With TPS unplugged how does car know throttle position?
07-09-2011, 04:49 PM
#1
With TPS unplugged how does car know throttle position? I think my car has a bad TPS. It's been very intermittent. When it's acting up my idle is high ~1k and car shifts very late 3-4k. So I unplugged it and car ran great. Shifted great, idle came down to ~650. I will obviously get a new sensor asap, but in the meantime is it okay to drive with it unplugged? Where is the car getting its throttle position info from now?
07-09-2011, 11:01 PM
#2
On The Tree
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With certain sensors, the PCM has a base value table, and substitutes for the information that it is not actually receiving. It is 'ok' to drive for now, but it would honestly be best to replace it. I would put a new one on, and if that doesn't solve your problem, it will be in the wiring between the TPS and PCM.
07-11-2011, 10:43 PM
#4
This is really interesting. I'll write this up for anyone searching about issues associated with TPS. I've owned the car for 6y and it's always been a little hard shifting into 2nd during light throttle. Shifts were also pretty firm throughout. I thought that was normal, this being my 2nd camaro with trans not being perfect. I eventually went with a race built tranny on my previous car so I have experience with stock shifts and firm shifts. When I replaced the TPS yesterday all the hard shifting under light throttle went away. It looks like I've been driving around with a faulty TPS sensor for 6y and it finally got bad enough to notice. I can't believe how smooth my shifts are now. Even partial throttle ***** are really smoothed out. I never thought they were bad, but they were suspiciously firm for a stock tranny with no shift kit. So if anyone thinks their trans is shifting firm or shifts are in any way not the way they should be, change the TPS first. It's a cheap sensor and easy to replace. It's a 2000 with 140k miles on it now and still running strong.
07-11-2011, 11:12 PM
#5
This is really interesting. I'll write this up for anyone searching about issues associated with TPS. I've owned the car for 6y and it's always been a little hard shifting into 2nd during light throttle. Shifts were also pretty firm throughout. I thought that was normal, this being my 2nd camaro with trans not being perfect. I eventually went with a race built tranny on my previous car so I have experience with stock shifts and firm shifts. When I replaced the TPS yesterday all the hard shifting under light throttle went away. It looks like I've been driving around with a faulty TPS sensor for 6y and it finally got bad enough to notice. I can't believe how smooth my shifts are now. Even partial throttle ***** are really smoothed out. I never thought they were bad, but they were suspiciously firm for a stock tranny with no shift kit. So if anyone thinks their trans is shifting firm or shifts are in any way not the way they should be, change the TPS first. It's a cheap sensor and easy to replace. It's a 2000 with 140k miles on it now and still running strong.
