Wide open throttle

[TurboSubie]

Anyone ever have their throttle stick wide open? mine did today..I had to shut the car off to stop it. What happened? is there something I should replace? anyone else have this happen?

[wiscon_mark]

we had it (sorta) happen on our old GL....I was sitting alone in the car (I was about 5 at the time) and it was idling, and my mom was in the house, and the rpms were just slowly climbing, and climbing, and about at 5000 rpms, I panicked and ran in the house

Dunno what causes it, but its probably electrical, or maybe your TB needs cleaning...

Where you at WOT when it happened (ie: you were flooring it, and you let off and it didn't) ?

[vrg3]

It happened to a Car Talk caller once... Turned out the grease monkey who last changed her Legacy's oil left a fruit pie on top of the throttle cam!

I would check the throttle cable and linkage. Make sure they move smoothly and that nothing's in the way that it could catch on. It might not hurt to clean the linkage with a degreaser like brake cleaner and then apply a non-tacky lubricant (like PB Garage Door Lube, or even Lock-Ease). If the cable doesn't move smoothly inside its sheathing, I'd replace it.

I don't think it can be electrical.

[tris91ricer]

Sure can. . . If the alt isn't putting out what it needs to, in my experience, the ECU will compensate and dump fuel. Or have I just interpreted the cause wrong?

[BAC5.2]

Sure can. . . If the alt isn't putting out what it needs to, in my experience, the ECU will compensate and dump fuel. Or have I just interpreted the cause wrong?

If it dumps fuel, what air will that fuel mix with?

Remember, this isn't a diesel. The gas pedal mediates air passing into the engine (whereas on a diesel, the gas pedal mediates the fuel being mixed with air.. no throttle plate).

If the ECU dumps fuel with the throttle closed, the engine will run WAY to rich and bog out and stall.

The throttle would have to stick open, I'm with Vikash, I don't think there's an electrical cause for this.

At best, the IAC is messing up and opening 100%, even then I believe the engine will only get enough air to idle at about 2500RPM. And you'd get a check engine light.

Check the fire-mat under the hood. It could be drooping and causing the throttle cam to remain open.

[tris91ricer]

>>Check the fire-mat under the hood. It could be drooping and causing the throttle cam to remain open.<<

OOOhhh.. good cause! I never thought of that. . The fire retardant on my cars is always missing by the time they get to me.

[206er]

the best solution for a sticky throttle cable is to shoot lots of carb cleaner or WD40 through the housing, clean as best you can, then use good chain lube for bikes like dumond tech or tri flow drip. wipe away excess so it does not start gathering dust.

[scottzg]

I've seen the throttle cable come unhooked from its little bracket near the throttle and jam the throttle open in an svx. I've seen the floor mat jam against the throttle several times- i dont use floor mats any more.