Cleaning Throttle Position Sensor

[TOECUTTER]

Hey All,

I had noticed a while ago that when I was driving along on a flat road, usually with cruise control on (ZD30, 5 speed manual), it would all of a sudden loose power. When I lifted my foot of the go pedal, it would "re-set" and I would get acceleration again. I would notice this mostly, or only, when maintaining the same speed on the highway after some distance of about 20-30 K's . After stuffing around for a while, I eventually settled for the fact that the TPS was stuffed.
After making enquiries into replacing it, Mr Nissan informed me that the whole pedal assembly needed to be replaced, as they did not sell the sensor only. At $500 plus, this was not an option.

As a result, I pulled off the pedal assembly and removed the TPS. It looks like you should be able to just replace the TPS with some other nissan TPS (skyline or something), but which one I don't know (any suggestions would be good).

What I did...
The TPS is a plastic device which in effect is a potentiometer, same as a volume knob on your stereo. It is fully closed and sealed, but at the round end (on mine) was a small "plug" where it seems the whole thing was joined when moulded together. With some trepidation, I took a small drill bit and slowly drilled this "plug". When I got to when I thought the drill would be breaking through the other side, I continued on by twisting the drill between my fingers to minimise any internal damage. I tried to ensure that none of the plastic from the drilling went inside the TPS housing.

When I made a small hole, I then sprayed a lot of contact cleaner inside. I used this stuff that is used in the maintenance of electrical wiring in the old Huey's (Iroquois helicopters). I then moved the stainless TPS actuator on the side of the TPS by turning it (it is spring loaded) to remove any crap from the inside of the TPS. I then allowed the TPS to drain and then I did it again, and again allowed it to drain. Once it was drained, I plugged the hole by using a soldering iron and filling the hole with a zippy tie, kinda like soldering or TIG welding. I suppose you could also plug it with Sika or something similar.

I am pleased to say that this has fixed the TPS and now I can enjoy driving without the hassle of lifting my foot to reset the TPS every 5 or 10 minutes or so.

Hope this info helps.

Cheers

TC

[justrocho]

so much help on this site cheers

[jimamott]

Thanks for that. I might give that a try.

[taslucas]

Thanks for the great info tc

Lucas

[PeruY61]

Hello, is this stil working? I have the same problem on my GU with the TB48de, here in Peru they dont sell the TPS Sensor....only the whole throttle body and its a special order from Japan.....I have a 2 Ton hunk of metal sitting in my garage and I am freaking out...it the wifes car!
I found this Australian site that sells the TPS, do you guys recommend?

http://www.cyberspaceautoparts.com.a...1+07+TB48DE+4+

Thank you!

[threedogs]

Great fix and PeruY61 could be mobile again and $500 better off

[BigRAWesty]

Hello, is this stil working? I have the same problem on my GU with the TB48de, here in Peru they dont sell the TPS Sensor....only the whole throttle body and its a special order from Japan.....I have a 2 Ton hunk of metal sitting in my garage and I am freaking out...it the wifes car!
I found this Australian site that sells the TPS, do you guys recommend?

http://www.cyberspaceautoparts.com.a...1+07+TB48DE+4+

Thank you!

If you are half Savoy with tools I'd try the above clean out. If you stuff it further then buy the spare.
But never heard of that business before, but most places are pretty good down here..

[PeruY61]

Took it apart today and of to an Electronic Engineer friend, he swears he can replace the potentiometer and have it working in 2 days, I will keep you posted!

[threedogs]

That's good news, and will save you heaps of $$$$ in the process

[PeruY61]

So I got word from my friend and he says the TPS is fine, what is bad is the sensor that tells the computer the pedal position....here is a pic, we are looking at the left side of the picture. On the right is a finned box like sensor, that is the TPS...or at least according to him...not sure if anyone with a service manual can second that?



We are looking into similar Nissan cars that have that pedal position sensor and see if I can put that in mine...I ll be updating as soon as I hear from him.