thread. Original thread can be found here.

Last edited by CathedralCub; Oct 30, 2023 at 01:47 AM.

Oct 30, 2023 | 03:34 PM

carfixer007

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Wayne23

I have the same car and the same problem.Did you get it figured out?

The OP you quote says a code had him change out the pedal sensor and it was worse after.
Don't know if they installed it wrong.
Do you have codes?

Oct 30, 2023 | 07:30 PM

CathedralCub

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Maplehighlander never came back to report progress or results.

Hopefully Wayne23 will.

Oct 31, 2023 | 11:08 PM

RA31525

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Quote:

Originally Posted by CathedralCub

Maplehighlander never came back to report progress or results.

Hopefully Wayne23 will.

I replaced my pedal many times.First I bought a Napa pedal and it worked fine for a few weeks and then came back.So, I went back to Napa and got a replacement under the warranty.Problem came back.I bought a gm pedal from Rockauto and it worked a lot better, but the problem still came back.I replaced the wire connector for the pedal and cleaned the battery ground cable.Still had the problem.My battery does have a problem on one post.My battery cables were to loose to give a good connection.So, instead of fixing the cables like I did now I tried a post shim.Well that didn’t work and it messed up the post some.I bought a new battery today.I will let you know if it fixes it.With the Napa pedal it would happen a lot more often.

Oct 31, 2023 | 11:34 PM

CathedralCub

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Interesting to hear of a bad connection at the battery. I'm also still curious about these:

- How old is the battery?

- How many volts does it show with everything turned off?

- How many volts does it show when the engine is idling after warming up?

Nov 1, 2023 | 10:52 AM

RA31525

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Battery

Quote:

Originally Posted by CathedralCub

Batterybis about two years old and I believe these things happened after I installed the battery.Ive checked the voltage at the battery with a multimeter and it was good, but I did not check it with everything on and everything off yet, but I do know it fluctuates.Never below 12.4 though.