Your Ford Escort TPS sensor is how your ECU knows how much your throttle body or throttle blade is opened. When the 2.0 liter Ford throttle position sensor begins to fail, your throttle response can suffer and your engine speed can increase on it’s own.
Today I will be showing you how to test a Escort TPS Sensor in a 2000 Ford Escort ZX2. This vehicle is equipped with the 2.0 liter Ford engine, and this is a very easy test to conduct using an automotive multimeter.
Not sure what a multimeter is or even how to use one? No worries! We have you covered with this handy How To guide to using an automotive multimeter to read DC voltage. Once you have the basics covered, the next order of business is to open your Escort hood and locate the TPS sensor.
Testing your Escort TPS Sensor for Power
The Ford Escort TPS Sensor is mounted on the other side of your throttle body cable butterfly, and is facing toward the firewall. In order to do this you will be measuring the DC voltage at PIN C. Please turn your Escort ignition to the “ON” position and then unplug your throttle position sensor.
Please note that the throttle position sensor shown above is upside down. If you need to cheat a little, look down the face of your Escort TPS sensor, and you should see a small “A” stamped above PIN A.
With your Ford ignition turned to the “ON” position you should see 5 volts of DC power here. If you have power at this wire, the next wire to check is the ground wire. The ground pin for your TPS sensor is PIN C. Once you have confirmed that power and ground are set, you know that your Escort TPS Sensor should be operating.
Testing your Escort TPS Sensor for Signal
The wire you will be checking in the last part of our How To DIY Guide is PIN B. This middle wire represents the signal wire for your EFI throttle position sensor. To test this unit you must reconnect the TPS sensor and test the middle wire. In order to properly test the signal wire, you can go about this one of two ways.
One way is to unfold a paper clip and insert it into the back of the middle pin. This will enable you to read the voltage being sent out of the Escort TPS sensor. You can also expose a bit of wire at the middle wire to read it using your multimeter.
With the key turned to the “ON” position, you should see a voltage around .8-1 volts of DC power with the throttle plate closed. Now you can manually open your throttle body slowly, and note the voltage at the middle pin as you deflect the throttle plate. You should see voltage rise slowly and evenly, without spikes or missing sections of voltage.
If your Escort TPS sensor does not perform as specified, it’s time to replace your throttle position sensor. You now know how to test the throttle sensor in your 2.0 liter Ford Escort. Have any questions or comments regarding our How To DIY article? Leave them for us below and let us know!