TPS removal woes

so i read a thread about tps's wearing out and was like "gee mines a 99, i have a roughish idle, weird tranny shifting and some nice carbon in my throttle body, and i dont think it has been replaced since it was manufactured" so i went and got one, attempted to install it, but i cant get the other one out. the torx screws wont come out, and i am afraid of stripping them completely... any suggestions? also just for giggles i had the engine running with the air tube off the throttle body and i tried to kill the engine by putting my hand over the opening... the idle reduced, but i was never able to kill my engine by doing this, is this normal??? is there air that gets in from somewhere else besides the intake?????

I used vise grips to grab the head of the screws and break mine loose when I replaced the TPS.

dgrigorenko said:

so i read a thread about tps's wearing out and was like "gee mines a 99, i have a roughish idle, weird tranny shifting and some nice carbon in my throttle body, and i dont think it has been replaced since it was manufactured" so i went and got one, attempted to install it, but i cant get the other one out. the torx screws wont come out, and i am afraid of stripping them completely... any suggestions? also just for giggles i had the engine running with the air tube off the throttle body and i tried to kill the engine by putting my hand over the opening... the idle reduced, but i was never able to kill my engine by doing this, is this normal??? is there air that gets in from somewhere else besides the intake?????

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Try some aerosol penetrating lubricant like PB blaster that is designed to lossen rusted bolts. Spray it on, let it sit a few hours, try it hot or cold, it should come loose.

The engine should have died, you have a vacuum leak, vacuum hose or gasket leak at the throttle body or engine on the intake manifold.

ok so i got the new tps on using the vise grip method... thanks. my idle is sitting at 1.2k... one of the main reasons i replaced it. i have read that a vacuum leak could cause high idle as well.

i thought it should have died on me. i guess i'll have to start chasing vacuum hoses. is the tps a 99 adjustable? just thinking of the possibilities of the high idle.

dgrigorenko said:

ok so i got the new tps on using the vise grip method... thanks. my idle is sitting at 1.2k... one of the main reasons i replaced it. i have read that a vacuum leak could cause high idle as well.

i thought it should have died on me. i guess i'll have to start chasing vacuum hoses. is the tps a 99 adjustable? just thinking of the possibilities of the high idle.

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No, TPS is not adjusted on a 99. Keep looking for that vacuum leak. After you've gone after the obvious things like throttle body gasket and manifold gasket, Check the line that goes from the firewall forward, under the battery tray to the canister behind the front bumper. The line can be eaten away by acid, and the canister can crack from impact.

checked the manifold, all tight. i tried going for vacuum lines, but it is dark so it will have to wait till daylight. i'll def. check the ball, i did rearend a dodge about a year ago... poor thing... the dodge never stood a chance. thanks for the input

TPS work is done, not adjustable. IAC may be stuck, but a vac leak is highest probability. And it does not take much. Valve cover gasket, CCV lines on the valve cover, brake booster check valve or diaphragm, AC vacuum tubing inside operates vent and blend doors, loose floor MAT under the gas peddle (my favorite), in addition to those already mentioned.

Oh, and it could be ECU memory recall of the old TPS values that needs resetting, not sure on the newer years if they auto recognize the new TPS. I suspect they do auto recognize the new parts.

If it was a Renix year, 87-90 I would say check the grounds, and the battery cables.

Has the weird shifting stopped with the new TPS?

Oh, never mind, I just reread everything, YOU HAVE A Vacuum leak!!!!!! Just need to find it or them!!!!

ok so i did some more tracking... i plugged my TB, and went listening for whistles, and one i found was air sucking in around my#1 fuel injector. and it got audibly worse if wiggled a little bit. do i just need a new injector o-ring or a whole new injector? would this be a good time to swap out to higher flow injectors? what after market injectors are compatible with a 99?

dgrigorenko said:

ok so i did some more tracking... i plugged my TB, and went listening for whistles, and one i found was air sucking in around my#1 fuel injector. and it got audibly worse if wiggled a little bit. do i just need a new injector o-ring or a whole new injector? would this be a good time to swap out to higher flow injectors? what after market injectors are compatible with a 99?

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Interesting leak site, somewhat unusual, not one I have run into before. Sounds like the o'ring is damaged. Just unbolt the bolts that hold the fuel rail to the manifold, back out all the injectors as an assy, just pull the entire fuel rail and the fuel injectors will pop out of the intake ports. Then buy a new set of o'rings and replace then all. They come in a bag, set of 12 or 14, for a few dollars.

Why do you want high flow injectors? Is there anything wrong with the current injectors?

Ecomike said:

Why do you want high flow injectors? Is there anything wrong with the current injectors?

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i was just seeing if i could get a few more squirrells running in there or something. why not? i already have bad gas milage.

For your high idle, has it gone down at all? When I put a new TPS on mine, the first few start-up's it had a high idle....around 1200ish like yours. I cranked it up a few times and drove it a few miles and it settled back down.

UNCC_99XJ said:

For your high idle, has it gone down at all? When I put a new TPS on mine, the first few start-up's it had a high idle....around 1200ish like yours. I cranked it up a few times and drove it a few miles and it settled back down.

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it actually got worse when i put the new tps in... i drove it a bit today and i noticed it not going into OD, so i turned it off (ive played this game before) and back on, kept going and at exactly 30 seconds from on position, it would kick out of OD.... i timed this a good half dozen times, flipping into neutral to restart while driving, just to get the time right... well i went to autozone and got it scanned, and apparently it threw all three TPS codes probably right after install (and yes i did unplug the neg. battery terminal). got them cleared and didnt have that shifting issue anymore. i did, however, still have the high idle. while at autozone i picked up some injector o-rings and when i got home slapped them in, started it up, and viola! idle whent to normal, and when i cut off air it died... so apparently i had one or multiple bad injector O-rings. which is weird cause i replaced them when i did the header about a year ago. oh well, at any rate, THANKS TO THOSE WHO HELPED!!!! problem resolved.atriot:

good to hear a smooth running 4.0 back in action

yah... its actually smoother than it has been for about 5 months.... so i guess it was a progressive thing.

The o-rings were going to be my next guess, with the vac. leak causing the high idle. I just thought i'd mention that the TPS in my case caused the same symptoms that you described, since you also mentioned you were having TPS issues.

Glad to hear all is well