Gentlemen, I am looking for some guidance and knowledge on a throttle position sensor for a 1993 4runner 3.0. My check engine light came on and i hooked an ODB reader to the 4runner. It came back with a code 41 TPS sensor. So i purchased a new one and replaced it in hopes it would solve the problem. when i fired up the truck, check engine light was still on. Disconnected the battery to reset, and still there? Checked again with the ODB reader, and this time two more codes popped up?? Along with code 41 TPS sensor, codes 42 VSS circuit and code 43 starter signal circuit??? Not to mention the idle is very high as well. i removed and installed the sensor the same way i toolkit off. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you...

Best

 

if the TPS is anything like the TPS on my 1989 4Runner (22RE 4cyl engine)

(looks in my FSM as the 3.0L was an option)

You have to "set" the TPS using a Ohm meter and some feeler gauges

Its also helpful to replace the philips head screws, with metric allen head bolts. This makes adjusting the TPS far easier....

 

ODB Reader? I assume you mean OBD (On-Board Diagnostics). For a 1993 4runner (OBD-1) that's a paperclip. I hope you didn't spend too much more than $0.19 on that reader.

As ewong says, just slapping in a replacement TPS is moving backwards. It has to be installed correctly. http://web.archive.org/web/201108151...93throttle.pdf This adjustment is not Rocket Surgery; you're just trying to get IDL to be at ground with the throttle closed, open with the throttle open.

Alas, setting the TPS is more difficult with a 3VZE, only because the connector points away from you. Try stopping at a bar, and getting some of those very thin straws. You can slide a piece of that over the TPS connector pin to hold your probe wire.

 

Thank you both ( ewong and scope103) for some great information. I will try this out when I get off work. One more question for you two, scope103 you mentioned that setting the TPS on a 3vze, the connector points away from me? When I removed the original TPS sensor, it was pointed towards me when looking from the drivers side of vehicle. so I put the sensor back on the same way. Should I remove it and reinstall it pointing away from me? I just want to make sure I'm doing the job correctly. Thank you again...

Best

 

The drawings in the manual (page 242) show the connector pointing from left to right (away from you as you stand on the driver's side). That's how mine is.

 

Thanks for drawings on the throttle body. One more question. when testing the TPS sensor with the ohm meter, do i have to disconnect the battery?

 

Connector is facing the driver's side on my 89 3VZE. If yours is like mine, you installed it correctly. You have something else going on here. Let me think about it for a minute.

 

No. You remove the connector from the TPS, so it is isolated from the rest of the truck.

 

Why don't you take a break from the TPS and look into the start signal fault. Best I can remember, this signal comes from the little black and white wire on the starter. The only time I dealt with it was in a case where the flywheel of a truck had several consecutive teeth broken off and by chance the truck stopped with the starter lined up with the gap. Turning the starter over, of course, would not engage the flywheel and what happened was the ECM received a starter signal and without sensing any RPM threw that code. When we rolled the truck in gear and the starter caught a tooth, the engine cranked but it ran like crap. It was like the timing was off and the CEL was on. I figured it was running in the open loop maybe. We cleared the codes and that one was fixed but it got me thinking about the ECM's logic. How it thinks if you will.

Ok, now here comes my theory. Not confirmed whatsoever and no data behind it. The ECM's logic is 1980s technology so maybe it thinks like an 80s computer where there is an sequential order to it's actions and conditions that must be met before it can move on to the next action. If you have ever done any coding, you will know that if you have an error in your first line of code or if that line reads computer power off, every other line you code after that will be in conflict with line one and your program will never run. If the first condition is not met, the second process cannot begin. If the computer sees the engine is running but believes that it was never started then there is a conflict and throws a starter circuit code. If the throttle and air flow meter are doing their thing but the computer thinks the engine was never started, conflict and TPS code. If the speed sensor is telling the ecm it's going 30mph and the ecm thinks the truck was never started, conflict and speed sensor circuit code.

That's just my "what if" hypothesis to try and explain the relationship between the three codes. Please fill free to shoot it full of holes. The only thing I do know is that you have a starter circuit code and that little wire on the starter is what the ECM is reading from. Put your eyes on that wire and see if you can see anything wrong.

Good luck and let me know what you find.

 

Installed new TPS on my 85 22RE, was able to meet all the specs, less #2. IDL-E2, 0.57 mm gap, resistance should be 2.3K or less, an getting 12.5k consistently. Any thoughts on what’s causing this high reading?

thanks in advance, Mark.

 

I use a timing light to set tps. Much better results. Try it once, you won’t regret it.
I’ve posted how a few times. Here’s a link to a previous post
TPS
just scroll down 4 posts till you find mine