Trac Off Light after repairing Radiator Fan on 2002 Cavalier

sounds like current is back feeding somewhere or wrong fan relay causing such! pull relay and see if ok. if need be feed fan direct key on hot 12 volts and let run.

It's your throttle position sensor, get the codes read at a local auto zone. The transmissions shift point depends on throttle position. The further you press down on the pedal the higher rpms the trans shifts and its a faster stiffer shift. A bad sensor will cause the transmission to shift harder at higger rpms because the transmission thinks the pedal is being pressed down further. It sounds stupid but trust me, it happened to my wife's 01sunfire.

John. My Mom's 02 Cavalier is shifting abnormal and her trac off light is on. Where should she take it to see if its the throttle position sensor? How much will that part cost to have replaced?

Is the check engine light on also? Take it to AutoZone or advanced auto and have them scan it for codes. Do you know how turn a wrench? You could attempt to fix it If you want. Just 2 screws hold it in.

I won't be with her when she stops to have Auto Zone look at it. Hmmmm......so the sensor is held in by 2 screws?

It's the ECT sensor. I finally figured it out. It was the first thing I checked and replaced but after a month of trying everything, I took It back and replaced it with the Delco model as opposed To the valucraft, and it worked. Problem solved. It was worth it to pay the extra 5 bucks. You'll need to replace the sensor which just screws into the upper radiator pipe and the harness which is two wires, yellow and black. Since the sensor was faulty, it made the car think it was going to overheat and shut down power to everything which is why the trans goes into its low power mode. I didn't think a brand new sensor would be faulty so I kept overlooking it, but in the end, that's what it was.

Thank you Michael and John. I have forward this info to my Mom so she has it when she goes into Auto Zone :)

Was this problem ever solved? If so, what was the problem? My car is doing the exact same thing.

My car is going the exact same thing as well.

@john it’s 5 years later & your comment just came in handy. I went to fix my radiator today and after I picked up the car my trac light came on while driving home, it seemed strange because I never had a problem. So I start to check tha fuses but they were all good. I didn’t have my code scanner so I started googling and YouTubing then I seen your comment and went to check my throttle position sensor, soon as I looked under the hood I noticed it was unplugged, I plugged it back started the car 30secs later trac light disappears thanks man for that comment I was scared it was a bigger problem.