So I want to check my TPS sensor, since my car seems a little sluggish from 20 to 60 MPH and a little less responsive. I stuck my multimeter into the back of the TPS pigtale with negative on top and positive just below it and nothing in the third. I got no voltage. I kept trying to wiggle the multimeter leads around but still no voltage. The car was set to run but no reading from the TPS. Just 0.00.

Does this mean the TPS is bad?

 

Could, could mean you are not getting the probes in to a contact area. Are you able to find your 5VDC reference voltage?
This is why it is nice to have a data logger/scanner that you can hook up to the ALDL port and see what the ECM sees.

When my 86's TPS went down, it would only idle. Had to idle it home from about 2 miles away. That took a minute.

 

You are almost certainly testing wrong. Use proper back-probes and watch some videos on how to properly test 5v sensors.

GD

 

Grey 5v ref
blue tps signal back to the ecm
black ground

 

Do you know of a good scanner for our ECMs? I guy I worked with when I was a lube tech had a Laptop hook up for his C1500 but said the software sucked and rarely used it.

I'm willing to give it a try.

 

I use both WinALDL and Tuner Pro RT... just depends on what I am doing. There are also other options out there, but both of those software packages are free... just need to buy or build a USB to ALDL connector and have a laptop.

There are also OBD1 scan tools that come up for sale on Ebay, around here, and other sites.

 

Snap-On MT2500 "Red Brick" scan tool. Lots of them out there for relatively cheap.

Newer one's work also - I have a "Zeus"..... but the entry price will really put a damper on your next round of performance upgrades. I got mine on a repo deal at about a 40% discount. Still pretty painful.

GD

 

You can carefully push common pins through the wires you wish to test, and use alligator clips between the pins and the meter leads. Place the pins far enough apart so that they cannot short to each other (or ground out).
In your case, you want to probe blue to black. But to make sure your meter is reading correctly, probe grey to black first to make sure you have (and are able to read) 5v there.