Hello I have an 88 formula auto tpi 305. 3 weeks ago it broke down. It lost power then the fuel pump made a weird noise. I took it into Goodyear. They simply said the Throttle posistion sensor was out of wack and they adjusted it and the car ran great for 2 weeks then BAM the same thing again. Does anyone know what I should do. First off where exactly is this sensor and how do I adjust it. Does anyone think I should replace it? By the way the fuel pump is only 6 months old and tested out fine. Thanks for the help. Aaron

 

Your TPS may have indeed been bad, but that won't cause the car to stall out. In any case, the TPS is mounted vertically on the passengr side of the throttle body. It has a four-pin connector.

First, I would suggest buying a Haynes repair manual on your car. It'll tell you exactly how to adjust it. You'll need a digital volt meter to do it though.

There's only two possibilities for a stall- you lost fuel pressure or ignition. What kind of noise did you hear from the fuel pump? That might be a clue.

 

The car was slowly dying then when I came to a stop, the fuel pump makes a noise like it is gasping and the car shuts off. If you wait for 2-3 minutes the car starts up, runs fine for a second then the noise happens again and the car shuts off. This is what was happening before I took it into Goodyear. They diagnosed it, adjuisted the sensor and walla the car ran great for 2 straight weeks before it did the exact same symptom again. They said the fuel pump was just fine. I just don't want to have this happen again. Any suggestions???????????????????

 

I guess, the first thing to do is to check the fuel pressure at idle and see if it's good or if it's fluctuating. You should also check your electrical grounds. If there's a bad one it will prevent the pump from getting the necessary amount of electrical current.

 

I had the very same problem twice. It turned out to be the first time that I had a non vented fuel cap on and as the fuel was taken out no air was getting in so it would have so much vaccum in the tank that the fuel pump could not pump enough fuel to the engine. It eventually collapsed the fuel tank with so much vaccum. The second time it was the fuel tank connector by the rear end that had a bad connection, it would run great but then all of a sudden bamm it would just quit totally or stumble and it would not respond to any movement to the accel pedal for a few min and then it would run fine after that.