Stuck accelerator???

[JimDiGritz]

Hey,

Anyone had this with their VR4 (or any modern car for that matter!)

During normal motorway overtaking, with pedal almost to the floor. As I pull back in to my lane, I lift off the throttle.... but the car keeps accelerating!

I **** myself, drop into neutral, and the engine revs near redline.

Hammering the accelerator pedal, the engine drops back down to idle.

Shaken up, I keep going. Thinking that it may have been as simple as a cable being temporarily stuck, I put my foot down again. Same result.

I am 99% sure it isn't the pedal getting stuck (checked mat).

Could it be the ECU gone mad or is it more likely to be a cable or switch sticking?

It is still covered by the Red Zebra Warranty, so will get it checked out anyway.

I thought that this kind of thing only happened in movies and dodgy accident descriptions!

Jim

[Nick Mann]

Only had it happen once. The earth strap was not connected properly to the car - okay to the engine and battery, though. Effectively, all the earth current was going back from the car to the battery via the engine through the accelerator cable. The plastic outer got warm and caused the cable to stick. The problem came to a head as more accessories were switched on!

There must be loads of random stories like this from people out there!

[Kenneth]

I have never had it happen on a car, but a few times on a bike. Fortunatly the throttle had 2 cables, one to accelerate one to decelerate.

That was caused by sticky cable, dirt or some such building up between the cable and the cable sheath.

The best way to test this is to wait till the car has been sitting for a while (So you dont have the problem Nick described) and then depress the pedal and release. you might have to get creative by eithier disconnecting the pedal, putting your head under the dash or something here.... you are looking for slow response in the actual cable. this will show by it going slack. you can otherwise disconnect one of the cable ends and just move it with your hands, feeling if there is any resistance.

If there is plenty of resistance you need to check to make sure the cable is not fouled or bent in a way that will cause it to catch.

If thats all sweet, but its still sticky you can try lubricating it. I used eithier a light machine oil, or silicone spray. with the silicone, you have to wait for it to dry before it moves freely.

Hope you sort it out soon... sticky throttles are the last thing you need to worry about in a motor vehicle. :(

[JimDiGritz]

Panic over, (in case any of you were wondering if I got this sorted).

Apparently the throttle cable was being fouled by a loose £2.50 rubber grommet at the end of the Intercooler Pipe, which had also been damaged. Total bill from Mitsi in Ripley - £95.

Could have been worse!


Jim

[Kenneth]

Good to heard you got it sorted.

Hehe, you wouldnt want to end up going through a house ;)

[kinkyafro]

Phew had an episode of this on the way home after punching it at a set of traffic lights, fortunately once I realised what was happening blipping the throttle sorted it out before I ran out of road. One cautious drive home and a change of trousers later the diagnosis is the throttle mechanism fouled some excess Vacuum hose in the area. Needless to say it's now all bodged/secured with some cable ties and my motivation for doing a proper engine bay tidy has never been higher.

[Wobble]

scary stuff, glad your ok and kept your cool .

[Davezj]

i had a sticky accelerator a while ago, and it was totally down to the car mat.

the front edge of the accelerator peddle just got caught under the back edge of the mat and when i lifted off the accelerator it stayed planted.
a quick slap of foot on the mat and the accelerator was released. with no harm done.

but i have always wanted one or two of those plastic bolts that go through the mat and into the floor carpet, to ensure the mat does not slide about. but i have never found a supplier of these bolts.

[VR457]

Velcro?

[Davezj]

lateral, like it

[Colin Wiltshire]

On the mat side, doesn't the drivers side mat have a hole in it, that clips around a plastic hook ? I'm sure mine does, to stop it moving.

[Davezj]

my Club VR4 mats have the holes in it. but the floor has a kind of large plastic nut embedded in it i just don't have the screws to attach them.

[eyeballprawn]

I have the factory mats and added a press stud around the pedal area to stop it moving about at that end.

[Scanny]

i have suffered from this twice this week. first time it sent me sideways on a roundabout, second time i felt it (now i know it can happen) early enough and floored the clutch pedal. both times sorted itself out but my first check will be the car mat as it did cause the same problem on the V6 but with the clutch instead of accelerator. i solved that problem with velcro on the V6 but i havent done it on the VR4 yet with the custom mats i had made for the V6

[omrod]

Just to add - I posted "scary story" when this happened to me the other night - Still haven't gotten to bottom of it yet. I planted then only lifted @100 only to find it still pulling like a train.