Adding a capacitor to the TPS to improve mpg
 

I read a post recently on that social media site that referred to adding a 22-25mfd capacitor between the sensor ground and signal of the TPS sensor of a Saturn like mine.

The logic is sound. Essentially you are delivering a smaller acceleration pump shot (carb terminology) by dampening the signal to the pcm electronically. Also supposed to filter out foot jitter.

But my question to those of you more electronically savvy than me is would this make for any measurable difference in ultimate fuel consumption?

This was a mod a few years back in the Insight community. Some swore by it. I installed it and it made the car feel just a bit lazy to respond to inputs, and I couldn't measure any difference over a few months, so I pulled it.

I imagine on any cable throttle vehicle, it's really just affecting tip-in fuel. Or, in other words, with this mod it's going lean when you get on the gas, and going rich when you get off.

Yeah, I don't know how making a sensor less sensitive is supposed to improve anything.

Maybe if someone has a jittery foot it could help something? Still don't think it would affect MPG in any measurable way.

Seems dubious, because the tip in enrichment will at most overshoot stoichiometric by a little bit for a tiny fraction of a second.

You really need a flux capacitor and even then it only really helps at speeds over 88 mph.

And potentially dangerous too.

The numbers are pretty easy to do. If you multiply the capacitance by the resistance of the TPS across the capacitor terminals you get a time constant. At 1-2k ohm for the TPS (educated guess) and 22uF capacitance, you get a time constant of 20-50 msec. This seems quite short in mechanical terms, so I'd be surprised if the effect is significant.

I am supposed to be sleeping, but my book on tape ended right after I went back to bed, so I decided to restart it and Meat! I'll give my sister a box of Christmas meat! Best I can do!
NOW GET ME MORE PICTURES!

Of course, nothing is working right, and while kicking against the pricks, I saw this thread.

The guy on Robot Cantina installed an electronically-controlled throttle body in front of the throttle body in his Saturn and wired it to even out airflow.

When it reduced airflow the car reduced fuel to compensate, overriding the cable throttle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7llmwWYs0Q
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jizuJnq42Q0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlaqquFNh9s

Now, to stare into the void once more.