Throttle Sensor Madness!

[DenCo40]

Greetings- I wonder if anyone out there has experienced the same problem with thier Tacoma: Lately I keep getting an engine light in the mornings on the way to work or anytime during the first 30 minutes the engine is on. The engine runs normal than all of the sudden it cuts out and the engine light comes on and the RPM's go to idle and won't respond to the accelarator pedal. The codes I pull are 2112 and 2119. Which from what I gather is the throttle sensor/motor not keeping up with the accelerator. When I clear the codes, everything is fine! Has anyone else had this?

 

[taco chaser]

It probably is the TPS..

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I'm on throttle body #3 in my 04' Tacoma. The culprit each time has been the APPS, which is NOT sold individually by Toyota. Its possibly you have a late 03' which shares the same 'throttle by wire' throttle body control. Basically the throttle cable tells the Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor where to have the throttle motor to be positioned, all while a TPS monitors the exact location. Apparently the glue in the APPS can cause the rheostat to warp a bit and it will miss values throughout its range. When the computer senses a "miss" it kicks itself into safe mode which is idle.

You can read a ton more about this issue here:
http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13283

Mine has been covered under warranty each time and thankfully it should never leave you fully limp, just in limp mode which gives you ~30% of your throttle, enough to drive even on the highway really. Reset the computer and it usually fires back to life until it sees those out of range variables again.

 

[DenCo40]

Thanks guys! I hope its not the APPS! but I did find a source for the 4 wire TPS. Toyota doesn't even sell their own sensor. I would have to kick down 1200 bucks for a complete throttle body. My truck is a ways out of warranty at 90K so no help on that one.

 

[taco chaser]

Kurt is on to something here, I forgot they went to drive bye wire set up, this would cause the issues you describe also. I worked on a Dodge that had these same issues and threw a similar code, it ended up being the DBW.

 

[DenCo40]

Kurt is on to something here, I forgot they went to drive bye wire set up, this would cause the issues you describe also. I worked on a Dodge that had these same issues and threw a similar code, it ended up being the DBW.

Yeah I think so too, I read the thread. Sounds like its a big mess. I hope the TPS changeout will work. If not, then I found a used throttle body here in town for 300.

 

[DenCo40]

I bought the used 2004 TB for 300..I put it in and it ran great for several errands this afternoon after work -so far so good. Thanks again for the input!! Otherwise I would've been going crazy figuring it out~:wavey:

 

[taco chaser]

I bought the used 2004 TB for 300..I put it in and it ran great for several errands this afternoon after work -so far so good. Thanks again for the input!! Otherwise I would've been going crazy figuring it out~:wavey:

:clapsmile

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Dave, I know your sigline doesn't mention it but are you by chance SC'd? While the symptoms have surely popped up in both configurations, there is a much higher incidence rate with SC equipped trucks. The theory is the extra heat. I posted some actual measurements in the TTORA thread, following my recent TB swap I bypassed the coolant lines into the TB. They were there to prevent icing in cold weather climates, with the SC passing heat to the TB I think it was getting too hot. I also plan to add a TB spacer but I need to fab up a couple of parts as the TB spacer kit isn't designed for use with the SC.

 

[DenCo40]

I am planning on adding a SC possibly this next fall. I may even stock up on another used TB just in case.
I do plan on testing the old TB and possibly taking it apart to look into what exactly failed on it. Hopefully I will have a decent conclusion as to what went wrong so I can post what I figure out.