What TPS - Throttle position sensor

What is TPS and what does it do? How can you tell if TPS is bad? I have sluggish acceleration only from a dead stop. A little sluggish acceleration is only between 1-2K rpm. After that truck is normal it seems. Thanks

 

When mine went on my 3.4 it would stall when in traffic. It would stumble and idle rough when sitting still in gear (auto trans). Then when traffic would start moving it would stumble and stall as I have it throttle. Half the time it would stall the other half it wouldn't.

 

It is a variable resistor attached to the throttle butterfly that tells the injection system how far down the accelerator is depressed.

When it goes bad, it will tend to go "open" and tell the ECU that the throttle is closed, so you go lean and stumble.

 

Is it weird to not get a CEL when it goes bad? I don't recall it ever coming on in my 01 when it went bad.

 

Thanks for the replies. Could this be related to a sluggish acceleration issue from a dead stop? The sluggish acceleration only happens before 2k. After that, the acceleration is fine.

I also have this weird issue with gas pedal. Sometimes, not all the time, when I press on the gas pedal from a dead stop, it feels like its stuck and doesnt want to go down. Almost to point where I have press on it hard for it to finally go down. And when I press on it hard, it will finally go down and the car accelerates fast because of it. Any ideas? Would this this be related to a TPS or something else? Thanks

 

Sounds like you have another issue.

 

Sluggish Acceleration can usually be solved in 2 ways. The TPS can be replaced in 1 min, a $50 item that has 2 screws and a electrical plug. Cleaning the Throttle Body and the Idle Air Controller at the same time (Without taking it off of the Throttle Body) with Throttle Body Cleaner and a whole mess of Q-Tips.

As for a sticky Gas Pedal, that either means you have something stuck on your pedal or the wire to the Throttle Body is bent or frayed somewhere, and that's a whole different ball of wax.

 

I got a CEL when mine went bad. Before the CEL my truck would stumble and it would jerk at different speeds, I thought it was my transmission at first so I took it to the dealer (it was still under warranty) and they thouroughly check my transmission and said everything was good. About a week later the TPS crapped out, once replaced it's been fine.

 

What he said, I would make sure your throttle cable is not binding somewhere.