An illustrated guide to replacing your APPS - Part 1 (1 Viewer)

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An illustrated guide to replacing your APPS

I've been following this group for a while and it's helped me out so figured I'd give back. I've attached pics from my recent successful change of the APPS sensor on my 2000 LC. This is an easy job (only slightly more complicated than installing a new power antenna) that I did in 20 degree weather in my snowy driveway. Took an hour start to finish total but you should be able to do in less. The only reason this doesn't take 15min is you need to remove parts of the intake from the engine for easy access to the APPS.

Symptons:
Got the typical CEL - w/ sympathy lights "VSC/Trac" "VSC Off" and loss of power. Unless you floor it the engine stays @ idle - I seemed to be able to go about a max of 50mph in this state. (and no the cruise control does not work under this condition). If you turn off/turn on the car the lights stay on but you're back to full power. At least for a little while that works. Only seemed to occur in cold weather (5 degrees the 1st time and 15 degrees the 2nd) It also seems to automagically fix itself when the outside temperature (not engine temp) warms up. However due to the potential for ruining a trip i decided to fix quickly.

Bought an OBD scanner for my laptop and diagnosed P1120 error.
OBDPros

The part number is a little confusing: APPS = Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor which in Toyota parts language = Throttle Lever Assembly. So if you've got a P1120 error ask for the Throttle Lever Assembly, part number 22060-50011.

1) Get part - I paid ~$230 from a dealer in TX - local CT dealer wanted ~$310.
2) Get tools ready - medium phillips screwdriver - rachet set -
3) Remove engine cover
4) Disconnect the throttle cable from the APPS
4) Disconnect the electrical connector from the APPS
5) Disconnect intake from airbox
6) Disconnect other side of intake from front of engine block
7) remove 2 hoses in picture
8) remove 2 screws that attach to the engine - see picture (DON'T FORGET REAR SCREW) You can see in the picture that i neglected to remove the screw and it cracked - I'm thinking it'll be ok as the box is very rigid and it should stay in place without it - GIve me a few months and i'll let you know how that works out.
9) remove the three sensor retaining screws and remove the sensor
10) insert new sensor
11) Ensure that the throttle plate is closed - it should be.
12) Install the APPS so that it's about 20 degrees to the left of it's actual installed position
13) Gradually rotate the APPS clockwise until it touches the throttle valve shaft, then tighten the three screws securely (steps 12+13 are the official from the factory man steps - I didn't exactly do this but jiggered it around until it fit correctly - seems to work fine)
14) Reverse steps 3-9
15) My engine idles btwn 675-700 RPM's when warm - and ~15.7% throttle position (from OBD software)- After install it did exactly the same
16) Reset error code in OBD software (you can alternately disconnect battery for ~15min which I've heard will reset the CEL light)
14) Take test drive to confirm it works (important as you're messing with the throttle cable - don't want anything going wrong here)

You're done!

See all pics here: Picasa Web Albums - joe - TLC
1_engine_cover_low.jpg
2_apps_close_up_low.jpg
3_remove_hose_low.jpg
 
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Probably the best 1st post I've seen, ever... GREAT write up

oh, and welcome :flipoff2:
 
First post gets sent straight to the FAQ! Nice job and welcome! Thanks for the "part 1"....now where are the other parts?
 
Part 2 was supposed to be the rest of the pictures but i can't post anymore of them as there's a 300k attachment limit. Any way I can get a bigger limit?

<edit> Posted all pics to Picassa </edit>
 
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nice Davis, yup, post up the rest and I'll put it in the FAQ
 
Just replaced my APPS today. Went smoothly.

A few notes.

- The part didn't look like much for $200+.
- The cover and resonator bolts/nuts are all 10mm. So is the negative terminal nut.
- There is a hose in a plastic hose support at the right rear of the engine cover that needs to be removed. I didn't and broke the support piece.
- It helps to take off the top of the air filter box. It makes the reassembly much easier.
- I found that a small long-nose vice grip helps to hold down the clip when removing the wiring plug.
- My sensor screws were in there tight. I nearly stripped one of them a bit.
 
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Just replaced my APPS today. Went smoothly.

A few notes.

- The part didn't look like much for $200+.
- The cover and resonator bolts/nuts are all 10mm. So is the negative terminal nut.
- There is a hose in a plastic hose support at the right rear of the engine cover that needs to be removed. I didn't and broke the support piece.
- It helps to take off the top of the air filter box. It makes the reassembly much easier.
- I found that a small long-nose vice grip helps to hold down the clip when removing the wiring plug.
- My sensor screws were in there tight. I nearly stripped one of them a bit.

Thought I would add a pic of the plastic hose support at the rear of the engine cover for those wondering. Also I have included a pic of the airbox(resonator) hold down screw on the passenger side of the engine. Hopefully this puts an end to the p1121 code and going into limp mode when the temps hit single digits.

The entire sensor swap only took a few minutes and was super easy.
:):wrench:
Airbox screw.jpg
Plastic hose clip.jpg
 
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'99 LX470 w/74k Apps or TPS??! HELP PLEASE!

My newly acquired LX470 is acting up as described in some of the previous threads. Occasionally when I would start the engine and shift into Drive, the car would not accelerate. Sometimes putting it into Park and re-shifting into Drive would allow me to drive the vehicle without incident, but other times I would have to turn the engine off and restart. On one occasion no matter how many times I restarted, I could not accelerate and ended up taking the negative cable off the battery terminal to reset the computer, and then could drive home. In each of these instances the engine never died, it just idled at around 800RPMs and when I would push the accelerator to the floor it would move up to about 1,000 to 1,200RPM, but obviously never enough to drive. It started off intermittently and was a problem to diagnose due to repeatability, but one day a Check Engine Light came on so I took it to a repair shop and they read the code P0120 which is associated with the Throttle Position Sensor. The irony is that when the CEL code came on, the engine started and the car accelerated and ran fine. Well it went away for awhile, but came back today in a major way and has become a REAL problem. It was cool and rainy and while driving in-town it happened again while I was attempting to make a turn. What I found was that if I floored the accelerator pedal it felt like it overcame some ‘sticking’ and would then return accelerator control for a short period of time, but eventually this worsened to the point where every time after I would unstuck the accelerator and release the throttle from a normal driving position I would again loose throttle control and have to repeat the flooring exercise to limp home. So after giving the kids and me whiplash, the BIG question is: Is this problem the APPS or the TPS??!! PLEASE HELP!!
 
Could be APPS TPS or the Throttle Body Motor/Clutch or the gear train inside the throttle body. I think I'm a little outspoken about this but have posted several times that I'm pretty sure it's a mechanical bind inside the throttle body that leads to a CEL pointing to one of the 3 electrical parts on the Throttle body.
I replaced the entire throttle body with a new OEM which includes the TB, Motor, TPS, APPS so no more guessing for me and have been great for more than a year with zero re-occurances. (had become a weekly affair)
 
Replacement on it's way

Thanks for the extra persuasion, I just ordered the whole throttle body and will attempt a drop-in replacement. Fingers crossed...
 
Well chosen! I had to disconnect the ECU to reset it to accept the new TB after install. Install was a piece of cake.
 
Throttle Body Replacement Instructions

The Throttle Body should be here today. Does anyone have information (i.e. links, instructions, pictorals, manual references, etc.) for replacing the Throttle Body and is it something a rookie to intermediate tinkerer could manage?!
 
The Throttle Body should be here today. Does anyone have information (i.e. links, instructions, pictorals, manual references, etc.) for replacing the Throttle Body and is it something a rookie to intermediate tinkerer could manage?!

You're doing this with only 75k on the dial? Was it acting up prematurely or are you simply doing this as preventative maintenance? Because 75k seems very low to be thinking about this.
 
It's a straight forward remove and install with some coolant lines thrown in for messy fun. I just capped the lines as opposed to draining the system. I used a new TB gasket but the old was very re-useable, I bet yours is fine. I think I referred to the FSM for a Tundra that was online at NCTTORA.
 

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