TPS adjustment with analogue multimeter?

I believe that I need to adjust my TPS to fix my erratic shifting problems, but only have an analogue multimeter. Will this be accurate enough for the adjustment? Has anyone had any success using an analogue multimeter for this adjustment? I found one article on the 'net that stated you must use a digital model, but I only found that mentioned in one article.
thanks!

If you're reasonably experienced with your meter, and it is accurate enough, you can probably do it. The digital is much easier to read - but I've done TPS adjustments with my analogue and back-checked with my digital, and I wasn't very far off. Considering I keep analogues in my vehicles, it's nice knowing that I can do these things in a pinch.

Ideally, you should have both an analogue and a digital multimeter - the analogue may not have the resolution of the digital, but it's easier to check response with the analogue since it responds faster (digitals have buffer circuits, which is what makes them "jerky." Analogues don't. Some tests in the FSMs will call for an analogue multimeter for that reason...)

5-90

Thanks alot!
I have a fairly cheap analogue unit, which I don't trust entirely.
I'll see if I can borrow a digital unit from a friend for the adjustment and use it to back check my analogue multimeter. If not I'll just buy a digital unit, but I'd rather not unless I have to.

oh, and another question which may be dumb, but hell I may as well ask:

Is the adjustment just a temporary "band aid" fix for a faulty TPS, or will adjusting it back to spec be good for the long haul? Can I expect the TPS to go bunk again in another month, year etc?
Looking at the torx holding the TPS on for adjustments, it looks like they have been fiddled with in the past, I see some marring of the metal. The jeep seems to have had a pretty good tune up before I bought and I wonder if the TPS was simply not torqued back down to the right specs and has slowly vibrated loose in the last few hundred Km's since I bought it. Might explain why I didn't have any problems until taking bounced it around on some rough logging roads.

It isn't whether or not the meter is digital or analog, but whether it has high enough input impedance to avoid loading the circuit and causing a false reading.* A really high quality analog meter will probably work, as will a FET (transistorized)VOM, or a VTVM (vacuum tube voltmeter), but a cheap multimeter may not. If yours isn't a pretty good one, you might be better off getting a cheap digital meter, which can be had these days for under $20, and sometimes under 10.

* remember that an analog meter movement is just a little motor, constrained by a spring from rotating very far. The circuit you're testing powers that little motor, pusing it until it stalls against the spring tension. Some solid state circuits just can't put out the current without voltage drop, and the TPS circuit is probably one that can't.

If the TPS is good, it should stay adjusted for a long time, but if it's bad, adjusting won't do much good. In my experience, the bolts are more likely to seize than to come loose. Since you have an analog meter, one thing it's very good at is detecting glitches in a variable resistor - something you can't readily do with a digital meter. With the TPS unplugged, probe its connectors with the ohmmeter until you find a pair of terminals that give variable resistance when you open and close the throttle. Do this slowly, watching the ohmmeter, and make sure that the needle moves evenly, and doesn't jump or drop at any point. That's a symptom of a bad TPS.

X2 on Currie's response. The cost of an analog volt-meter with sufficient input impedance to not load the tested circuit would be more than the current day run-of-the-mill digital multi-meter. In my opinion, if you are going to be serious about trouble shooting the electrical systems of modern, electronically controlled, machines, you need to buy an inexpensive digital multi-meter. One can be had cheaply from the likes of Radio Shack.

yeah I'll go pick one up today, it's not raining or snowing out (for the first day in ages) so I think I'll do a little work on the jeep out in the driveway.

Sears used to have a very nice "digilogue" multimeter - it had an analogue sweep display and a 3-1/2 digit digital embedded - you simply used whichever one you needed. The digital buffer circuits didn't affect the analogue meter, so it was "two meters in one."

I picked up two or three for less than $80 each - they make good "travelling" meters, and save my Fluke from exposure to risk. I think they have 10Mohm input impedance, and the digital and analogue displays tend to agree rather closely. The only thing I don't like about it is that the leads are permanently attached, and are 2m/m test points. Backprobing takes a little improvisation (it can be done, but you have to work at it just a bit.)

For backprobing I always found it useful to have a few paper clips handy. You can twist one around a test probe and it will be tight enough to make good contact and then you can slip the other end into the connector. I always carry a few extras, though, because after use they have a tendency to get lost.