Hi,

I've got an '09 Xterra that has a weird intermittent throttle issue, no codes and once in a blue moon the VDC and slip lights come on and they go out with a key cycle.
What appears to be happening is the engine control is cutting throttle down to 25-30% intermittently. I've got a scan tool and looked at various data, throttle inputs look normal and correlate, all the wheel sensors have correlating values that look good. The only thing I have found is the yaw sensor has a steady non-zero value intermittently and occasionally has spikes in the data when at a standstill, both being less than 1 degree. Being that its digital, I thought it was a bad sensor, I picked up a used one and plugged it in, effectively the same results. The only other clue I have observed is that the issue may be related to temperature, it doesn't seem to do it much or at all above 60F
It "feels" like the early stage of the traction control kicking in but doesn't release control. Anyone have any ideas on direction to proceed with troubleshooting? Anyone ever seen this before? Thanks for any help.

--myootnt

 

The 2008 -09 Xterras had a common issue with throttle complaints. The problem is almost always related to the memory chip programming in traction control board. The firm has a fix: TSB-08778-NI33 which is basically a free reprogramming by the dealer. It takes appro 40 min and they will confirm and then apply the TSB free. That normally fixes it. A corrupted program line in the original memory chip on some if not most 08-09 vehicles caused it. Go to dealer and request the TSB quoted above..