tps, c/c

[farmerherb]

I have two question first where is the TPS located on a 96 K2500? Why would the cruise control shut off when approaching a hill, when it the trans. should be downshifting?

[rjschoolcraft]

On 94 and up trucks, the pump is fully electronically controlled...there is no TPS, as such. The Accelerator Pedal Position (APP) sensor takes input from your foot and turns it into an electronic signal for the PCM to control the pump.

The programming in these controls will hold a gear a lot longer than I would expect if I were shifting manually. When running on cruise control, if the vehicle speed drops more than 15 mph from the set speed, the cruise will disengage...scared me several times.

With the increased power that I had with my rig, this became less of an annoyance. However, I began manually selecting a lower gear to maintain speed.

[TJ Moose]

My experience is the auto waits too long to downshift, and really lugs the engine/tranny/drivetrain - at least I get concerned when I'm pulling a trailer. I used to manually downshift before a hill to keep cuise engaged going uphill - but since joining TDP, knowing what I know now - I take it out of cruise AND downshift going up hills while towing (at least until I get my EGT gauge installed)since I'm not sure what the EGT is doing.
I think some of my long cruise control hill ascents in the past roasted the speed sensors on the trans and transfer case in years past. A roasted sensor will permanently disable your cruise control. So - until gauges, I'm using this "kinder, gentler" appraoch to keep temps down in EGT, coolant, and tranny. Can't hurt - and its okay by me not to be first to the top of the hill......