Dive By Wire Sensitivity

Hey guys, new to the forum but not Toyota's. I've had two '85 pickups (first one was my very first vehicle, still have the second one) and recently bought my dream truck, an '03 Tacoma (ext. cab, SR5, TRD, 4x4, manual with 53k). Anyways, after driving it for a month or so I was getting really annoyed with how it drove from a dead stop/idle roll. I literally drive the truck using maybe 1/8th throttle it seems and it feels super touchy at slow speeds. I started doing some research and discovered that 2003 was the first year Toyota switched to a drive-by-wire setup for the Tacoma's. I've done a little bit of work to it recently, fixed a couple dumb fixes on it and it's improved slightly, but still not where I would like it to be. I guess where I'm going with this is I was wondering if anyone knows of a way to "slow" the throttle sensitivity down? resistors on a wire, ECU flash/mod, cable conversion, aftermarket parts, etc? I've driven other vehicles, newer and older, that have driven much better such as a friend's Scion TC (don't ask) the other day and loved how smooth it was. I've researched around and couldn't find any solid answers on how to address this. Thanks if advance if anyone can help out.

 

Its an ecu controlled thing, but back in my audi club days we would get better throttle performance by Resetting the ecu and letting it relearn. If that didn't work we would break out the vagcom and mess with the throttle idle control and response settings ( mostly fpr modded engines ). Have you checked for codes? I don't know if there is a tps on the 03 or not. Thats where I would start.

 

I've been "dealing with" CEL for the evap system (p0442 & p0441 I believe) pretty much since I bought it. The fix I did the other day was zip tying and RTV'ing the intake tube back on the air box. When I did that I also thoroughly cleaned the MAF sensor and reset the ECU yet again. The last couple days it's been noticeably better, but there's still a "snap" when I'm rolling in first gear from a stop, slowly getting on the gas as if it's opening the throttle quickly for the first little bit. Either way it's really pissing me off. Does anyone else's do this? Maybe it's just my OCD, knowing how other vehicles drive and I just need to suck it up... It would just be nice to have it drive how I want. As far as TPS sensor, I'm pretty sure there is one but I'm not sure if I'm going to get anywhere messing with that. I'm just surprised I can't find any solid info on this.

 

Try what is posted 3 or 4 down on this thread.

http://www.lxforums.com/board/showthread.php/335411-Throttle-response-Mod

Might be bull like many said, but it is free and worth a try. next stop would be a trip to a computer some where to see if there is any issue.

 

This 'snap' off a slow roll sounds to me like something is sticking.

My Vdub is DBW and my '99 Tacoma isn't. Switching between the two takes a few shifts to retune my brain to the difference in throttle control.

 

when was the last time you cleaned the throttle body?

mine also has a lurch to it when first moving from a stop but it is better now after a TB cleaning