More problems with car, combined with TPS adjustment, need advice

[281pony]

last night i had a post about my car pulling code 23 (tps)

i adjusted it some today, and now it is ****ed and makes no sense.

i turn it to one extreme, and it has power like it never had before that i have been missing. ok cool. im driving, and it seems to be ok, although cruising i can feel a weird miss every once in awhile. come up to the stop light, take off slow, shift into second gear, let out the clutch and im just coasting.. no responce to throttle. i give it maybe 1/8, nothing still. so i let off completely, then its like the engine turned back on. it kind of violently jerks, and has a small backfire sound. almost like from my intake? then it is ok for another mile or so.

it is always just into second or third gear so far, and its done it once while im already moving. car starts coasting when my foot doesnt move off pedal, then jerks back on again.

it does that no matter how the tps is adjusted. any suggestions? im completely lost.

the other thing is, when the tps is adjusted to one extreme it has the power, but it wont idle. i push in the clutch coming up to a stop and it dies. the other extreme it will idle ok doing the same, but has no power.

in the middle it has no power again, idles ok, and still has the bizarre coasting, jerking bs. need some suggestions. after it does the jerking i can also smell a burning oil kind of smell if that gives off any other clues.

im thinking maybe something to do with my coil?

 

[Michael Yount]

Did messing with the adjustment clear the code? Could it be that the tps is faulty - did you leave your voltmeter on it and check to see if you get a smooth increase in voltage output (measure between black and green wires) from about .9V at closed throttle to around 4.5V-5V at w.o.t.?

 

[281pony]

there was alot of dirt in the tps so i cleaned it the best i could. im diabetic so i used some little alcohal pads i have.

it seemed to help it out. i drove the car about 10 miles and it didnt do the weird no responce thing. im thinking the hunks of dirt were causing the bad reads and it didnt recogniw it at times.

i dont have a voltometer to check it with. i did get it adjusted a little bit more though. i got the snap back in my first gear, now im just working it out by small adjustments where the idle isint dropping and killing it coming up to lights.

seems as though when i get a higher idle to keep it from dying coming up to stops, i dont have any power like it was before. ill see what i can do with it later tonight i guess

the key to my bad revving is in the tps though. earlier i roasted second gear for the first time ever with a good shift at 1/2 throttle even

 

[Blandnuts]

You need to check the voltage because "guessing" is not going to work. Pick up a cheap volt meter or borrow a friends.

 

[281pony]

on my other post i linked a pic of my tps as it was different then the chilton described. car is an 88, but got the one for 89+.

ill re-attach it here, how do i measure voltage off that?

 

[281pony]

wouldnt let me attach it to the other post, here it is again

 

[Blandnuts]

(measure between black and green wires) from about .9V at closed throttle to around 4.5V-5V at w.o.t.?

Have the key on engine off to measure for the .90-.98 volts. Do exactly the wires he has mentioned. To change the votlage you will need to losen the two screws and rotate the TPS till the voltage is in the right range. If it doesn't change the voltage at all, make the holes a little larger where the screws are for more adjustment.



fred

 

[281pony]

ok, that is damn simple.

ill go and buy a voltometer or see if i can find one around here.

thanks

 

[281pony]

ok im an idiot with this.

i bought something to check it, i cant get a reading.

i just touch the + and - to the black and green wires right? im not getting anything. key it turned on, engine is off.

 

[dwhiskie]

I had the same problem a couple weeks ago but by following the directions I got from here I finally got it right. I stuck sewing needles through the green and blk wires then blk probe from volt meter on needle stuck in blk wire and red probe on needle stuck in green wire and was able to adjust to .98v

 

[HISSIN50]

what i can think of for you:

be sure to pierce the wires - it can be hit or miss as to whether you have good contact (i find it to be finicky). you can bare a little bit of the wire insulation to ease this. or use something like a safety pin to pierce the wires. i have dental instruments which are great for this. you get the idea.

is it a DMM or VOM (digital or analog meter)? if analog, you could have the leads backwards (pinning the needle the wrong way and possibly harming the meter). is it set to the right scale?

that is all i can think of. good luck bud.

 

[281pony]

thanks, i got the cops called on me for my car idling in our own shop just a few minutes ago trying to adjust my idle.

ill try the needles tomorrow. where should my meter be adjusted to? it is analog. let me know exactly where to read from if you can, and ill go from that tomorrow.

i just adjusted it to the extreme where it will idle fine coming up to a stop. will get me by tomorrow hopefully.

 

[HISSIN50]

my DMM gets set to 20 DCV (DC volts). some analog meters have a 10 volt setting. basically use the smallest one that is larger than the total volts you will see (in this case, anything over 5 volts should be fine - so likely 10 or 20 DCV). be sure to not mix up the leads - you can damage an analog meter doing so (but analog is the best meter for this test).

ill also note that if you are resetting the idle from scratch, the motor must be totally warm and you have to know the IAC is working properly. that might be down the line - at this point you are chasing other issues.

good luck.

 

[281pony]

it has 0.5, 5 and i believe the next setting is 10.

so tomorrow ill try it at 10 dc, and put the safety pins through the wires.

thanks for your help again hissin. its nice to have people like you on the boards at 2:30 am i appreciate it

 

[HISSIN50]

it has 0.5, 5 and i believe the next setting is 10.

so tomorrow ill try it at 10 dc, and put the safety pins through the wires.

thanks for your help again hissin. its nice to have people like you on the boards at 2:30 am i appreciate it

hey no problem. it is cool to have someone else posting late at night too (keeps the threads from becoming too stagnant).

also, in case i was unclear: dont put the pins all the way through the wires - just enough to get through the insulation and contact the strands inside (im sure you knew that, but i had to say it. ). tape the spot you pierced up when done.

good luck.

 

[281pony]

sounds good.

i have safety pins i hunted down. were moving to a new house in like 7 days so everything is packed up.

ill just poke it partially through then. going to miss 6 garage bays

 

[HISSIN50]

you have a 6 car garage?? must be nice.

good luck with the move.

 

[281pony]

yeah, 3 bays attached to the house. then a 3 car shop with a painting booth in the backyard. i always go out there to work on it though.

i got a reading today, im only getting .75ish volts, it wont move any further. i know i need to make the slots a little longer, whats the best way to do it?

just use a small drill bit and slowly extend them?

 

[Blandnuts]

Yeah, just use a small bit and try and "hone" it out. Using a larger bit might crack it.

Edit: You don't need to take that much off so try and be conservative.

 

[HISSIN50]

im jealous of your shop situation

there are a couple schools of thought on the TPS dial in. one is: fact- the puter can adapt a good ways either way (25%). so as long as the sensor is within those parameters (yours is), it is fine.
i have read that the puter zeroes out the reading upon start up anyhow. i cant remember if that applies to foxes or just SN95's.

that said, there are many who have found adjusting the sensor to help throttle response and help with surging.

i would use a drill bit to hone the boss out a little. IIRC, you only need to hog out one hole (to be able to turn the sensor to adjust the static voltage reading).

good luck.