P2135, P0300 and P1681

[Gomezl2014]

Hey guys hopefully y’all can help because I’m losing my mind. So, I recently purchased a 2003 saab 9-3 arc with a check engine light and didn’t realize what I was getting into until a few days afterwards. This is the symptoms I was running into before I took it to autozone to check out the codes, so when I turn the car on and it decides to not act out and wants to actually drive it’s fine UNTIL I start going up a tiny hill then it doesn’t want to accelerate, I can have the entire pedal down to the ground and I will still go between 15-20mph... also when the car starts doing this when I stop at a red light or if I have the car in park it will start jerking and I can see the tachometer and the turbo gage going up and down like if I am pressing on the gas pedal which I am not. That being said I got the codes from autozone and they told me it was p2135 which is the throttle body/ pedal sensor p0138 which is the 02 sensor and p0300 which is a misfire. Well I replaced the throttle body and pedal sensor and 02 sensor with parts I’ve found on eBay and my machanic switch it out for me. When I received my car the check engine light was off and the car didn’t jerk when I was at stop signs and in park and seemed like everything was fixed until the next day on my way to work the check engine light came back on and on my way back home it didn’t want to accelerate unless i turned my car on and off a couple times also the jerking also came back. I went to autozone to figure out what codes popped up this time and they said it was p2135, p0300 and p1681 ... the o2 sensor code went away but not the throttle body or misfire and a new code came up... does anyone know what this could be so I could fix this problem I’m desperate... thank you!

[Digger]

Welcome to the quirky world of computer controlled engines. The average Autozone code reader doesn't have the Saab extended code set and best to find someone close with a Tech2 and Saab software if this little trick doesn't find your problem. Un plug the mas air flow sensor and see if the car runs smooth and normal, sure it will generate a ton of codes, but if the car runs smooth you clean or replace the sensor as needed and pull the battery cable to clear codes and let the car relearn itself. Needles to say this is for testing only as leaving it unplugged and driving for any length of time will do hundreds of dollars of damage to your emissions system.

[Gomezl2014]

Unfortunately that didn’t work ran for about 5 minutes then lost acceleration again.

[Digger]

Unfortunately that didn’t work ran for about 5 minutes then lost acceleration again.

That eliminates one of several potential causes and getting to the source of the problem would be hundreds of times faster with good test equipment, but you can do a lot of testing even without the tools and get a good idea of what might be the problem by guessing at the outcome of any given test.

Go to the first sticky in the Tech Talk section and you find a link for downloading the WIS. When you get that up and running you will see an icon that looks like binoculars that you click on and insert known codes. When you have a code that has a testing procedure an arrow points to an icon that looks like a heartbeat monitor and when you click on that icon you are presented with a ton of tests that will eventually lead you to an informed opinion. For tests that require a Tech 2 you can work your way through the questions with guess and guess as to results until you either find the cause, or know that you will need to spend some money to hire the mechanic with the tool.

[swisssaabist]

TB was on his way ...Throttle body failure or might be accelerator sensor failure too