Throttle controller (5th gen)

I have a '23 Limited, installed an Airaid intake and a throttle controller, and everything was fine. Threw a CEL a couple of days ago, I disconnected the positive battery cable to reset the code, but it kept coming back on. Took it to the dealer, and they said they couldn't diagnose the problem unless I put the OEM intake back on.

So I was going to do that, but then decided to try and experiment with a few things. One thing I did was to remove a throttle controller I had on, to see if that had anything to do with the CEL. It didn't, but I was surprised at how SLOW my 4R was without that throttle controller being hooked up. It was unnerving trying to pull out of a parking lot and merge onto street traffic, that thing could barely get out of its own way.

I was going to put the OEM intake back on, but decided to check and clean the MAF sensor to see if that would keep the CEL code off. When I removed the MAF sensor and looked down at the two hot wires, I knew right away what the problem was. There was a small piece of dried leaf wedged between the two wires. I sprayed the wires with some CRC MAF sensor spray, along with the probe, let it dry, then reinstalled it. The big cone muffler inside the Airaid box had managed to come loose, so that's how that small piece of leaf got into the MAF sensor. Reattached the filter, put everything back together, and the CEL code was off and has stayed off. Now that the code was gone, the acceleration (or lack of) was still disconcerting, so I reinstalled the throttle controller as well, set it to Sport, at +2 for the level, which is where I had it before.

For those of you that don't have one, this should be the first modification done to your 4R. To me, these things are so SLOW in accelerating from a stop that it's outright dangerous. A throttle controller will help increase the throttle response in a significant way, and at least for me, gives me piece of mind that I can pull out of a parking lot and get up to speed easily and quickly.

 

How did a leaf get past the filter? Check your couplers and clamps

You can just move your foot faster for the same effect. I had a PC for 3 years then turned it off for 3 months. I didn't miss it so I gave it to someone else on here.

 

Installed a Sprint Booster 3 years ago. The throttle input now matches the motor output. No more stepping on the throttle 3/4 of the way to get it moving. Merging into traffic is a lot less.......exciting. The SB has 2 menus with 9 settings per menu. You can set the response to your taste.
I tried race 9 for about 2 minutes.(Gotta play with your toys, right?) It was really fun but very impractical. Just nudging the gas felt like I had floored it. It has been on race 2 since.

 

I'm sure many have seen CEL videos with throttle sht boxes due to voltage shortage issues.

It's better if anyone accidentally bought 4runner not for its reliability but hunting for performance by fixing things like throttle controllers to superchargers, better off selling it and buy something else. Nowadays even from Toyota you can buy 2024+ LC or GX550 for decent performance. German manufacturers have far better fun stuff.

Edit -
Graph from Gale Banks explaining voltage shorts from throttle boxes.

 

I love my Banks unit

 

Graph shows a POS 2015 Ram. Has anyone with a Toyota truck ever reported a voltage drop fault with a throttle controller?

 

How about a Tundra?

 

^He had it working fine for two years? That's just an outright failure of the unit, doesn't invalidate the strategy of drawing power from the gas pedal connector.

 

So I guess as you said before ram was not a pos after all. It's the pedal commander the pos.

It's OK for me as none of 4runners need these. I'm not going to risk the reliability of my 4runners.

 

^The RAM is a POS with or without the Pedal Commander installed. But if it's sensitive to voltage drop like Gale Banks proclaims, it would show up shortly after the pedal controller install, not after two years.

 

You must drive your 4Rs like an old man then. They are SCARY slow from a stop, like dangerously slow, unless you mash the pedal. I have absolutely zero expectations that using a throttle controller will affect the reliability. But to each his own...

 

"The big cone muffler inside the Airaid box had managed to come loose, so that's how that small piece of leaf got into the MAF sensor." The bolts for the airbox lid and all the clamps are good and tight. What mode and setting did you have your PC set at? I can tell a big difference between Sport/+2 and OEM.

 

City 2 I believe. More was way too touchy but really even city was touchy in low speed maneuvering.

 

Just put your foot down further instead of making your wallet lighter. They don't add power or improve throttle response, all they do is increase pedal sensitivity. A device that sends full throttle when you push it half is no faster than just putting your foot to the floor in a daily.

 

Yeah I guess I am..

 

There a half-second lag built into the stock tune that is always present regardless of how quickly you mash on the gas pedal. The lag is removed either with a tune (OTT, Yotawerx) or with a pedal controller. A pedal controller also has the benefit of eco mode, which makes the gas pedal less sensitive than stock, good for technical rock crawling.

 

That lag cannot be removed by modifying an input. You cannot make an electrical signal get from point A to point B faster by adding a logic chip in the middle and you cannot remap the throttle response without a tune that actually changes throttle maps which has all kinds of other implications.

If you like the way it feels then it's your money, but let's not act like it's not a solution looking for a problem. If you can't work the pedal properly yourself, that's a skill issue.

 

^The pedal controllers are able to remove the lag effectively (probably by introducing a small step input at the beginning of pedal travel, faster than a human can do). The lag removal is readily apparent when you turn the pedal controller on vs. off. I have an I-Drive USA controller so I'm saying this with first-hand experience.

The throttle lag is an undesirable characteristic Toyota added on purpose with the introduction of throttle-by-wire circa 2003, to improve fuel economy. Yes you can work around it, or you can mod the vehicle to delete the undesirable characteristic. We do this all the time - upgrade away from the shitty factory tires, shitty factory suspension, etc. If the 4Runner were offered with a manual transmission, people would be lining up to delete the clutch accumulator like in the Tacoma circles.

 

Whatever helps you believe you didn't waste your money.

 

^If I wanted to save money I'd drive a Prius. The 4Runner while reliable, is maintenance-heavy and gets poor gas mileage.

 

You have no idea what you are talking about

 

Let it go, @ThatGuyTheCooler. You won't convince the naysayers of the benefits of a throttle controller. They probably have never driven one, but "know" they are snake oil. Let 'em mash the gas pedal. They don't know what they're missing.

 

No, see, I do, because I have greater than a basic understanding of electronics and a decade wrenching under cars professionally. I have driven dozens of vehicles with these stupid little boxes and removed many of those because they're one more thing to fail that, spoiler alert, doesn't fail gracefully.

They don't make the pedal generate or send the signal any faster, they don't make the signal move faster through the wire, they don't make the ECU process or respond any faster, and they sure as hell don't change the response of the throttle in any way. By adding a logic chip to the system you are increasing the latency of the system because a PC can't defy physics.

All a Pedal Commander or similar does is increase pedal sensitivity so that when you request a given throttle angle, it increases the signal going into the ECU as if you requested more. It may modify it InTElLiGeNtLy but all it's doing is modifying the throttle input system. If you like the feeling, it's your money to spend as you wish, but that little box does absolutely nothing that you can't accomplish by tipping in a little harder with your right foot. The placebo effect is real when you spend $300 on something.

 

When I drive the pick-up or the RAV4, I expect a reasonable amount of acceleration with x amount of throttle input. The 4Runner in stock form needs too much throttle input, for my taste, before it even starts moving. I have the Sprint Booster set so it matches the throttle input (i.e. how far I step on the gas) that I am accustomed to on the other vehicles. It made a very nice difference how the 4R drives.
The Pedal Commander had a few issues a while back. I have not seen any complaints about the Sprint Booster.

Which is why I have that little black box. I can set the sensitivity from mild to wild. I have it set some where in the middle. There is no placebo effect. If it didn't work, it would have been returned. I don't doubt your experience with controllers. Everything breaks eventually. Some sooner than later. But I wonder how many of those failures were on 4Runners? In my case, 80,000 miles and 3 1/2 yrs.with no issues. The 4R is a lot more fun to drive with the SB.

 

In all the times I've had this argument in every forum I've been a member of, you are the first to actually acknowledge this. People like OP who claim that it wakes the vehicle up or makes it accelerate harder are the ones I'm talking about suffering the placebo effect. If you prefer the way it feels because you want the touchier pedal then, as I said, it's your money to spend. The problem I have and why I'm always confrontational on this topic is people nearly universally misrepresent what these actually do.

 

In the OP, his experience with the TC is the same as mine. I don't see where he claimed the controller woke something up or it accelerated harder. Reading back over all the posts, what I refer to as throttle control and throttle sensitivity are the same. With your more advanced knowledge, throttle control may mean something else to you. Anyway, I like the sensitivity of the accelerator.

 

CAI is garbage on 99% of today's vehicles.

 

Comments like these in this short thread but they appear every time and usually more egregious:

None of this is going to be fixed by pedal controller. There will always be a little inherent lag in the system and there will always be the same throttle response because that's a function of the ECU programming and throttle body, not the pedal. The one thing they do is increase the sensitivity which is 100% a personal preference. Everything else is placebo.