ok the story - took my car to a dealership because I gave up on my code 33 woes. Dealership said it was a faulty TPS and I humored them and told them to put in a new one. Car drove fine for the last few days so I was happy. Now my car starts and runs for about 2 seconds and dies and I get a code 45. Rich exhaust. This is really getting to me. I haven't even been able to get it emmision tested since I got it in august because of so many problems and now this. One of the posibilities of a code 45 is a faulty TPS but why would it run ok for the last few days and now suddenly not? I didn't do anything.

on a side note the mechanics at pohanka chevrolet in chantilly virginia broke my underhood light! you bastards!

Tell me what you think I should do guys???

 

Alright after some consideration it seems to me that it's almost positivly the TPS. Now back when I was troubleshooting for my code 33 I attempted to check my TPS with a multimeter and was unsuccessful. Since my car fails to run I am pretty much forced to do the adjustment myself (yay). When I tried to check it I used the "back probing" method which involved jamming the multimeter probes into the TPS connector wires from behind while attached to the TPS. I think it was the top two wires. Now I failed, I got no reading, so obviously I did something wrong (or the TPS was completely dead). So any tips you can give me are greatly appriciated.

 

I went to a junkyard and found a tps wire harness in an old junker, cut the harness off and found the female connector at pep boy's. I then found some connectors to plug my multimeter into and made myself a harness for testing and adjusting my TPS.

The Trickster!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Good idea, I don't even know where a junkyard is around me. Should find out.

 

Any more thoughts for me? I wasnt able to work on it today because I was feeling sick and it was raining. Having such bad luck with this car. I just want it to run reliably for like a month maybe... that would be so nice.

 

I got an Auto x-ray ( about $175.00 from summit) and it has a readout of the tps. It was very helpfull in getting my car to pass emmsions. I used the board archives of this site to find out what the values should be. I know $175.00 sounds expensive, but so is dealer service.

 

What can be read with the unit you have? Are there multiple models and if so which do you have?

 

For information on the auto xray go to this website.

WWW.autoxray.com

The Trickster!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The one I have is for GM OBD1. It reads outs different values depending on the vehicle. When I use it on my 94' blazer it gives me more info and I can clear codes with it. The website trickster referred to is a good source of info.

 

I was short on time last night, so here is the list of what the auto x-ray tells you for an 89' tpi l98 1. service engine soon light codes
2. start temp.
3. TPS voltage
4. RPM
5. MPH
6. O2 sensor voltage
7. O2 cross counts
8. block learn
9. block learn cell
10. integrator
11. idle air pos
12. desired idle
13. load
14. manifold air temp
15. battery voltage
16. fuel pump voltage
17. spark advancce
18. knock sensor
19. knock retard
20. injector pulse
21. run time
22. MAP sensor
23. MAF sensor gr/sec
24. rich lean flag
25. loop status

 

Thanks cep... very useful.