How To Fix Volkswagen Throttle Position Sensor P0221
Volkswagen Throttle Position Sensor Trouble Code P0221 and P0121 (00545) is a common issue. Symptoms will include Check Engine light, EPC light and unresponsive throttle pedal. There are several things which can cause it: a bad throttle motor, gas pedal sensor problem or a short in wire harness somewhere.
However, there is a small thing that is overlooked and might be the culprit.
Problem can be electrical connector plug on throttle body motor. On older cars corrosion causes a poor electrical contact between throttle body and throttle body electrical plug, creating higher resistance.
If that happens, ECU will put vehicle on limp mode. This is a known issue by Volkswagen, they have a bulletin for it (TSB 01/17/05) and sell a repair kit to repin throttle body plug with new wires and pins. This problem affects both Volkswagen and Audi cars.
Volkswagen Throttle Position Sensor Switch problem, Codes P0221 P0121. Symptoms:
Vehicle is a 2010 Tiguan, 2.0L Turbo 4motion. Check engine and EPC light came on initially once a week but slowly became a daily issue. Car enters limp mode when this problem occurs.
Vehicle will become unresponsive to gas pedal while driving. If engine is turned off and restarted car will run normally again, until next time it goes back to limp mode.
If you have a similar problem on your Volkswagen or Audi, as a first step to identifying the issue you should clean throttle body electrical connector to assure throttle body plug is not the problem.
Volkswagen Throttle Position Sensor Switch problem, Codes P0221 P0121. In this case, throttle body plug was cleaned with electronic cleaner and dielectric grease was applied on electrical connector contacts. Vehicle has been running normally again without any problems.
What to do: Remove electrical plug from throttle body motor, press on center tab and pull to unplug it. Arrow in image below shows where to push for uncliping throttle body electrical connector.
Volkswagen Throttle Connector Plug Repair
Spray electronic or electric cleaner on all (there are six) contact tabs on electrical plug and pins on throttle body itself.
Apply dielectric grease on all contact pin slots on throttle body electrical plug, not too much, just a bit per slot will do fine. Dielectric grease will help insulate and prevent corrosion.
If this works, check engine light and EPC light should go out after a short one minute drive, no need for OBD2 scanner to clean trouble codes. If problem persist after this procedure, then you might want to try and repin throttle body connector plug with new pins/wires.
Professional investigation is needed if repining doesn’t work either. Anyways, cleaning throttle body connector plug is easy, requires no tools and very little time. It’s worth a try as a first step to resolve this problem.
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