TPS. I think I screwed myself.
 

1996 Cherokee Sport
4.0L HO
Auto 169,000 miles

I've been having issues with my Jeep, sometimes it doesn't want to start, and then there's hesitation when I get into the throttle. I replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor, fuel filter and the IAC motor. It ran fine for about a week, then started having the problems again. It's far worse when the engine is cold, when it's warmed up, the problem pretty much isn't there.

I sometimes hear a backfire or popping from under the hood when it hesitates, and the engine and transmission sometimes seems confused, as if they're not on the same page. I can floor the throttle, and the tranny will not downshift and it just feels like something is holding it back. Sometimes it'll wake up and go like a bat out of hell, but most of the time it feels restrained.

So I decided to give the TPS a try. The first screw took some effort, and the second one just wouldn't go.

I stripped out the damn torx screw on the passenger side of the sensor, and I'm having a bugger of a time figuring how to get it out of there.

Any ideas for getting the screw out, and does it sound like something related to the TPS?

Thanks.

Sounds like the TPS.Did you brake it off or just strip the head?Can you get vise grips on it.

its a tps sensor.... there is no room for a pair of vise-grips...... idk how you would...... maybe beat a slighty smaller junk socket onto the head of the bolt, but that doesn't always work...

you can get these special type of bits that will get out stripped screws

yeah a scew extractor

I have a Mac tools ez out kit, with left hand drill bits. most of the time just the left hand drill bits will do the trick, the screws will spin right out while drilling.

I just went and looked at mine yeah you can get vise grips on it,use the smaller 6inch ones.

I had already thought about what willys had said. Since I'm replacing the TPS anyway, I can just cut the head off the screw and then once the sensor is off, I'll be able to get to the shaft fairly easily. I just wanted to see if the TPS would be worth going through the effort for. Then I'll replace it with something that's not a torx.

The first screw I took out (which was the first time it had ever been pulled) looked as if it had thread locking compound on it. Judging by the amount of *** I had to put into it to get the damn thing out, I think just cutting the head off so I can vicegrip the hell out of it seems like the easiest way.

Thanks for the help all.

Oh and I noticed it tonight. When I floor the throttle, the Jeep will downshift, but it feels as if something is holding it back. If I back off the throttle just a little, it leaps forward as if I just kicked 1000 pounds out of the back hatch.

Still sound like the TPS?

if it is the tps i had the same problem striped out one of the screws i used vice grips but you might also try some wd40 and if you have one a dremel with a cutting wheel and actually cut the head of it esentialy making it in to a flathead to be removed with a flathead screwdriver or just cut the head of the screw or drill completely off and you will have like 1/4inch maybe of screw left and then use the vice grips either way dont worry about the old screws the new tps has new screws with it

also if it did have locker on it it might of been for a reason and they just didnt replace it before the tps is also very sencitive on the adjustments. the screws that you are removing are actually used to adjust it and it will throw your shifting all out of wack the top is for small adjusting and the bottom one is for large adjustments and you will need a digital multimeter or analog meter to check the voltage when putting the new one on it changes voltage when you rotate the tps and it must be set at the correct voltage for your shifting to function correctly

mine used to make it not shift intill around 4200RPMs switched the tps still the same thing intill i learned of the voltage adjustment did that and it fixed the issue you need to find out what the voltage should be though i cant remember and the instructions with the tps didnt either but theres forums on here if you search on what it should be thats how i found out and how to check your present tps to see if its functioning

I just cut the old sensor off and used vice grips to back out the screws. TPS ended up not being the problem, but a new one is on there and it's all good. On to the next possibility.

On the '96 there's no adjustment for the TPS, the holes in the sensor don't allow for movement of the sensor, and from what I gather from reading here, the HO motors are plug-and-play when it comes to the TPS, unlike the Renix motors.

~SoCO

TPS Issues
 

I have also had issues listed here, bad throttle response, error code for TPS, stripped screw, cut old sensor and vise gripped it out, etc. It didn't fix the problem! SoCo_Fox, what did you do to resolve? I'm still getting a tps error code, and bad throttle response, it won't get over 2K RPM.

Better to repost your thread-That OP posted 5 years ago.

The OP's issue sounded more like a faulty O2 sensor than a bad TPS.