90 xj wont shift after cleaning

took the new to me 90 xj 4.0 to the wash n go and pressure washed the entire thing, even the engine cuz it was filthy. i had it running while i was cleanin it so i knew it would start, drove half a mile to oreilley to buy some stuff and went back out and the tranny wont shift out of first gear now...it was shiftin on the drive to oreilley, just not anymore, it will shift if i red line it to like 5k rpms. did i blow somethin off? is there a sensor that tells the tranny when to shift, maybe it got wet and isnt contacting good...? its been sitting for a day to see if it will dry out and shift but i havent tried yet. ideas?

The TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) is a little Gremlin in disguise. You don't EVERY water them, don't feed them after midnight, etc.

99% of the time, a TPS that has seen water, never works right again, but like a gremlin, it will cause all sorts of HAVOC under the hood. The TPS talks to the ECU and TCU (Transmission control unit), and they use that data for controlling engine RPM and shifting gears.

If you have a DMM, you can test the TPS using the volts scale, power on, engine off.

Good place to start reading:

http://www.lunghd.com/Tech_Articles/Engine/Basic_Sensors_Diagnostics.htm

Second on the TPS.

This is why submarines don't have TPSs.

T P S

As mentioned, they are extremely suspect to failure with a bit of H20.

And when you get a new one (you probably will end up doing this), you need to ADJUST it after you install it. 87-90 have an adjustable TPS. Adjusting is important.

X4. Replace the TPS sensor. Your power washing license has just been revoked. For now, you can unplug the square connector and the tranny should at least shift, although probably at a pretty low rpm.

oops