madd_maxx

iTrader: (1)

I've been working on my 97 SE Auto for the past few weeks and I've pretty much narrowed my problem down to the TPS aka Throttle Position Sensor. I've also searched high and low in the forums for recommendations regarding reliable replacements at a good price, but didn't find a version that was used a lot.

I did see some references to the Duralast TPS from Autozone not being so durable and lasting. I know it's only $60 there but from the research I've done the TPS is a pretty integral part.

I did check Rockauto.com and they sell three.

STANDARD MOTOR PRODUCTS Part # TH255 {Intermotor}
$54.99$0.00$54.99

BECK/ARNLEY Part # 1580609
VQ30DE
$79.79$0.00$79.79

AIRTEX Part # 5S5191
$85.79$0.00$85.79



Does anyone have any experience with the Standard Motor Products version? I've used other Beck/Arnley products but don't want to pay more if it's not necessary.

Thanks!

cefiro a32

I went with the Duralast TPS and so far so good. It comes with a 2 year warranty so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.

madd_maxx

iTrader: (1)

Is the Duralast a remanufactured part?

defiance

iTrader: (1)

I dont think it is, I bought one about a year ago then found 3 used oem sensors on ebay for 40 bucks shipped. Including a cam sensor a TPS and a crank sensor. So far so good with used oem

cefiro a32

Why did you switch the new Duralast with a used TPS? Did it fail? Used sensors are always hit or miss.

cefiro a32

[QUOTE=madd_maxx;7400273]Is the Duralast a remanufactured part?

I'm not sure. I believe Hitachi actually manufactures it.

j-dawg

Some good TPS reports in this thread, but nobody's filled out the cover pages.

JtzMax

iTrader: (5)

They are all the same. They all do the same thing (low ohms (zero throttle) 500 - 600 ohms *depending on temp*, and high ohms 4000 (or in most cases: 3800) ohms at WOT). How did you come to figure it's your TPS? It's not a 'common' wear item by any means. It's a simple mechanical resistor, that's it. Anything is possible, but there are other symptoms that might seem like a faulty TPS when in fact, you'll be wasting your time and money.

BTW, it's not just a simple unbolt, slap it on job. You have to align it and get the right ohm readings, in other words tweek it and fine tune it.

scrib99

iTrader: (2)

I replaced mine with a duralast unit about 5 months ago, no problems yet...

madd_maxx

iTrader: (1)

You asked how/why do I think it's my TPS? I've had erratic idle, stalling on rare occasion, and studdering during constant slow speeds and rpms.

I did the following:

Clean TB
Clean IACV
Clean clogged EGR Tube
Clean MAF also replaced it with another
Replace Coolant Temperature Sensor
Check for vacuum leaks or loose and unattached hoses
New spark plugs
Checked all coils packs


Recently test TPS resistance with two different multimeters and got low readings. I don't know what is deemed a common problem? but I found plenty of posts regarding members having problems with TPS and replacing them and fixing their problems.

I know it's not just a plug and play part. I've found many posts on calibrating the TPS, seems very straight forward. At this point I'm willing to try the TPS to fix my problem. It's not a fortune and can always sell it if it doesn't fix my issue.

The reason why I posted this question was because I didn't find too much information on the differences of TPS's manufactured by different companies and wanted to find a decent one without spending a premium prices when it's not necessary.

cashoit

duralast is good man....AZ has good quality and the warranty.

defiance

iTrader: (1)

It was from a wrecked vehicle and I was poor and I needed my 60 bucks back ;]

madd_maxx

iTrader: (1)

I wend to the local Autozone and had them order a Duralast TPS. It's a special order item but I don't have to pay for it until arrives. They said it should take two days.

I will post close up pictures of the Duralast TPS when I get it. This is my first experience with Autozone. I didn't know most of the Autozone badged products have Duralast on them.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

iflossdaily

Did you actually try calibrating the TPS? It's a simple job that does not require R&R of anything, and can be done in about 5 minutes with a warm car. I had similar issues as yours and they were addressed by calibration. Also, a mis-adjusted TPS can read faulty, so perform the full calibration before deciding your TPS is bad. (You would have to adjust a new TPS anyway.)

JtzMax

iTrader: (5)

That's a great post. Sounds like you have ruled most everything else out. Not doubting your troubleshooting skills, you just didnt' mention that you had tried anything else.

I know the 4g has problems with the TPS and the older they get, the more these problems will surface. However, in relation to other common issues, this one seems to be headed that direction.

I hope this will fix your issue with the new TPS or if you're able to cal. the one you have (if it's any good).

msktyshha

duralast should be ok

iflossdaily

I agree the TPS is troublesome with this vehicle. Also, I concur with your observation that the TPS rarely fails in this vehicle. It probably often gets swapped out when a simple adjustment would do the trick.

madd_maxx

iTrader: (1)

Finally got my TPS from Autozone as recommended by njmaxseltd. The first one I ordered from Autozone was crushed when it arrived at the store. The Autozone guy called me and said some bozo packed the TPS in the same box along with a set brake rotors. He said it was crushed and plastic pieces were found broken in the box.

Needless to say he ordered another one for me. This time he ordered it direct from Wells, which is the Duralast part #TPS476 on the Autozone website. It came the very next day.

Here is the TPS I received when I picked it up at Autozone, it was $63.29 including tax.


The TPS markings say that it is made in Japan, reads A22-670 B01 UNISIA JECS, UNISIA JECS is a subsidiary of Hitachi, which I believe owns Nissan or some part of it. I've seen special editions of the Nissan Skyline titled UNISIA JECS Skyline on the internet before.


Here are both TPS's flipped over. I noticed that the OEM Nissan is a little thicker, which you can see in the next photo. I believe it's because the spring is recessed inside and you can't see it, which would make it thicker on the back end. Don't know what the blue stuff is that looks like it's oozing out. It's only on the original TPS, towards the center. I touched it and it was hard, it's probably some type of glue used during manufacturing to seal the inside of the TPS. The replacement has the spring showing, also the metal disk inside has more surface area on the moving part.


Prong view of the both TPS's, look pretty much the same except the inside of the Duralast has two channels left and right on the inside pins. I'm thinking they did that to save a little bit of plastic material. Everything is made a little cheaper and less material now-a-days. Doesn't affect TPS at all only cosmetic. Both connected fit perfectly!


Close up of the OEM Nissan TPS pulled from my 97 SE. You can see the UNISIA JECS just like the Duralast.
http://img34.imageshack.us/content_r.../2236/tps7.jpg


I stripped one of the screw heads like most people do pulling out the TPS screws. They're pretty soft. I got the back one out fine but the front one closer to the drivers side I stripped. I should have used a stubby phillips instead of trying to screw it out at an angle, oh well. I ended up using a vise-grip to get it out which was easy enough. The screw was much more corroded on the threads than the back one.


I picked up replacement screws at the local True Value hardware store. I picked up two sets one stainless with phillips head and one steel set with allen head, two flat washers and two locking washers just like the OEM. They were metric M4's I believe 20 length. Don't quote me on that. I took one of the OEM screws with me and these were an exact match for length and threading after inserting both washers on each screw.

I ended up using the stainless phillips ones only because for me I thought the phillips would be easier to work with since I have pillips screw drivers and no allen screw drivers. I put a little dab of grease on the tips of the screws so they wouldn't bind with corrosion in case I had to remove them again.

The first thing I noticed on my original TPS is that when I turned the inside metal half-disk that the throttle body pushes on there was a grinding feeling. It was not perfectly smooth and quiet like the new one I had just bought. You could actually hear and feel the light grinding like it was off axis or something. It could explain the intermittent problems I've been having.

Putting the new TPS in was a breeze! Adjusting seemed a little touchy. There are so many ways that people say that one should adjust your TPS. I ended up just using this simple method. I forget which post I found it on, but props to whoever posted it! I set mine to .60 volts. It was almost in the middle of the TPS adjustment holes, which are the left and right screw holes.

"The only thing you really need to calibrate is the base voltage of the TPS, which is what it reads when the throttle is closed. What you need to do is turn the keys to the auxilliary position (where the windows work). You will find two connectors for the TPS, both on top. The connector you want is the one nearest the passenger compartment, the one with three wires coming out. You want to measure the voltage between the two wires nearest the passenger compartment with the connector still connected. To do this, push your voltmeter leads between the rubber insulator and the wire itself right at the connector. Push the leads in far enough that the contact the metal. At this point, you should be reading a voltage around 0.3 to 0.8 V. You want to adjust the TPS until the voltage hits ~0.55-0.60 (the spec says 0.35-0.65...closer to 0.65 may provide a slight improvement to throttle response). To adjust, loosen the two screws holding down the TPS so that you can just slightly rotate the TPS. Rotate until the voltage hits 0.55-0.60. At this point, verify the sensor is good by opening the throttle all the way and verifying the voltage is at least 4 V (likely will be more like 4.5). Re-tighten the screws and you're done."

After I put the new TPS in she was idling really high, almost 2K RPM even though the car was fully warmed up. I went inside and jumped back onto the computer and found this. Props to njmaxseltd again! I tried to fix my high idle with the idle adjustment screw on the IACV but it could only get it down to about 1500 RPM with screw all the way in. I detached both plugs on my TPS and started the car. It started high and settled in to about 575 RPM and then I shut if off and put back both TPS plugs. For some reason I had to do this twice, maybe I didn't wait long enough or something? In any case after the second time the high idle went away. I actually had to back the idle screw a little from when I screwed it in before to make the idle go down.

I made sure everything was hooked up and that no tools were in the engine compartment and took her for a spin. I immediately noticed the smoother idling and linear power back again, starting from a stop was so much smoother and linear. The shudder was completely gone! The car doesn't feel faster but smoother. Before at lower speeds I felt I had to push the accelerator more to get going even on very conservative acceleration from a stop. The car always felt sluggish with no oomph! Now the power comes on so much smoother and with much less effort. I haven't taken her for a long drive yet but will post final thoughts after a few days of driving. Thanks to everyone on the forum for your help, especially njmaxseltd! I apologize if this post was too long and hope it will help someone resolve some of their issues regarding a TPS purchase, studdering and stalling and high idle.

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...when-warm.html

"To set a proper idle speed and help eliminate the hang.
Get the car completely up to operating temp. Drive it!
With the engine off, disconnect the TPS. Make sure all accessories are off.
Start the engine and set the throttle body set screw to obtain ~550 RPM's in park or neutral.
Turn off the engine and reconnect the TPS.
Restart the engine and make sure idle speed is within spec. ~650. If it's not, adjust the IACV to obtain the correct idle speed."

cashoit

Good work man.

This was an extremely helpful thread. Can one of the mods save its thread in the how to's or somethiun

madd_maxx

iTrader: (1)

Thanks cashoit. I was thinking the same thing that is if a mod could save this under the how-to section. I know there's a lot of information about the TPS and related issues but none were too concise about purchasing, installation and adjustment. I must have about 20 bookmarks on my computer from the forum regarding the TPS. Everyone seems to have a slightly different opinion about them, which doesn't necessarily make it bad but it can be confusing and daunting.

A lot of members and how-to's talked about measuring this ohm and that voltage but I didn't see any that talked about pulling the TPS and checking for a smooth and linear swing on inside spring. Mine had a dragging feeling with a slight rubbing sound, which is why it was likely acting up. I agree TPS's are pretty simple, they are simply potentiometer's, which provide variable resistance and should be reliable but they do have a few moving parts which are usually the weak point.

Here's a driving update:

I did the TPS change last night and drove to work this morning (about 10 miles). The car drove like a champ! It was so smooth and most important of all, no more shudder! The idle at stop is like butter, as soon as I come to a stop the RPM's drop in two steps, once to lower and again to settle in at around 550-575 RPM.

Thanks again to all forum members who chimed in on my relentless questions.

Hats off to: cashoit njmaxseltd and ajcool2 (sold me a used MAF)

madd_maxx

iTrader: (1)

musicman6784,

I was kind of confused like you regarding the ohm readings. When doing the closed ohm test, which I believe is around 500 ohms my TPS was in spec. But when I checked the closed I set my digital multimeter to 20K ohms and got some wacked number. I'm not too good with the multimeter, I probably wasn't adjusting the decimal conversion for the 20K ohms. Anywho, I did get correct reading for the closed throttle position of 500 ohms but I had to move the TPS almost all the way clock-wise on the TPS adjustment holes. It made the TPS way off center and the TPS harnesse's were running into some brackets. None-the-less I drove it after that, it seems to run ok but just seems a little off. So I decided to follow the advice of the org member who said just get it to around .60 volt when closed. That brought the TPS adjustment screws almost dead center of adjustment holes. I think it makes more sense and is a lot simpler. I know many will probably disagree.

I think what many people run into to as I did is that they try to get similar readings on every spectrum of testing that people post or what specs should be (closed, open - ohm, volage, harness on, ignition in the on position so the window work) that they get one reading then do another and try to adjust for the second and then the first one is off. You will only be able to get one reading correct and the others will be slightly different for everyone. When I ran into the service bulletin that was released in 2002 to use a feeler gauge to adjust the TPS I got really confused. I think the guy that said you only need to set the closed throttle voltage to around .60 when closed throttle is right. That really the important one. Everything else will fall into place. Once you get you TPS to the right voltage in the closed position take it for a drive and get it warmed up. The readings will change slightly on a warm car. I just tweaked mine a little more after the initial drive.

Like I said I'm no TPS expert or mechanical guru, it's just my 2 cents worth. I hope I've not confused you more you already are. Others are free to chime in and correct me if I'm wrong. I'm still a noob on the forum so I'm always learning.

dencio

gud day sir!im planning to check or replace my tps.. which of the two wires did you use in calibrating tps?thanks in advance godbless