Well, I've struggled with the Throttle Position Sensor Connector issue for quite a while. It normally came about after hitting bumps in the road. The car would all of a sudden stall or stutter while driving, but never leave a Trouble Code. It would get progressively worse, to the point of not being able to rely on it at all, especially through an intersection.

I've unplugged and replugged many times over the years only to have it come back within an hour to a few days. I've even re-tightened the plug connections to no avail. I got to the point I thought it may be a power issue from the trunk to the engine, so I checked all my electrical connections everywhere in between and found nothing dirty or loose.

I was going to order the new TPS connector and solder it in following THIS TSB, when I thought of something I've done previously on electronics, and I THINK it's going to work out fine. If not, I'll have to fall back on the New Connector and Soldering.

I'm not well physically, so leaning over the fender and doing the solder repair was not going to work for me right now, so I looked for a simpler way to make it work.

I unplugged the connection and used electrical contact cleaner spray to clean it up. This takes away any grease, dirt, grime, etc, and leaves no residue. Clean the plug and TPS pins.

I've used a Silver Based Circuit Writer Pen in the past to fix Circuit board breaks where soldering was not possible due to heat or other issues.

I still had some left over from other jobs, so I used it to make a solid connection. I painted a small amount onto each of the connections inside the connector, then Re-Plugged Connection back in while it was still wet to allow it to transfer some silver to the pins inside the TPS. I pulled it back out and let it dry. I again painted a little bit more on the connector on each individual plug, and plugged it back in, and this time let it dry while together. It's been over a week now, and the problem has not returned. Normally, it was a weekly issue. Time will tell if it actually worked permanently or not.

When doing the painting, be careful to not put too much in there where it may drip or bleed over to another connector. That would cause a short. This stuff is HIGHLY conductive. It was super easy (10 mins), so hopefully it will last a while.

 

I just wanted to follow up and say that as of today, it's still running perfectly!

While I would suggest the soldering method to do this fix if you can, this method has so far held up. Maybe it's temporary, I won't know for a long time, but I'm happy.

It's really strange driving it lately. Each and Every time I get in, it just drives smooth and perfect. I keep expecting a miss when I hit bumps, but nothing. It's taking some getting used to. I Love It!

I'll try to remember to follow up here occasionally.