I'm trying to change my throttle position sensor. It has two Phillips head screws. All of my screwdrivers were too long to work in that tight space, so I bought a little ratchet driver that fits fine, and the Phillips head attachment feels like a tight fit in the screws.

That said, I can't get those damned screws loose! I've sprayed WD-40 all over them a few times, but no luck. No matter how hard I push or turn, the screwdriver will not budge the screws. I'm starting to scrape metal bits off the face of the screws from the effort.

These screws have been in place for over ten years and 180k miles of driving. How do you hardcore mechanics get these things off?

 

have you looked for one those ratchet thingys (ive never seen one with a screwdriver attachment before but that is cool) that is also a torqe wrench? maybe that could help.

other then that i do not know..... you are gonna have to put pressure on the head of the unit to keep the screw head in the screw instead of stripping it. or at least that would be my train of thought.

 

Get PB Blaster from pep boyz or auto zone. Works great. I've loosened up some really tight bolts i couldnt' get with my torque wrench.

 

I had the same problem. Remove all the hoses in that area or bend them out of the way. Take vice grips and clamp them onto the screw head and turn the vice grips that should get it off. Go to Sears hardware and get two Allen head bolts for the reinstall of the throttle position sensor.

 

I just bought Liquid Wrench at ACE Hardware, and the guy there told me to get PB Blaster if LW doesn't work. Thanks for the tip. I've never heard of that stuff before.

Good idea about the vice grips! I'll try that, too.

 

Did you try tapping them with something in addition to the WD80? Sometimes the vibration can loosen them up a bit.

 

i was working on on of the screwes on the TPS for like over half an hour. my dad comes out and get it off in less than 1 minute with the vice grips. the key is to get a good grip on the head of the screw and turn it. you dont really need PB and LW because the bolt is not rusted in. the head of your screw is stripped -that's the problem...

 

I've got a ratcheting screw driver that works perfect for the TPS, looks just like a 1/4 inch ratchet except it's got a philips bit (permanent, not swappable).

It's not that hard to take the TB off (keep the TPS connected) and adjust it like that, with a lot more room available.

 

I work in an allison transmission shop and whenever i get a bolt or a screw that wont come loose, i spray PB blaster on it, then I put a flat tipped tool (like a hammer or a ratchet extension, whatever fits in the space you are working in) on the bolt and hammer it a few times, pretty hard to loosen it up. Dont hammer directly onto it, you probably dont have the room to anyway. Do that a few times and it should work, also put downward pressure while you are unscrewing, if you have a screwdriver with a hole in the end of the handle, you can slip another screwdriver into that to get the torque you need to turn it while pushing down.

 

EDIT: After reading your post more carefully, I second the responses of the others. Use a spray to loosen, and make sure you are using the right size bit. Using a phillips #1 bit on a phillips #2 screw makes it much harder.

 

It'd be easiest to take the TB off, not too difficult at all. then you can always just vice grip it off. My suggestion is to do some tapping, even put a screwdriver in place then tap it in a bit to get a secure fit and help prevent stripping. Or just get some vice grips on it.