Service Throttle Body. Sigh. P00AF code

[c3k]

Ok, it happened. Driving up a mountain pass (Fancy Gap, I-77, VA/NC border), at speed, I got some error messages and a check engine light. "Service Electronic Throttle Body" and "Service Electronic Stability Control". Both associated lights illuminated as did the MIL/CEL.

Truck drove, but with an obvious lack of oomph. No turbo.

About 30 minutes later, I pulled over and checked it with my scan tool. P00AF Turbocharger Boost Control Module 'A' Performance

So, I did what any truck owner would do. I shut down, cleared the codes, disconnected the battery, jumped the positive and negative battery leads together for about 10 seconds, then hooked it all back up.

I drove (hard) for 3 hours (with two stops). No more CEL/MIL. No codes.

I'm hoping that it's my 4+ year old battery causing a momentary electronic glitch. Mitigating against that was that it occurred after an hour+ of highway driving, so the battery had had a long time to charge.

Any thoughts?

(Edited to add: on another forum, there's a big thread on this code. It seems to lead to a turbo replacement.)

 

[2021EcoDiesel]

Following. Fingers crossed you don’t need a turbo. How many miles are you at now c3k? Just cracked 102,000 myself.

 

[2021EcoDiesel]

Actually now that I’m thinking I did get a “service throttle body” message after a few long cranking periods killed my battery up in the frozen north. Had my fuel freeze up earlier this year on a ski trip. I do not recall the P00AF code being in there though.

 

[c3k]

Following. Fingers crossed you don’t need a turbo. How many miles are you at now c3k? Just cracked 102,000 myself.

45,500.

 

[Chris3058]

That’s not much at all. Hmmmm.

 

[c3k]

Update.

Check my sig: I run a GDE tuned ECM. Just in case, I put the OEM ECM back in the truck.

Normal daily driving, no issues. (Well, other than the sadness of not having my GDE tune.) I took the truck up the same route (I-77 North, Fancy Gap) and on the 7-9% slope...same failure. I got off at the nearest exit. Yes, I had to drive in the far right lane with the 35mph trucks...and could barely keep up. I then cycled the ignition and the "service" messages and lights disappeared, but the CEL stayed on.

I went downhill (southbound down the same road). All normal. All good, except the CEL.

I turned back uphill...and got the failure again at about the same exact spot. I did the same ignition cycle with the same results. I drove to the dealer and had them pull the active code. Yep. So, September 26th a "tech" will run a "thorough diagnostic". Yeah, whatever.

FWIW, I've run that steep uphill at least half a dozen previous times with no errors. This is a new behavior.

If the dealer needs another fault after the 26th, I'll just run it up the highway again.

Updates in 2 weeks.