ltoolio

Finally getting around to trying to the mucked up TPS connector as originally mentioned here.

I went and connected the female connector from Roger and couldn't get it to fit. After getting some light in, I think I figured out why - the TPS has 3 connectors.

The odd thing - there were only 2 of the spades being used...the middle one had the two black wires spliced to a single female and the single colored wire was connected to the bottom spade. This means that the 3rd male spade (top) in on the TPS was not being used at all.

In fact - the top spade appears to be crushed or broken. The surrounding plastic frame is a bit melted as well.

I've got a few more things I need to do to the car before winter comes, so I'm considering bringing it back to how it was prior to me trying to "fix" it so I can at least get the engine to run for a little while (need to finish flushing PS fluid, since the reservoir is out).

Longer term, I'm *assuming* I should replace the TPS given the poor state of the connector terminal, but:

- Why the heck were there only 2 of the 3 spades being used? Would that not cause issue?

Ducman82

they are all being used. one is ground, then two signals. one pin for idle position, one pin for WOT.
need new switch...

ltoolio

Well, they all probably should be used, but only 2 of them were being used before I started cleaning things up. Below is a pic of how it looked prior to me pulling the wires out. The two blacks went to the center spade and the white/black (color it might be off, but it was a multi-colored wire) was going to the bottom one. There's no third connector in there.

Ducman82

should be a white, black, and white/black.

ltoolio

Pulled back the sheath a bit and...

White, Black and Black.

WTF. (and that's not directed towards you....just a general WTF).

Ducman82

this is on the 82 right...... euro or US

ltoolio

Yup. '82 US.

Ducman82

was the throttle boy changed at all? that TPS , if i remember correctly was uses on S2 (euro 16v) and S3 motors.....

pins should e as follows.

on the computer,
pin2- white/black, no load
pin 3- white WOT
Pin-18 black.

ltoolio

It may have been, but not by me. Maybe the PO.

Does the '82 US even have a WOT?

Ducman82

yup, two switches. an idle and WOT. I'm thinking your throttle body was switched at some point.... only way to be sure would be to take it off and measure.

take a ohm meter and check to see if you have continuity on the 2 pins at idle, or at WOT. could be some one did some "mods" for that SC kit

SMTCapeCod

That's a good thought, if it were wired to have just idle and neutral circuits, no WOT would mean no max ignition advance and less risk of detonation under full load, assuming the additional open loop (IIRC) fuel enrichment wouldn't full compensate for the additional air mass.

BTW, when Duc says two switches- there are two trigger points in the plastic TPS housing- one to indicate full throttle return and initiate idle settings, and one at the other end of the range (well, 2/3 or 80% throttle demand) beyond which WOT settings are activated.

ltoolio

First - thanks for the input & education.

Second - apologies for my continuing confusion here. I learn from asking a lot of dumb questions in the hope that it leads me to more intelligent questions.

If I'm understanding things correctly:
- It's thought that my TB might have been swapped out (need to verify).
- The TPS that I'm showing is not normally found on an '82 US.
- There are three wires that go to the TPS - one for WOT, one for Idle and one for ground.
- It *appears* that my Idle and WOT wires are joined together, essentially making the TPS only operate in Idle mode.

Is that a fair summary?

I'm going to dig around to find the pin assignments on the TPS to see what was plugged into what...

-

mark kibort

when did the US version ever have a modular TPS like that... ?
euro 84-5 had that.

mark kibort

sorry you are asking some dumb questions, but let the godzilla killer enlighten you.

82 Ljets dont have a set up like that. give us a better picture of the throttle body and you might have a euro TB. its possible.. show both sides of the base and i will be able to tell, especially the linkage side


it is a TPS switch and one contact is for WOT and the other is for pulling back fuel off at idle or off throttle.

take a meter and see if the blacks are grounded to the other wire when WOT or just sitting there. just at partial throttle there should be no connection to either sides of the three position switch.

you dont want the two connected. i dont even know what that could do, as idle swich cuts off fuel and the WOT switch enriches the mixture at about 75% throttle to 15% more fuel.

ltoolio

Yes. I was more than due and had that coming. Thanks for the response.

I'm going to ping the PO to see if he has anything to share....not to say that I won't go in and take pics and get meter readings, but thought it would be good to get some background (if any) from him.

** Edit **

Confirmed from Robot808 that he put a Euro TB on the car and that he believes it was suggested to him in a PM that he only connect two of the three wires. He's looking through his PMs (should he still have access to them) to see by who and why.