To all,

Today my check engine light came on when driving to work. I have a Davis Car Chip and I downloded the code, but I'm unsure what to look for or fix. My car is a 97 850R wagon. It has 145000 mi on it and the last time I did a ignition tune up (replace plugs/wires/cap/rotor) was around 45000 miles ago. For those of you in a hurry -- I'm writing a novel for all the gory details... sorry.

Here is the code:

P0123 Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/Switch "A" Circuit High Input

Here is the scenario and symptoms:

The check engine light came on about 30 miles from home on the way to work (~30 min driving, car is fully warmed up). I drove the other 10 miles to work with no signs of a problem except for the light. When leaving work, the light was still on (obviously). I thought it hesatated slightly when pulling out of the parking spot, but chalked it up to A/C. About 20 minutes later I glanced down to my Temp gague and noticed it was dead cold.... then the car seemed to go on auto-pilot (like the cruise control was set) at around 62-65 mph. At the same time, the temp gague then went right back up to operating temp then back down, and up again. Even if I hit the brake, the car seemed to want to stay at that speed. I got off the highway and as I was coming around the off-ramp the engine sped up again to about 4000 rpm and held there. I shifted into neutral and blipped the throttle a couple of times. It settled back down -- almost felt like my parent's old Malibu-- like the "choke" was on or something.

I pulled into a supermarket parking lot and opened the hood. Coolant level was OK, upper radiator hose was hot, didn't see any wires hanging out of ignition bits. Checked the fluids really quick... all ok. The battery is 2 months old, so I didn't bother checking that. As I was shutting the hood I noticed something jammed in between the radiator and the frame in front of the radiator... it was a chunk of a DUNKIN DONTUS Styrofoam coffee cup. It was covering the upper corner of the passenger side of the radiator pretty well... right where the intake to the computer is... do you think that could be a cause of the problem or do you think it is really a throttle sensor or switch?

Suggestions?

Thanks,

Kyle