01 TACO P0120 CEL

[baloo]

My light has come on twice now. Once about a month ago and went off within half an hour.

This morning, after sitting outside in 8 below WITHOUT factoring in wind chill, the truck obviously worked a little to start, took a good five minutes before I could work the breaks without standing on them and the light came on again.

The first time I checked it when the light was on and got the above code. The light went off and I figured (silly me) I was safe. Today, the light went off after about an hour and when I put the reader on after it went off, got the same code.

Doing a search here and internet wide, there seems to be a wide variety of opinions as to what the cause, how to diagnose and what to do.

Do I need to just replace the part (TPS) or are there other things I should do first?

Ideas?

[Good Times]

Here's what I found for ya:

P0120
(DI–179)
Throttle/Pedal Position Sensor/
Switch ”A” Circuit Malfunction

Open or short in throttle position sensor circuit

Throttle position sensor

ECM

"The throttle position sensor is mounted in the throttle body and detects the throttle valve opening angle. When the throttle valve is fully closed, a voltage of approximately 0.3 – 1.0 V is applied to terminal VTA of the ECM. The voltage applied to terminals VTA of the ECM increases in proportion to the opening angle of the throttle valve and becomes approximately 2.7 – 5.2 V when the throttle valve is fully opened. The ECM judges the vehicle driving conditions these signals input from terminals VTA and uses them as one of the conditions to decide the air–fuel ratio correction, power increase correction and fuel–cut control, etc."

If you do your own oil change and have an ohm meter, you can check to see if the problem is with the TPS and replace it if needed. As for parts, not sure. I'd have to check the service manual for tools. If you have a FSM it'll have all of the data there.

good luck