Throttle Adjustment

EddySpaghetti · Jun 18, 2009

Hi!

This may be the lamest post I ever have to make, but I have to ask if anyone else has had an issue with their throttle sticking open?

Mine seems to have been getting worse the last couple of weeks and tonight I looked a total prat sitting at traffic lights with the engine screaming away while I was trying to hook the throttle pedal back with my foot.

I'm nota at all used to the 'hinged at the bottom' throttle pedal, and the issue I have is with it, and the throttle arm above it 'over-centring' and getting stuck at full throttle. The problem is bad if you are stationary, and get cought like I did this evening, but its also starting to impact my enjoyment of the car because I can't control it properly - it seem the point in travel that the pedal starts to lock up is exactly in the zone wehre I need to be to control the car in turns...

Anybody had this, is it common? Any idea on fixes? - I'm beginning to worry its a feature of the bottom hinged pedal

Final thought: Anyone tossing up between an S2 and a Turbo should get the Turbo SE - If only because it has the 10 speaker stereo you need to drown out the diff noise. Seriously - I had the oil changed for 70w140 today and if anytihng the noise is louder!

williams · Jun 18, 2009

One of the techys on here will sort your problem for you but I do reccomend a throttle cam thingy!!! Best £20 I ever spent, It really does improve responsiveness.
BTW 10 speakers or 20. Westlife will still sound orrible, Radio le mans on original stereo playing floyd! Ahhh, Memories!

idwoodvale · Jun 18, 2009

Common cause is the pedal jamming against the floor pan of the car - often if you have jacked the car up at the front rather than the specified point midway along the sill - the floor pan can bend. This was the case for me after a tyre change at a garage who did as above. This resulted in the pedal sticking somewhere beyond half way down. Fix in my case = Yellow Pages, place in the driver's side footwell and hit with a lump hammer and hope you don't go through the floor. If you think rust might be an issue then I'd be cautious. Other than that maybe the throttle cable?

Alexw · Jun 18, 2009

I had the same problem! I filed back the groove in the back of the peddle and it sorted it.

BUT, before you start taking chunks out of things I'd sort out exactly whats causing the jam. Disconnect the linkage at the throttle body and see if the peddle still jams, if it does its peddle related if not it may be the spring or something caught in the butterfly valve. That has happened to me in another car.

A common cause of what you have mentioned is deformation of the floor caused by jacking the car up using a small "jack-point-looking-thing" just inside of the wing. Its not a jacking point and that area bends upwards as you lift the car, and you end up with a raised peddle which then catches. Taking a lump hammer to the floor near the peddle will sort that out! But this is quite scary to do.... I cheated in filing back the groove which lets the linkage travel more. I wasn't sure if my floor was deformed as it didn't look it and I've known about that since I had the car.
I may have missed something though, a proper expert should be a long in the morning to point you in the correct direction [

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EDIT: Takes me far too long to reply to things at that time of night... woodvales post wasn't there when i started typing [

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pal944 · Jun 18, 2009

Hi ed yes hit with hammer i did the same on my the first and only time i lifted it up on the wrong piece! Anyway how did you get on with the tools and doing the belts Regards Paul

Diver944 · Jun 18, 2009

Wot they said ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Get the lumphammer out

Very common problem

A.Wang · Jun 18, 2009

I had the same problem...very glad I didn't go down the lump hammer route as my footwell was so rusty that it required a whole new bulkhead and floor!

Check it for rust first and if you can't poke a finger/screwdriver through the bulkhead/floor, then give it a good bash.

Keith D · Jun 18, 2009

Just a thought, Make sure the earth strap is making a good connection. I had a Mini that did as you describe and the cable melted with the throttle open. as this was the only route to a good/better earth.

Regards
Keith.

EddySpaghetti · Jun 20, 2009

Thanks for the advice guys - lump hammer will be got out and used in anger tomorrow. Is it as simple as giving a few well placed whacks near the bottom hinge of the pedal, or is there a specific place I should aim at?

Paul, thanks for the loan of the tools - Belt and Waterpump job is done and I have just arrived in Scotland, so car has made it in one piece!

However, I have a confession

Haivng taken it all apart, installed new waterpump, and put back together I started it up and there was a slapping noise from the front end. - I thought it was likely that I hadn't go the right tension on the balance belt, but rather than take it all apart again and risk getting it wrong twice I asked the guys at Tower Porsche to have a look for me - couple of hours later they had stripped it back, re-tensinoed the balance belt and all is well.

Overall I'm really happy that I did the job myself, just a bit gutted that I didni't get it 'quite' right. I might have done the second strip and re-tension myself but was runing out of goodwill at my Dad's where the car was laid up for the job...

Anyway, apart from this pedal sticking issue I think I am back in business. I'll drive back to London on Sunday afternoon and give you a shout to arrange a night to give back the tools next week if you are around one evening?

Cheers,

Eddy