elfking

Day before yesterday I was warming up the car before I set the TPS again and well I was leaving my house, took a corner and started boosting a little in second gear.

My throttle cable got stuck down, and I tried to pull it up with my foot, didnt work. So before I ran into the person infront of me I turned the key off and put it in nutral and went to the side.

Looked with my hand, pedal felt fine, I pulled up on it to try and brake it free, it felt like it was where it should be, poped the hood.. looked around behind the inter cooler where the throttle cables were sitting and opened the throttle plate I guess people are calling it by hand a little bit, just moved it as the throttle cable would and then it sat back down, I couldn't see very well but I guess what I did unstuck it somehow....

My questions:

1. Is there a return spring in the cabin area at all? I remember working on some 68 mustangs with return springs. (Please don't hate me, I was helping a friend who had a sticky throttle)

2. I was going to spray down the throttle cable where it dissapears into the protected cable a bit with some pb blaster, or white spray lube. Good Bad idea???

3. I was thinking about spraying/ trying to clean up the throttle area around the TPS and those moving parts to maybe loosen up those it seems a bit of a worry spot.

4. Im going to read the FSM about adjusting the throttle cable for length, it feels like the first 1/2 inch doesnt do anything, so this might have something to do with it.. Tips? Experiences?

5. How hard is it to replace the damn cable? Its worth it to me just rather then having the cable stick 1 or 2 months from now when im making a run out to the beach, to enjoy the California weather... once it gets better... Its worth the price to replace rather then replace the car or myself from the cliff I would be falling. All those some of you may dissagree.

I was pretty shaken up after that and parked the car at home and poked and prodded. I like having control of my cars and how fast I go.

If anyone has any other tips for me that would be great. Thanks for all the help. I searched and only found some info on the sticky throttle plates. Nothing pertaingin to the cable or pedal.

elfking

Hmm, let me try this another way:

My Throttle cable sticks, should I clean/lube it or just buy new?

ARE there any return spings to be replaced?

Thanks. (For those who don't want to read the longer story.)

NZConvertible

There is a return spring on the gas pedal but it's very light. Most of the closing effort comes from the TB springs.

You need to try to replicate the problem in a safer environment, i.e. engine off! Have someone pump the pedal repeatedly while you check the TB's operation. It might be the cable but it could be numerous other things also.

I've had the throttle jamb open on me three times over the years. The first (78 Corolla) was in fact a kinked throttle cable, the second (84 Cosmo) was an errant floor mat (!) and the third (Cosmo again) was caused by the OMP rod binding, and was luckily noticed before starting the engine after a TB R&R (always check throttle operation after doing that).

elfking

Thanks, I will look into it, im also wondering a couple of other things:

1. My power steering is not working correctly, at a stop I can barely turn the wheel (sometimes it works, sometimes it doesnt.) So I was going to yank another pump off of a car at the junk yard. I have an 88 TII S4, can I grab one from any S4? GXL etc? Or must it be Turbo II. There was also a S5 at the junk yard last weekend, would that pump work on mine?
Maybe theres a sensor thats going bad on the power steering setup? I don't know too much about it. So im open to any sugestions.


2. I get a strange smell when boosting up a hill etc. Theres no smoke, its not a gas smell and it really does not smell like exaust or coolent, but i know it has to be one of them...I just can't put a finger on what the smell is. Maybe its my pre-cat melting down...

If anyone has any ideas as to what to check please let me know. Thanks.