Final answer:
Symptoms of a bad throttle position sensor include irregular idle, issues with acceleration, the check engine light turning on, poor fuel economy, and unexpected shifting in automatic transmissions.
Step-by-step explanation:
The symptoms of a bad throttle position sensor (TPS) can impact the performance of your vehicle's engine and should be addressed promptly to avoid potential safety risks. Some common symptoms include:
- Irregular idle, including surging or stalling.
- Issues with
acceleration such as hesitation or jer_ky acceleration. - Check engine light coming on due to error codes related to the TPS.
- Poor fuel economy caused by inaccurate sensor readings leading to imbalanced air-fuel mixture.
- Unexpected shifting of gears in automatic transmissions when the TPS fails to send accurate signals to the transmission control module.
These symptoms arise because the TPS is responsible for relaying the position of the throttle valve to the engine control unit (ECU) which uses this information to adjust fuel injection and ignition timing.