jwillman

I have had a sticky accelerator for some time and it got to the point that I was afraid it would lock up or fail.

I replaced the accelerator cable over the weekend. The old cable exterior covering was rock had and cracked apart during removal. The new cable seemed better but I still feel like I am having to push past something from rest into initial acceleration. Travel beyond idle seems fine.

While manually rotating the throttle body quadrant by hand it feels a bit stiff out of idle. Not sure if there is an adjustment to ensure the cable is not pulling directly back against dead center post rather than rotating the quadrant around the post if that make sense?

Also noticed that the gas pedal it self has three rows of bolt holes from driver seat to firewall and my pedal was secured in the set of holes closest to the firewall. Not sure why the different mount positions are there beyond driver comfort.

jwillman

Over the weekend I tried moving the accelerator pedal to the mount holes closest the drivers seat thinking it might be binding on the pivot dog bone as it was almost vertical in orientation.

I still have a "catch" at idle when initially trying to depress the accelerator.

Back to the drawing board!

GlenL

The holes are just for driver comfort. I've wanted to move mine for years to align the accelerator with the brake to try some heel/toe braking.

Have you tried to lube the throttle mechanism itself? Some have a mechanism to change opening action. Hard to describe but I can see that wearing.

Ducman82

is it getting "stuck" on the cruise cable mount/cable?

jwillman

Sadly the WSM does not discuss much on the pre-1980 throttle bodies so not sure where I should lube it or how.

While actuating it at the throttle body quadrant I don't see where the throttle cable is binding against anything and seems the CC cable is moving. That said I have the CC electronic control module out now as it needs rebuilding per the troubleshooting tree, CC has never worked.

jeff spahn

Could the catch be on the cable under the intake? I don't have my WSM handy so in basing this off the S4 intake that I work on not a pre S4

jwillman

The 16V cars and specifically the 78/79 have not electronics and a very open area below the intake arms for the linkage. Its completely unobstructed in comparison to the 32V cars.

GlenL

I'd reach in past the distributor and see if the throttle mechanism itself feels sticky. With a little light you'll see if there's a mechanism on that. It's designed to make the throttle opening non-linear with pedal action. This allows finer adjustments at low throttle for cruising.

Landseer

Had one stick in full throttle position on an 84 auto.
It was sand and mouse pee and debris and corrosion binding the throttle spring/shaft at the throttlebody.

jwillman

Thanks all. Seems another example of thinking the simple solutions can never be the fix because they are so simple.

I sprayed some WD40 onto the tension springs on the throttle quadrant and throttle travel is smooth and light.

Thanks for your persistance with me