HELP Throttle Position Sensor


Joined
Jul 20, 2026
Messages
3
Points
1
City
North Dinwiddie
State - Country
VA - USA
Vehicle Year
2003
Vehicle
Ford Ranger
Drive
2WD
Engine
3.0 V6
Transmission
Automatic
I have a 2003 Ford Ranger 3.0 XLT it started running terrible. I changed the MAF also changed the idle control sensor. It was still running bad. I put a new throttle control sensor on it and it wouldn’t start. It would just turn over I unplugged the new TPS and it would start, but it was still running bad. Any ideas? I’m going crazy.
 
I have a 2003 Ford Ranger 3.0 XLT it started running terrible. I changed the MAF also changed the idle control sensor. It was still running bad. I put a new throttle control sensor on it and it wouldn’t start. It would just turn over I unplugged the new TPS and it would start, but it was still running bad. Any ideas? I’m going crazy.
I had a code that came up, said Bank two running lean
 
You really need to put the parts cannon down and do some actual troubleshooting, you really never know if the new parts are good anymore... plus it just makes it harder to mix in even more variables!

Put the old TPS back on, it sounds like the replacement was bad or wrong in some way

If you have some type of OBD II reader and look at some inputs that would help, get it running and warmed up. Some easy things to look at are the bank 1 and 2 fuel trim, the short term should be pretty floppy but move around 1 and stay within say 15% so from .85-1.15, if it hangs out one side or the other then there's an issue, one bank running lean like you're seeing could be a bad O2 sensor, get a new Bosch unit if possible probably one for each side, those are a wear item and at 23 years old fair to say they're about dead...

Next is the MAF reading, rule of thumb at idle it should read about the displacement, so 3L would be about 3 g/sec, wouldn't be bad to get a can of MAF cleaner and clean the stock one if you still have it or double check the one you got.

It's kinda semantics but a lot of what you are calling sensors are controllers and such... the IAC is a stepper motor thing that bypasses air, not a sensor. The TPS isn't used much other than when 100% at startup gives the "clear flood" signal to the computer so if you got the wrong one (some look the same but read opposite conveniently) it would read 100% at the 0% position...
 

Sponsored Ad

America 250

Featured Rangers

Want to see your truck here? Share your photos and details in the forum.

TRS Latest Video

Official TRS Merchandise

Follow TRS On Instagram


Product Suggestions

Back
Top