i have a 99 TL and a few weeks ago my check engine light came on but then went off. i didn't think much of it first (as the manual says not to bother if it goes off) but now its constently on. I got it checked and the mechanic said i need a new "TPS" installed. I spoke with Acura and they said TPS doesn't come alone because its attached to the entire system and the whole system is for $1200. anyone had similer problems? if so what did you guys do or any suggestions what I can do? i'm in need of help desperately. i only bought the car a year ago and i've already spent enough money on this

Thanx ...

Abi

 

I don't trust stand alone mechanics... they f'ed up my car pretty badly. Go to the dealership and get your self a diagnosis from them, they'll tell you what's up.. once you have the invoice saying what's wrong with the car, start shopping around for parts and price quotes from many shops/places. Then you'll be set from there on to make the right decision.

 

I don't trust stand alone mechanics, they're nothing but garbage... They completely screwed up my car when it was taken in for a transmission repair... now that it's back in my hands, it's like a salvage car.. I have to rebuilt/fix everything from the bottom up. If there are any stores like an Autozone or Pepboys around you, take it to them to have your engine computer codes read (check engine light), it's free of charge. They'll tell you the codes and what those codes mean. THen from there, you'll have a better idea in which direction to go towards

 

TPS = throttle position sensor and it is part of the throttle body. It's not gonna cost you $1200 if you want to do it yourself.

Throttle Body

You could go the easy route and just get the main throttle body without all the sensors and other things and swap them off your old throttle body.

It's a very easy swap. There are 2 bolts and two nuts holding the throttle body to the intake manifold. All the parts you need to swap are just bolted on.

 

I have a 2003 TL-S with 120k+ and my check engine light came on along with the VSA and ! light. All three are yellow lights. Car started running poorly through the gears until highway speed was reached. I went to Auto Zone because they check codes for free and some even give you a receipt printout of the code and the problem. I was told that it was the throttle position sensor. they of course were not able to get one and referred me to the dealership. I called to get what I thought would be about a $50 part, and to my suprise they said that the sensor was a part of the throttle body. You have to buy the $487 throttle body to replace a sensor! Plus installation if you have them do it. Close to $1000 total....for a sensor. I thought junkyards or ebay first and happened to mention this to a friend who knows a little bit about a lot of things. By the time I was able to get with him the car was running even worse. I had to use the manual shift instead of leaving it in auto and really had to baby the car through the shifts. Especially second into third. Driving at normal speeds and leaving my foot on the gas throught the shifts made the tires chirp and car buck wildly. It felt like a car needing a new clutch but all at once would catch with full strength at higher RPM's than normal shifting. I make it to my friends house and take him for a ride to show all the problems. He had similar trouble with his 300 Z. TPS sensor he was told. Sensor for that one is $300+. We then did to mine what he had done to his. Disconnect the battery. Take off the air intake top and remove attached vacuum hoses all the way up to the throttle body. Just like you were installing a cold air intake. Then while working the throttle cable by hand sprayed fuel injector cleaner all over the inside of the throttle body. The first piece you see looks like the valve on a carb, but it will be wide open. this is the air intake. Just past that will be the actual throttle intake. They look alike only the air stays open and the fuel intake will be closed. Manually work the throttle cable and open and close and spray cleaner. There was a lot of dirty solvent that ran back out. 120 thousand miles worth. So we sprayed, opend and closed the throttle, and sprayed some more. Put the air intake back on, reinstalled the vacuum hoses to the air intake, and reconnected the battery. It took a few tries to crank the car because of all the fuel injector cleaner in the throttle. Once the car was started all of the lights were out. ALL of them. Drove up and down the road a few times to make sure all was good and it was. Took car the same day to get emmissions checked because I have to buy my tag this week! It passed with flying colors. Acura (I imagine) would have installed new throttle body, told me I had tranny trouble, and took much of my money. Me and a friend in under one hour fixed my car with a seven dollar can of aerosol fuel injector cleaner. No lights, no emmission problems, no $1000 Acura bill, no transmission problems. Sensor was not bad, it was just dirty on the inside. Seven dollars. This might not fix all TPS problems, but it fixed mine and the car passed emmissions on the same day. Not bad for seven dollars. By the way, I also found a throttle body with sensors attached on ebay, and it is being mailed to me. With shipping it totalled $28. It will be on my shelf until I, or one of you need it. Let me know. $1000 for a sensor problem is rediculous. This is worth a try. I can't be the only one.
You will also need the code for your radio to ever work again once you disconnect the battery. Another brilliant idea from Acura was to put the anti theft code (get this) on the back of the radio. I am no rocket scientist, but if I stole the radio out of your Acura, I have the code off the back and the radio works again. Hard to see that code if radio is still in your car. Stupid! The code is also other places. Mine is on a sticker under the main fuse cover. It will be five numbers from 1-6. Hope this helps somebody.