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Limp mode away from home - a thread

16K views 42 replies 14 participants last post by  Holman3rd  
#1 ·
Very long ,but no way to make this story short--

Posting about my experience in case it might help anyone who encounters the same problem in the future, OR if there is anyone who has already experienced something similar. I have a 2020 SLE 2.0T with ~34K miles. On the way back from NJ last weekend (Saturday), the check engine light went on around Allentown, PA. Car seemed to be running the same, so I kept driving (we were over 150 miles from home in Maryland). We had to drop one daughter off in Hershey, PA on the way and the car ran fine (with check engine light on) until the Hershey exit ramp where additional warnings popped up. Cruise control failed, LKAS failed and the car went into limp mode. Pulled over, turned the car off, waited a minute--started it back up--seemed to be running find. Got about another mile and same thing happened. Limped into a bank parking lot and called Hyundai Roadside assistance.

The positive part of this story is that the tow truck got there in 15 minutes and towed the car 10 miles to Faulkner Hyundai in Harrisburg. This was after 5pm, so I knew they'd be closed. We Ubered to my daughter's place and my wife and I drove her car home to MD.

Faulker called on Monday to ask why my car was there. I explained everything and they said "all we can do is scan for codes." OK, I asked them to please do that. They called later that afternoon to say they pulled Code P2118, but they drove the car "10 miles" and it seemed find. Then they said, "If you want a deeper diagnosis, we can look at it mid-July AT THE EARLIEST." What? They were stone-cold in their conversation with me. Absolutely no indication that they could at least try to help me out.

After looking into options to get the car to my home dealership (shipping, tow it myself, etc), I decided to roll the dice and drive it back myself (~75 miles). It was a white-knuckle drive the whole way home, but I made it (with the check engine light on the whole way).

The car is now at my local dealership with an appointment for this Tuesday (6/12). I will update this thread when I hear from them.

I looked up the diagnostic history on My Hyundai, and these are the DTC codes: P2118, C161386, C136081, C174181.

I have had multiple issues with this vehicle prior to this incident. Intermittent problems where it won't start up right away (dealership couldn't find anything wrong). Auto-Stop-Start not working for several months (I never asked dealer about that b/c i figured that's a good problem to have...maybe not).

While I wait, I'm hoping they can find the problem and fix it under warranty. But I can't help feel that I drive this car with some anxiety that it will break down again--especially on long trips. Maybe I get it fixed and trade-in it. For what, I don't know. Not a good time for buying cars.

Stay tuned. Fingers crossed.

PS--when we drove back up to Harrisburg in my daughter's 2016 Chevy Cruze to pick up my Santa Fe, the check engine light on the Cruze lit up!! Car started losing acceleration, so we had to drop it off at a chevy dealership down the street from the Hyundai dealership. I couldn't believe our bad luck. Chevy fixed it the next day and we go that car back to my daughter, thankfully. What a week.
 
#2 ·
Wow, some bad luck there. Our Start Stop also has not worked for several months either and like you was not unhappy about that. My wife did experience limp mode once about a year ago. I hope we are not headed for the same issues as you.
 
#8 ·
Thank you. Crossing my fingers they find something wrong and can fix it. I can't have them tell me that they didn't find anything wrong. I can't drive a vehicle that I know can quit on me any random moment. I'm headed up to CT for the weekend in a couple of weeks. I don't want to imagine breaking down on the Tappan Zee Bridge (I know they built a new one and renamed it, but it will always be TZB to me).
 
#4 ·
Sounds to me like there's a damaged or loose connection to the throttle body motor.

 
#7 ·
This sounds like what the problem could be. I hope so. Last thing I want is the dealership telling me that can't find anything wrong with the vehicle. On a side note--I didn't know the Santa Fe was "throttle by wire"--I'm no expert obviously. But one thing that I don't like about it is the very short delay between pressing the "gas" pedal and engine response. Very annoying, and possibly dangerous, in high traffic situations.
 
#5 ·
Not only sucks to buy vehicles right now, but getting them serviced seems even worse, for what I've heard. Plus no freaking loaners anymore. Hope not to have any issues with the new SF Calligraphy, and whatever 2nd car we end up with eventually (still looking, and nothing available). Had to return a new G70 3.3T SP with a horrible engine noise, and after 3 weeks, it was still sitting there yesterday. No way I was going to start ownership like that. Glad dealer took it back, but I'd have put a stop-payment on my check if needed. Bad time to both buy and own a vehicle. Ha ha.
 
#6 ·
When the Harrisburg dealership said they couldn't look at it until mid-July, I asked about a loaner under the warranty program. I was told "Hyundai won't authorize a loaner (or rental) without a diagnosis". Me-"But I won't have a car to drive for at least 6 weeks!". Them--"<crickets>"
 
#15 ·
End of this story (hopefully). I just picked up the vehicle. It seems to be accelerating fine now. The auto-start stop is working again. Maybe there is some connection between the throttle body and the conditions required for the auto start stop to work. Back to pushing the button to deactivate it!

Anyway, the service advisor told me all they could find wrong was the dirty throttle body. I asked if it was typical for it to be so dirty at 34k miles. She said it was rare and that's why the covered the cleaning under warranty--which, I believe, is not typically covered. I asked how many miles are typically on a car with a dirty throttle body--the answer was "around 75K or so." Hmmm. She then said, "That's why we recommend throttle body cleaning every 30k". I asked "Why 30k if the problems start at 75K?" Answer "Preventative maintenance." Or maybe it's commission, I'm not sure. Not to go off on a tangent, but I'm a big believer in keeping up with regular maintenance on vehicles. But please stop overselling me on services I don't need. I have yet to deal with a dealership that does NOT do this, and it's the primary reason I only go to dealerships for warranty work.

I hate dealing with dealerships in every aspect, from trade ins, car buying, financing, service. But at least they covered the cost of this repair.

But I'm still a little anxious about driving this vehicle long distances--maybe I'm worried about nothing.

Oh---she said "we drove the car for 10 miles and it was fine." That's the same 10 mile quote the Harrisburg dealership said about the vehicle when they had it. Coincidence? I'm thinking they either just loop it around the parking lot or don't test drive it at all. I have a hard time believing they have enough time to take cars out on 10 mile test drives. But I didn't want to seem like a jerk, so I didn't ask.
 
#16 ·
Did they also do the intake manifold cleaning (with crushed walnut shells)...I thought that was one they pushed? I've never had my GDI done, or used any additives for the injectors...runs fine and gets good mileage.
 
#17 · (Edited)
Wow a dirty TB is the culprit at only 34K miles!?!?

Maybe I will clean my TB when I reach 30K miles along with the spark plugs. Cleaning the TB on these vehicles is a little more involved. Cooling lines run through it so those need to be removed...and Hyundai recommends removing the TB in order to clean it.
 
#20 ·
The normal operation of the throttle-body control is to adjust for this build-up...the ECM "remembers" the setting compensating for dirt. You'll realize this if you change the battery without back-up. That's why I asked about intake cleaning...the TB shouldn't be an issue. Must be a "turbo-thing"?
 
#24 ·
"Test drove the car for 10 miles" seems to be a standard answer. You can check-up on that by noting your mileage when you take it to the dealership. You can take a photo of the odometer. I proved that the a dealer's service department drove my car 1 mile, even though they told me 10. The "mileage in" and "mileage out" on my receipt were not 10 miles different, so their own documentation didn't support the claimed 10-mile test drive. This was at a Subaru dealer, not my Hyundai.
 
#28 ·
Couldn't hurt and it's cheaper than adding Techron.

From the 2020 Owner's manual.

Detergent Fuel Additives
HYUNDAI recommends that you use good quality gasolines treated with detergent additives such as TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline, which help prevent deposit formation in the engine. These gasolines will help the engine run cleaner and enhance performance of the Emission Control System. For more information on TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline, please go to the website (www.toptiergas.com).

For customers who do not use TOP Tier Detergent Gasoline regularly, and have problems starting or the engine does not run smoothly, detergent-based fuel additives that you can purchase separately may beadded to the gasoline. If TOP TIER Detergent Gasoline is not available, one bottle of additive added to the fuel tank according to the maintenance schedule is recommended (refer to the Maintenance Schedule in chapter 7).

Additives are available from your authorized HYUNDAI dealer along with information on how to use them. Do not mix other additives.
 
#29 ·
Whelp, it wasn't the throttle body, as I feared. My Santa Fe went into limp mode today in the middle of a busy intersection on my way to the store. Same exact error codes as last time. An incredible coincidence is that I was able to pull over right in front of my local Hyundai dealership. I waited 10 minutes, started the car and got it into the dealership parking lot where it immediately went into limp mode again. I was able to limp it into the service bay. They told me they can look at it tomorrow. I did say to the service advisor "it's not the throttle body." Stay tuned.

As reminder, these are the codes: P2118, P1613 and P1360
 
#30 ·
Of course it will be perfectly fine tomorrow, they won't be able to find anything even though they saw it in limp mode today. Let us know.
 
#31 ·
P1360 and P1613 are new ones since your first post.
I think there's a wiring harness problem. Visual inspection is in order.


 
#32 ·
Thanks for the links!

I think I mentioned those codes previously, but regardless there were 4 codes yesterday. The same 4 codes that appeared in June. I'm getting the info from the diagnostics page of MyHyundai. P211800, P161386, P161381, C136081.

Some additional info. The check engine light came on again, then the safety features started failing. E.g., LKAS, front collision warning. The auto-stop-start light was flashing. And there was a warning message on the center info screen....
 

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#33 ·
Just heard from the dealership. They are going to replace the throttle body. They said that last time (June) it was the same error code (which we know) and a TSB said to clean the throttle body. This time they say they will just replace the part...hopefully on Friday. I asked how confident they are that this will solve my problem....that it's not a sensor or a faulty wiring harness. They said "very" and something about being able to see where the throttle body is "sticking." Is that possible?

The biggest issue for me is the anxiety I have while driving the vehicle. I have deliberately stayed within a 50 mile radius of my home when driving it. We use my wife's Honda for all longer-distance driving. That's just stupid considering my car is 2 years old with <36K miles on it.
 
#37 ·
There's a BIG difference between understanding how something works and how something breaks.
I'm convinced it takes apprenticeship, not just classrooms, to become a good troubleshooter.
 
#41 ·
Got the car back this morning. The throttle body was replaced. Drive home was uneventful. So far so good. Fingers crossed. Here are the mechanic's notes:

"Scanned for codes found code P2118 throttle actuator motor current range/performance. Grafhed the ETC motor and throttle position sensor Angle 1 and 2 using the GDS. Found the ETC motor spiking. Throttle body has an internal fault."
 
#43 ·
Follow up question. The initial problem was the check engine light which set code P2118. But the vehicle still drove fine. When it first happened, I drove nearly 100 miles before limp mode was triggered. During the most recent experience, the check engine light came on first (P2118), and very shortly thereafter it went into limp mode. But it seems that the subsequent codes related to the LKAS and SCC are what made the vehicle limp, not P2118. Is this a standard cascade of safety systems shutting down that triggers limp? I just don't understand what P2118 (throttle body error) has to do with safety systems, and what exactly triggered limp. Thanks.