Back in November 2010, I did a bunch of electrical work under the hood to clean up the battery install. I was trying to resolve some random misfire, stumble, and stall action in [464]. I finally got my logger situation figured out this week and managed to catch the culprit in the act.
It was the TPS.
Anyone familiar with how the TPS (throttle position switch) works will immediately see what’s wrong in the image above. For those who don’t, allow me to explain. At idle, the TPS typically reads something like 10-15%. At WOT, it should read 100%. Makes sense, right?
For whatever reason, when ambient air temps have been over 70°F (more often than you might expect, I live in Phoenix), once everything under the hood got up to operating temperature, the TPS on [464] would do like a 180 on me, idling at 99-100%. All those lines in the lower half of the graph above? All TPS. All on its own. My foot never touched the gas. I just let it die. (Top graph is RPM.)
TPS was replaced last night.
This morning marked my first problem-free commute in about three months. Throttle response seems better too! (lulz)
What else is new?
- * [195] is still at the shop getting caged (low priority).
- * [464] went in for a tire balance and alignment last weekend
- * tire was said to be too far gone (I disagree)
- * outer tie rod said to be shot, preventing alignment
- * This weekend, [464] will be getting new outer tie rods and a tire rotation
- * This weekend, [464] will be getting that one tire balanced
- * [464] is little over 2wks out from attending the High Desert Trails Rally in Ridgecrest, California. (wo0t!)
- * [195]‘s engine is cleaned, painted, and ready for reassembly!
