The accelerator actuator or body

[geordief]

My auris broke down yesterday as the accelerator would not respond and there was a warning engine light on the dashboard "Check Engine"

 

It righted itself about 10 minutes later and I was able to drive home but I have to wait   until Tuesday for the garage to fix the problem.

Should I drive it with confidence in the meantime? What if I leave the motor running ? Would that be safer? 

[TonyHSD]

Hi, what engine has the car and what exactly happened? Check engine can show something small and you can use the car meanwhile but can be something big that can cause further trouble. Yellow warning lights in general means needs attention and inspection, diagnose of the problem. Red warning lights mean stop immediately , turn off engine and call for assistance. I can’t recommend to you either as I don’t know what actually the problem is with the car. 

[geordief]

4 hours ago, TonyHSD said:

Hi, what engine has the car and what exactly happened? Check engine can show something small and you can use the car meanwhile but can be something big that can cause further trouble. Yellow warning lights in general means needs attention and inspection, diagnose of the problem. Red warning lights mean stop immediately , turn off engine and call for assistance. I can’t recommend to you either as I don’t know what actually the problem is with the car. 

Toyota Auris 1.33 Stop/start VVTI TR 5DR, 2010
Body: 5 Door Hatchback
Engine CC: 1329
Fuel: Petrol

Hi. Well I pulled off the road for a break and when I restarted about 10 minutes later it stated fine but no acceleration.

I tried 2 or 3 times with no luck and called the insurance but then It kicked back in 

I then noticed the warning sign  on the dash (Check Engine  + the orange picture of an engine) 

Since then it drives fine (and the warning has gone)  but the garage says that diagnostics show it is the throttle actuator . They suspect there is carbon build up and a sluggish  response.

If cleaning doesn't work then a new part will be needed.

I  still have to use the car until the garage appointment next Tuesday and so I am wondering whether keeping the motor running when the car is stopped  will be safer than driving  out  and finding the car will not restart again (seems like an on/off kind of a fault)

[TonyHSD]

In this case it’s not a problem to drive the car. I don’t know what is better to turn off or keep it running, I believe when the ecu detected a fault has put the car onto limp mode, that’s the reason it lost power. if it does that again just turn on and off the engine 4-5 times and you will be out of this mode and you can drive as normal again. , probably this is what happens so the car reset itself and you could drive away. Throttle body usually needs periodic cleaning every 50k miles or 5-8 years. 👍
 

[geordief]

1 hour ago, TonyHSD said:

In this case it’s not a problem to drive the car. I don’t know what is better to turn off or keep it running, I believe when the ecu detected a fault has put the car onto limp mode, that’s the reason it lost power. if it does that again just turn on and off the engine 4-5 times and you will be out of this mode and you can drive as normal again. , probably this is what happens so the car reset itself and you could drive away. Throttle body usually needs periodic cleaning every 50k miles or 5-8 years. 👍

Yes , I also  assumed at first  that it had gone into "limp mode" when it came back (it was the first time it had happened  to me but I had read about it)

But when the garage told me  that the diagnostics were showing up the throttle actuator I changed my mind and  thought then it was indeed just an intermittent fault  with accelerator    that was causing this loss of power.

But I think you are right .

So I just have to keep the car running until  my garage appointment next Tuesday and if the problem reoccurs I will just keep turning the engine on and off until it resets itself. (and if that doesn't work I will just call out the Insurers again as there is no charge😃  )