This is my experience, and I hope it helps anyone else with the same problem.

Well, I had finally had enough of my truck idling at 1500-2000RPM.. Well, the first time was enough, but ya know. So, hopefully anyone with this problem can read this and see that it's very easy to change. I had mixed emotions on doing it. Some said it was hard to do, some talked about going home and 'popping one on'.

MY symptoms of a bad TPS: Would not idle below 1500 RPM. Sometimes it would go ot 2000RPM. Would not crank with TPS plugged in 'sometimes'. Had to unplug it to crank it. If I rode with it unplugged, I had bad hesitation, and my oil pressure dropped due to oil getting fuel in it (running rich), so I don't recommend driving around with it unplugged like I did. I figured it out, though, lol.

Before I started, I unplugged my negative cable to go ahead and reset my computer.

Well, I bought a TPS from Autozone for about $35. I reused my throttle body gasket. I took it off gently, no tears, bends, etc. There are 4 bolts holding the throttle body off. I took those out, took off the two vacuum hoses on the right (driver's) side of the throttle body, took the top coolant hose off, and left the bottom coolant hose on, as it was a little rusty and the hose was stuck on there pretty good. Still had plenty of room to work.

First impression when I took it off: BLACK. I didn't know that there would be THAT much gunk in my intake and back of throttle body. I used almost a whole can of throttle body and intake cleaner. That got about HALF off the intake, but I got my TB pretty clean.

Ok, a Phillips screwdriver and two screws in the TPS and it was out. New one in, put everything back together, negative cable back on, cranked it up. Test drove it for about 45 minutes to an hour, and everything was perfect.

Point is, if anyone out there was like me, and didn't know what to expect, it's a piece of cake to do. I had a friend at Autozone to pull my codes, and I got a code 28 if I remember correctly, which means TPS voltage out of range. If you have this code, or suspect your TPS to be bad, it's worth a try. My truck is fun to drive, again!

 

Good for you....there seems to be a general perception on here that because people might not be familiar with the EFI systems, they're either bad or too difficult to work on. Nothing could be further from the truth. With a little reading and a little trying, these systems are pretty simple.

 

Thank you IcemanV8! I have been struggling with the super fast idle in my 86 F-150 for some time. Replacing the TPS fixed the problem and it was quite simple for me even with a novice level ability.

Thanks again, Griffin