Has anyone cleaned out their TPS?

I recall Jmarsince2 from the yahoo site referring to a post about it, but of course there is no way on earth I'll be able to find it 'over there'

I'm getting some bad hesitation off the line lately, and some funky shifting on occasion, so I'm hoping that this is the cheap solution, and that major doom upon me.


Oh yes, I have done the ECU mod about a year ago, but this is just a recent problem.

Could be bad gas I suppose, causing knock off the line. Guess I do need one of those visible knock sensors after all :)

Steve...
 

yes there is a way to find it!
goto the news page and under the live chat link there is a link to Sith's searchable yahoo database.

Other than that Eric (Blonde man) has all the info on cleaning the TPS.. you may want to contact him also..

PAUL!

Now, now, now. Let's not have any of that "over there" talk. Again, this isn't a "competitive" site, it's meant to be a common home for all SVXers. I know it's hard (I have trouble myself), but, let's not take an "over here, over there" attitude. We're all in this together. :)

The heck with that! I ain't going 'over there' unless there is nobody, and I mean nobody 'over here'. I haven't been back (yet anyway). Yahoo is just to damned slow in the clubs. Mail is alright. Still use it.
-joe-

preach on joe!
 

I second Joe's opinion. No need to go back. I'll be here with ya Joe. And Randy we dont want to go back, not that the ppl over there are bad or were better we just dont like the site ... has nothing to do with the ppl.

:)

PAUL!

I'm not saying anybody needs to "go back." I'm just saying that this isn't a "competition." There's no "over here" or "over there" there's just "is." Nobody's no better, nobody's no worse. I just want everybody to know the door's open to anyone who wants to come in.

Cleaning the TPS
 

It's easy.
Scribe marks so it can be put back in place perfectly, then remove the screws and slide it off.

There's a small hole (look hard!) inside the connector end.

Flood ordinary Radio Shack contact cleaner through that hole - it'll come out around the central shaft.

Blow air through it to dry it out - do this three times as long as you think it'll take.

Reinstall, ensuring proper line-up.

OPTIONS:

1. Disassembly. It's intuitive - get the spring off, remove everything - but keep track of where it all goes.
2. Use a TINY amount of Cramolin after cleaning it out.

...and please report.

Reading about cleaning the TPS looks useful for me too. Just wondered if you could point me more accurately to what it looks like and where? What about this MAF sensor?

Here's a diagram showing the location of the TPS. It's item number three in the illustration.

http://tinyurl.com/7eiw

Here's another of the MAF. It's item number 10.

http://tinyurl.com/7ej5

As far as I know, there's no maintenance you can do on the MAF. Personally, I wouldn't touch it - the thing's very delicate.

I was of the same mind, and was quite shocked when Beav suggested spraying it with carb cleaner.

http://www.subaru-svx.net/forum/show...F+Carb+Cleaner

And where's the thingy that item number three is attached to? I can't recognize anything from those drawings. :confused:

Dick,
The TPS fits over the little pin sticking out from the side of the Throttle body and is attached on either side (notice screw holes) with screws. I'll see if I can't find a better pic for you, of an actual engine with the TPS attached.

Dick, here's a photo of the TPS. The TPS is the black device in the middle of the photo. This photo is taken from the left side of the car, looking right. On the right you can see the intake duct and the two hose clamps that hold it to the throttle body.

http://www.subaru-svx.net/photos/fil...muter/1285.JPG

You can access the throttle body by removing the throttle body cover - it's the big grey and black plastic thing that says 'H6' on it. :D

I posted quite lengthy information on checking setting and cleaning the TPS a short time ago and it was suggested it go in the " how To ". It would now appear that the information is lost no doubt due to a clueless heading to the original thread.

Yes spray it with CRC or whatever but make sure you work the mechanism back and forth while doing so in order to clean the complete wiped surface of the element and the wiper.

Randy, I think that something should be done to some how prevent the loss of info. e.g. dimesions of the O ring as typical example. The silly headings many give to technical threads surely does not help searching. How can those posting info direct it to how to. or could some one take on the job of editing.

Stevesby? did you check for codes, or are you justcleaning the TPS because?

could it be acting up without posting codes?

please tell me its not so? how can you test? analog ohmmeter and then move it? look for spikes?

How to THIS!
 

Trevor, I made a copy of your TPS adjust post, if you want me to send a copy to you? (I don't know how to scan!?)

Or anyone else (via mail). :D

You'd be hard pressed to catch a spike or any type of glitch with an analog meter. I use a graphing meter with a 1 mb/sec sampling rate for driveability concerns. Even if the analog meter was fast enough to display a spike your eyes wouldn't be fast enough to see the needle move. That is if it had an average glitch. If a huge portion of it were dead than you would have a better chance...

Beav you are spot on.

However surely the guys who designed things would have taken into account that a mechanical device, as is the TPS, could/will not provide a perfectly reliable smooth signal and therefore will have incorporated some slight time delay to cover this. No expense involved.

I suggested a simple check based on what the average handy man could have available and am sure this would show up any fault which would be a problem. I did not think it worth while to set up my scope when checking mine. But !! the design of the electronics could be wanting and belt and braces could be called for !!??

I have not experimented with this but one could connect a few volts (dry cells or a limited current supply and NOT a car battery with lots of amps on hand and no fuse protection) across the element of the TPS together with headphones from wiper to one side, move the wiper and listen. A nice smooth rustle should prove all is OK. But anyone not understanding the basics and why I suggest this should not experiment.

OK...So I read this post and decided to jump right in and try this myself (due to the annoyances of an occasional Check Engine Light at start up). I cleaned the throttle cables, throttle body, and MAF with choke/ carb cleaner. The car runs and drives exceptionally well afterwards. However, I never disassembled the TBS due to the accessibility and my ability (patience mostly). I noticed when I held the bodies open there was a lot of black soot (carbon?) deeper in side the unit. Is this common? Should I worry about taking the entire body off and cleaning it? Right now I have my baby in the shop (Suby dealer) getting the "codes" checked........Update..No codes came up, so I guess that's a good thing.

The black dust is from the TPS itself. Just a by-product of normal wear. The more dust, the more wear that has occured. No need to disassemble further if it's running o.k.

Trevor, I wish it were that easy, it would make my life less miserable. ;) My experience has been that spikes and/or small glitches will be counted as actual events and the system will react to them. There is no buffer or lag time allowed. If the computer is fast enough to see the event it will react accordingly.
Newer control units employ fuzzy logic in some areas, such as ABS inputs, but I haven't witnessed any yet that can/will sort out an erratic signal. Too many times I've seen one or two spikes in a TPS or crank signal all but bring an engine to its knees. I agree, it's ridiculous to be that critical, especially considering the harsh enviroment of an automobile. One could easily build a conspiracy theory against the OEMs and back it up, as there is at least one GMM that knows enough about automotive signals that it will take 'snapshots' of a glitch as it occurs, unattended. ;)

Beav if it is all as you say my heart goes out to you. However I think there is some confusion here between problems involving analogue as opposed to digital signals.

The TPS is a transducer with an analogue output . Or to be exact it varies an input voltage to provide an output voltage directly related to position. No counting of pulses is involved and if the designer has not incorporated at the very least a bypass capacitor in the input circuitry to smooth any slight Ò noise Ò in the signal, something is very wrong with his design. As an example the gas gauge would tend to flicker if the signal from the sender was not absolutely perfect and the read out was an instantly responsive display.

However I have long felt that those involved in designing the electrical systems in cars would not last two seconds in other industries and if you are right you have proven the point.

It's all clear to me now. Thanks, guys!