broke down with a P3190

I broke down today. Was driving along at about 50mpg when engine died and I lost all throttle control. I was able to limp (not totally positive if I was limping or coasting), presumably on the Hybrid battery, for a half mile where I finally just stopped and the car wouldn't move after that. Pulled a P3190, got a tow home.

When the code is set I can't even start the car into ready mode, but if I clear the code then start it, it will start and run fine for a very consistent 12 seconds until the engine cuts out and the CEL and triangle come on. It's not like shaking or struggling or anything it just completely dies.

I've checked the MAF which seemed super clean, I cleaned the MAP with electrical contact cleaner, as well as visual check on the throttle body and any hoses in the area. I also did the Throttle Body inspection from the service manual that has you read resistance between pin 1 and 2 and got 1.4ohms (spec is .3 to 100 ohms).

Currently all the throttle position data stays static when pressing the gas which makes sense since I'm not getting any throttle movement, but I am able to get throttle position data if I manually mess with the throttle butterfly valve. The thing is, I'm getting no movement whatsoever from REQUIRE POSITION OF THROTTLE or POSITION COMMAND OF THROTTLE whether the car is running or not. I assume those are related to pedal movement. Does that immediately make either the accelerator position sensor or the ECM the two main suspects? Does anyone know how the accelerator position sensor works, can I test it easily?

If anyone with an OBD2 scanner could see if they are able to get movement on any of those two data points (the capitalized ones) or the throttle position data points, using the acceleration pedal and with the car in accessory mode especially, that would be super helpful I think.

Any other insight appreciated.

 

I found accelerator pedal position #1 and #2 data under hydrid control ECU and those do show change upon pressing the pedal so I guess the sensor works. I'm still wondering if I should be getting that throttle command data mentioned under Engine and ECT.

 

Now it starts after I clear the codes, but immediately dies and the throttle body is whining and it looks like maybe it's trying to move the butterfly valve. Any way to prove to myself that the throttle body is unable to control the valve? Does a throttle body ever whine?

 

Well I think I'm at that headache. HV battery is depleted. I do have a charger, I just don't have a way to control the fan. I believe I will be pulling the HV and (if all goes well) charging it in the house with a box fan before I can continue.

I appreciate the info, I'll be back with more questions when I can move on.

 

Since I depleted the HV battery should I be doing a full balance charge cycle?

If not, then do I need a fan going just to get it up to working voltage, or can I do it in car with no fan?

 

Got er charged a few hours last night and it's up to 60%.

Is there a clever way to test for fuel issues? Can I spray some starter fluid somewhere while it's trying to crank?

 

I'm over a quarter tank, but I put a gallon in just in case. I'm also not that close to typical tank mileage.

I did however spray starter fluid into the throttle body and it absolutely makes it run longer, so that has me leaning pretty far in the fuel direction.

I'm able to make the fuel pump run/make noise with the scan tool.

Is it possible that I could pull the pump and see if it shoots fuel into a bucket when I command it with the tool?

 

I can't believe I didn't notice this earlier, but my 12v battery is only at 11.5 in acc mode and 12.5 when the car is on or it's on a charger. It seems odd to me since the whole fuel thing above and since the car successfully tries to start every time, but I know a bad 12v can cause weird random issues. It's a 4 year old battery, I've had it maintaining most the time I've been diagnosing at 10A but sometimes only 2A. I can't tell you what it was at when the car broke down since I wasn't paying attention to that unfortunately . I hope that's it, but I'm not totally convinced. I'll give it a nice charge today and go from there.

Would still take any advice on fuel pump testing.

 

Fully charged the 12V and it started right up and runs fine.

I'm a little flustered that this took me off the road with no warning. I wonder if I should be concerned about a charging issue or whatnot? I did have the negative battery cable off recently when I replaced a rear caliper, but that was weeks ago and I always take care to get my connections solid, so I don't think it was a connection issue. I'm constantly seeing my battery voltage with hybrid assistant so it feels like it came out of nowhere. Aren't there low voltage codes that I should have been getting?

Is it possible the low voltage caused the fuel pump not to work when the battery was under load? I guess the starter fluid thing was probably a red herring.

I'm going to skeptically call it the battery for now. It's either that, or it fixed itself and I drained the battery while testing. I wish I could drive around on it a bit to get more data, but with the way it failed I really don't want to have to get another tow. I can get a Napa battery by Mon for 245+tax. Really need my car by tues. It was a Deka 9A51P btw.

 

Yeah I guess that's where I'm at. I took my first real drive since charging the AUX battery and everything seems normal. Cycled between 14.5 and 13.7 while driving. In ACC mode it'll sit at 12.3 (is that telling me anything?). Then when I turn on READY mode it goes to 14.2, then rises quick and steady to 14.5 and the engine starts. After being parked for a bit it'll be 12.65

There's a good chance I just ran it down while trying to diagnose. I can't believe I wasn't keeping an eye on it early on.

I appreciate the wealth of knowledge in your posts, I learn a ton.