Yeah, I tried taking mine all apart today and rebuilding the insides with a new one (which I broke 10 minutes after spending $80 at Napa). Yeah, cut the s*** out of my hand. I should have just ordered a new pedal assembly to begin with. Can these be rebuilt? I don't think so....thanks for trying Anyway...

 

That sucks Byron! How did it get broken?

 

If you can get em apart with out destroying the casing you could take the guts out of the new one and put them in the old one.

 

Hey Bill! In my awesome ingenuity, I was trying to push on the pedal assembly when I figured it was FUBAR'D and slipped and raked my hand across the new sensor, cutting my hand and breaking the sensor. Yeah, all my own stupidity, getting in a hurry. So, I fixed the pedal assembly, put the old sensor back on and was able to get home, but it started up again with the CEL and spotty/dead throttle. So,read below....

Hey Mike! I did manage to get them both apart and rebuilt the good casing with the newer inner parts. I thought I was brilliant. I start the truck with the new sensor and no CEL...until I press on the throttle. I tried a few different times taking it apart and putting back together. I just have to wait for my direct deposit to go in tomorrow to order a new pedal assembly since my company did not pay me Friday like they are supposed to!!!! Even more

This is my only vehicle until Wed, so I am spending a lot of time on my bike this Sunday and hanging out at home! It is amazing to me that this stupid S%$!! sensor is the culprit of all of these problems and that Ford will not sell just the sensor even though this is a fairly common problem! Oh no, you have to buy the entire assembly for the low price of $584....yeah, I found it on Rockauto and Ebay for $235. Even NO Reillys and S**ttyZone tell me they need 3 days to get that sensor. Getting one from Napa, which I break 10 minutes after getting it, took 2 days to get.

Anyhoo, Happy Sunday everyone! Live and learn... BTW, I had to idle home for 3 miles when it crapped out on me Friday afternoon. Would this cause any damage to the trans? I want to switch to a ZF, but that takes $$ and a place to do it, and the knowledge!

 

Guys, if you wouldn't mind, chime in on anything I might be missing before I turn over the coin for a new pedal assembly. Everything points to the APPS (or TPS) as in the CEL light comes as soon as I hit the pedal, volts were erratic a week or so ago, and the throttle is completely dead. I know it could be 5 different things, but what are the chances? It has always run great until this, and it still runs great when the throttle actually works. I won't be ordering until tomorrow. Thanks!

 

Make sure the IVS is closing. You may here it click, but put a meter on it to be sure it closes.

 

If the cel comes on when you hit the go pedal I'd start looking at the IVS

Soak it in contact cleaned and blow it out

 

Will do these first thing in the morning! Thanks. I thought for sure that the switch would be fine. It clicks, but I left my voltmeter at work and have not tested it.

 

in addition to the IVS, something else you should check before spending money on a new pedal assembly is the behavior of the TPS itself. My crew cab has been doing this weird intermittent power-loss problem for a while now and i finally tested out my TPS this weekend. following the engine wiring diagram, i determined that it is the bottom two prongs of the sensor that send the signal to the PCM (not sure what the 3rd prong does as it just connects to GND in the PCM - probably for sensor error checking by the PCM). anyway, testing the voltage output with the truck on is similar, but problematic readings of the voltage could be caused by the TPS itself, or a short in the wiring between the sensor and PCM - or even (but hopefully not and probably not likely) an internal issue with the PCM.

if you test the resistance of the TPS itself, you'll know whether its the sensor or electrical issues elsewhere causing your bad voltage readings.

my sensor seemed to vary resistance correctly with pedal motion, but it would do this strange drop-out to the high-side resistance whenever it was moved from a stationary position. in my case, my high side (idle pedal position) resistance was something like 4.2 kOhms. at fully floored, it was something around 1.2 kOhms and linear in between. but, if i would push it half way, hold it there, then move it again, resistance would go up to 4.6 kOhms, then down again to the lower resistance it should be at.

i then compared this behavior to the TPS in my other PSD truck and found 2 differences:
- there was no drop-out to the high-side resistance with the other sensor
- the overall resistance was lower. like from 3.8 kOhms down to 0.8 kOhms rather than 4.3 to 1.2 with the "bad" pedal.

now, i say "bad" as its not completely shot, but i figured that resistance drop-out had to at least be confusing the PCM - and the higher resistance at the fully-floored position is effectively a governor on the engine.

so, i swapped the pedals and found that my crew cab has much more power and much better throttle response. haven't drive the other truck yet, but i bet it'll feel like crap now.

of course, the good sensor is a Ford part (probably stock) and the other one appears to be aftermarket with a "V" almost like a Van Halen logo on it and the letters CHN on the back - i can only imagine that is an abbreviation for China.

FWIW: i'll upload and post a picture of the two pedals side by side, below.


and by the way - how did you open up your TPS? the housing on both of mine looked completely sealed - i wanted to try to open up and clean the wiper on my "bad" one, but figured it'd be ruined if i tried to cut it open.

 

JP, thanks for the comprehensive info! I pried mine open very carefully by fitting a thin blade just at the lip on the back of the housing. It took some patience, but the back will pop off. It's just a flat piece. Just be careful that the spring loaded part of the sensor doesn't pop out and you lose anything. Ask me how I know. Have good lighting available too.

I checked mine with a volt tester when it left me stranded at work a few weeks ago. It had 1.0 at idle, but was erratic as you applied throttle. I couldn't even get a good reading! I took it off, cleaned everything with contact cleaner very well, and it worked, so I thought all was ok. Well, fast forward to last Saturday....the throttle went completely dead at a stop light, on my way to pickup a new couch, with my wife and 2-year old in the back seat. Needless to say, I felt like a dumba$$ for not taking care of it earlier. I meant to order a new switch, but "out of sight out of mind" applies here.

The other thing I have not reported yet is that I took off the entire assembly after breaking the new sensor and found the pedal to be somewhat compromised. The pin holding the two sides together had slipped out of one side and the rod that turns the sensor itself was not even seating into the TPS! I got a big pair of Channel Locks and squeezed it all back together and bent it back to its correct position. That seemed to work for a day, but continued to be erratic. This led me to the attempt to rebuild the old sensor with the guts, from the new one that I broke, with no success. I think, after all of this, I am just going to purchase the new assembly. I was going to just get a new TPS and an IVS, but the lead time on the IVS from Eaton is 6 weeks! That is not an option for me.

The other wiring seems to be intact with out me completely tearing into it, so I am going to chance it. I can afford the new assembly, so I figure worse comes to worst, I have a new assembly and that is a common issue anyways....so one less problem to worry about! I'll update as soon as it's installed and see where I og from there. I am hoping for the huge improvement in driveability that others have reported here. You even said your CC was much smoother with the assembly that worked. We'll see!! Stay tuned!!

 

yep - i had just assumed this old motor (354k miles) was a little 'lurchy' but turns out it was all in the pedal. or rather the sensor on the pedal.

about your pivot pin coming loose. do you think that's what killed the senor in the first place. i didn't notice any play in my 'bad' pedal, but i wasn't looking for it either. i could see a lot of off-axis loading on the sensor causing it to fail. ...which would then cause a new sensor to fail in short order as well if the rod was not addressed. i wonder if that's what killed the first one in my CC - and then the second after-market one as well... very interesting.

and believe me - i can sympathize with the wife and 2-year-old in the truck. i haven't been stranded completely yet, but have had some issues with the wife, 3 year old and 8 month old in the truck! not fun at all!

 

I am not sure if it would have killed it or not. I think I am going to get another sensor first and see what happens. The IVS is 6 weeks out, so if the TPS doesn't change anything, I'll order the new pedal assembly.

And being stranded is no bueno. We were able to idle it home, but it was 3 miles and took about an hour and was very stressful creeping along the side of the road.

 

you must live in a flat area! i'd never make it 3 miles home at idle!

with my stupid ongoing power-loss problem i was afraid i wouldn't make it up the hill on my street at 1500 RPM!

can't you find an IVS in a junk yard or something? if i had this power-loss problem figured out on my crew cab, i'd offer to send you the one off my second truck, but that's my backup vehicle for now...

 

Man I really appreciate the offer! You need to keep all the spare parts you can. I have searched and these are pretty scarce from what I can see. No worries here though. I can't believe that switch is so far out on wait time, and that is directly from Eaton!

 

well, i may have made some headway on the power-loss problem last night. i'll be testing out the fix tonight and this weekend. if i'm convince i have it licked, i could be convinced to part with one of my IVS for a while... then just send it back when your new one comes in.

if you really need to get your truck on the road, i'm happy to help - I've certainly been there myself and it sucks!