Nissan Repair: TPS, drive shaft, lower arm, cv driveshaft, drive shaft

Question
I drove a B14 sentra97 (GA16DE).

1. how important is TPS? Last time my throttle body had a leak. does this effect my TPS or my ECU?

2. my left drive shaft seem having a backlash (can move side to side at about 3~5cm). Is this normal?

3. my ride had a very hard noise on the wheel when I drove thru a bumpy road. What might caused it?

thank you

Answer
Abdul,

The throttle position switch (TPS) should be replaced as it provides feedback to the computer as to where the throttle plate is.  The driveshaft backlash is fine if it is not making noise.  The hard noise you describe is probably the strut tower bearing that makes a clunk noise when you drive over bumps.  It is annoying but not serious.  The strut tower bearing and CV driveshaft can both be purchased through rockauto.com on-line for cheap.  I do know know about shipping.  But, I have had good luck with them.  Oh, there is also courtesynissan.com as another alternative.