8.1 liter 2002 going into reduced power mode

[matthewtoddnelson]

My 2002 Destiny, on the Chevy chassis with the 8.1 liter, is going in and out of the "reduced power mode". I've had two separate mechanics in different states, look at it, diagnose the problem, fix it, and to have it happen again. Fan clutch replaced he first time and throttle position sensor replaced the second. I'm wondering if this has been a common issue to the 8.1 or if I'm battling something too complicated for an easy fix? 95,000 miles. I searched the forums and didn't find any pertinent info.

[Blue~Go]

This is but a scrap of info, sorry. Totally different engine (Ford V10 gas in E-450 RV), but on a cross country trip, my buddy's engine went into limp mode over and over again (but would then run fine for hundreds of miles after re-starting). We deduced that it had something to do with possibly overheating, but it was hard to tell if it was actually overheating or if it just "thought" it was overheating. When it did this, the temp would read high on the scan gauge (unrealistically high).

After a long series of "limps" and collecting data as we went, it turned out to be a bad cylinder head temperature sensor (fixed that, problem went away). So it wasn't really overheating, but just "thought" it was. Not sure if your engine has something like that, but figured it's an idea anyway.

In our case we had some codes to give us clues. So if your check engine light is coming on, you could get something like a Scan Gauge II (or other device) and read the codes in real time (you can then look them up online). If you dismiss them and they come up again, that can be an additional clue. You can have some auto parts stores read codes, but that's not quite the same as doing it on the fly (plus the gauges give you lots of other good info, such as trans temps, water temp, etc.)

Sorry this isn't even for your engine. Feel free to just scroll on by.

BG