Electronic Throttle Control (ETC) light

Bubba · **Joined:** Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:34 pm **Posts:** 46

First time I ever have seen the ETC light blinking. I was parked on a VERY steep down hill grade for several hours while fishing from my kayak. I loaded up and started up the jeep. After about 2 minutes or running the Electronic Throttle Control (ETC) started blinking and about 3 times I felt the jeep throttle back some but it never stopped. I drove about 30 miles (some dirt / and some highway roads) to my camp with the light blinking and the jeep ran as normal. Owners manual said turn off the engine in park and restart the engine and the light has stayed off and has not come on again I would estimate after 20 restarts and about miles of driving. Should I make this down as an abnormality or take it and have it check out. Again the Jeep runs and performs like nothing has happened.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 8:27 pm

OBD II scanners are cheap and Auto parts stores like Autozone will check codes for free.
Therefore, your choice is Cheap or Free to have peace of mind.
I bough mine at Harbor Freight, it works fine.

Bubba · **Joined:** Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:34 pm **Posts:** 46

I see no codes on my Harbour Freight Scanner

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 8:55 pm

This happened to me once as well. In my case, I believe it was caused by applying brake and throttle simultaneously. If you are a "left foot" braker, I think you now know what caused this. If you never brake with your left foot, you have a different issue.

DOC

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sat May 30, 2009 9:04 pm

Bubba wrote:

I see no codes on my Harbour Freight Scanner

They will lecture you about how farts cause global warming.

Take care,

Bubba · **Joined:** Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:34 pm **Posts:** 46

DOC4444
I am a "left foot" braker and have been a left foot braker for long time so why did it pick this one time to make the light blink? Did you do anything different after your light came on as in take it to be checked out or just kept driving after the light reset? I am tempted to drive on.

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 7:57 am

Bubba wrote:

DOC4444
I am a "left foot" braker and have been a left foot braker for long time so why did it pick this one time to make the light blink? Did you do anything different after your light came on as in take it to be checked out or just kept driving after the light reset? I am tempted to drive on.

With the plastic stator in our stock torque converters, an engineer may have done this trick to scare people away from brake torquing.
MrMopar or Danoid may be able to uncover this mystery, if Chrysler survives long enough for them to read and answer this post.

DOC4444 · **Posted:** Sun May 31, 2009 10:29 am

Bubba,

Left foot braking, done well, usually does not result in simultaneous application of brake and throttle except maybe on the racetrack. So, you probably do this very rarely.

Based on what you have said, I think this is what caused the ETC light to go on. You followed the correct procedure of "rebooting" and driving on. I am confident that you have nothing to worry about in this regard going forward, and that if it happens again, you should also have no worries.

(Wish all our CRD issues were so easily and cheaply resolved.)

DOC

danoid · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:41 pm

I think the ETC light can blink from having the accelerator AND brake pressed for 15 seconds or longer. The rationale is that no one will really do that, therefore one of the signals is wrong.

Happened to me once on the freeway. I know I wasn't riding the brake, that foot was flat on the floor. (I'm a two footed auto driver also - habit from having to use three pedals.)

I had code P 0641 VOLTAGE TOO LOW. This was explained to me as NOT the code from two footing, the engineer advised me to proceed directly to the dealership, there's a problem with the 5V pedal sensor power supply in the engine controller.

Light went off with the ignition key - I didn't go to the dealer - I cleared the code - hasn't come back in four years.

I'm not worried about the situation.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:58 pm

You're cherry Bubba. My wife has been able to make this code pop up from time to time. Although she denies two foot driving, I know better because I have followed her. Once she shuts off the ignition and restarts, it is fine with no codes.

Bubba · **Joined:** Thu Sep 15, 2005 7:34 pm **Posts:** 46

All
Thanks for the response. I have driven the CRD every day since the incidence and no flashing light. danoid –Now that I think about it I did have my three aux driving lights on , high beans, AC, foot on brake. I will mark this down as one of those abuser/anomaly occurrences and drive on. I am kind of attached to this quirky little jeep.

crdjon · **Posted:** Mon Jun 08, 2009 10:31 am

Mine comes on every morning, drive for five minutes, shutdown the vehicle and restart and it doesnt come back.

Came back on once when in cruise control set at 80 kilometres per hour going down a grade.

Not sure what it is, no specific DTC for it, brakes need doing soon other than that I dont know whats going on with it. Think Ill go down and get the main battery load tested coz this only started happening on the first really cold day, ice on the ground about 3 weeks ago.

Isnt this fun......

Bbowden · **Joined:** Fri Nov 02, 2012 8:33 pm **Posts:** 1

We had our ETC light come on in our 07 Liberty. This was an intermittent problem for a few weeks. One day it started up and idled horribly. Check engine light came on and stayed on. We turned off the jeep and restarted and all was good. Then one day it ran horrible and would only go up to 20mph. ETC light began blinking and check engine light still on. We decided to look into this a little further and opened up the throttle body. The plate was not moving when we pressed on the accelerator. Tapped on it and nothing. Idle was horrible. We then squeezed the connector and held tight on the ETC while pressing the accelerator and whaala....Throttle body plate is moving and engine is purring like a sweet kitten! We discovered the tab on the connector was not grabbing on one side of the connector. Squeezed it in and it clicked and was now secure. Next we disconnected the battery cable and turned key to start and back three times to reset computer and all lights are gone! Hope this helps anyone who is experiencing this issue! Easy and free fix!!

NVeskimo88 · **Joined:** Mon Dec 17, 2012 3:58 pm **Posts:** 1

I had a similar problem. I live in AK, and it's been -40 or lower the past couple weeks with a nice brief warm moment last week. A couple weeks ago, this light came on, and according the owners manual I needed to take it into the dealership. So I scheduled it for an appointment. the light went out and I didn't really think about it until today, when my Jeep completely shut down. My roommate and I managed to get it workiing again, but it wouldn't go about 25 mph with the pedal all the way down. My apt was today, luckily, but I ended up driving about 25 miles on just 25-30 mph. Needless to say this morning wasn't a great morning. but the dealership called me and told me that it was the throttle control malfunctioning, and that it needed to be replaced. About a $350-$500 fee this is gonna cost me. And I have no objections to it, go ahead and fix it...but my main question is, has anyone else here dealt with this sort of thing? Is it a freezing temps thing? Because this is my 3rd winter up here, and this is the first time I've had any real problems.

Thanks in advance

Glend · **Posted:** Mon Dec 17, 2012 7:01 pm

In my experience that ETC light indicates a problem with the glow plugs. Suggest you check the resistance across each of the glow plugs to establish is one or more are dead or developing high resistance. You can either mesasure them at the plug itself, or easier to do measuring down the wire from the glow plug module connector located behind the battery. The wiring diagram is in the Service Manual, but its easy to see which four wires go to the glow plugs. Your looking for low resistance to earth, so using a multimeter, put th black lead on the engine earth or negative battery post and the red lead on the top of the glow plug or on the glow plug wire at the module connector (disconnected from the module of course). If it reads between a couple of ohms up to say 5or 6 then its ok, if it's high or open then the glow plug is bad and should be replaced.

Dennis MacGyver · **Posted:** Mon Dec 17, 2012 8:29 pm

Are you getting a CEL too ? If so I'd pull the codes from your OBDII port.

Electronic Throttle Control (ETC) light

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