Gas pedal stuck?

[SherryC]

I had my old Corvette do this to me once, at a very inopportune moment. I just shifted into neutral.

[David T]

I had my old Corvette do this to me once, at a very inopportune moment. I just shifted into neutral.

Shifting to neutral can allow the motor to overspeed and damage itself. The safest thing to do is shut it off.

[Jonathan]

Shifting to neutral can allow the motor to overspeed and damage itself. The safest thing to do is shut it off.

And leave the key IN the ignition while you are coasting to a stop. Last thing you need is for your steering column interlock to engage while you're in the middle of all of this.

[ALEXAKOS]

Had this on my c3 corvette. I found that the balancing spring under the pedal tangled on the floor mat keeping it at full throttle!

At 270 horsepower it is a very scary event while approaching a red light.
Reaction was instant, turned off the engine while slamming the brakes.

Thankfully the brakes always kneel down those horses.


Sent from a mobile device. Please excuse typos etc

[DMCVegas]

To add a quick "me too" on this one, I once had one of the screws on the WOT microswitch come loose. The plate on the underside of the throttle spool bracket then swung around and locked my throttle open. Shifted to neutral, killed the engine, and costed to the side of the road. Pulled the switch out and drove on to work.

[DMCMW Dave]

I just tried it again. It works!

Thanks guys!

George

This was a known defect/factory recall all the way back in 1981, i.e. the first winter the cars were on the street.


See http://www.dmcnews.com/bulletins/SC-01-1.82.html

You have water in the throttle cable that goes from the gas pedal to the engine. The low spot is inside the car near the shifter.

If you let the car idle for a while with the heater in full blast it will thaw out since the part that freezes is inside the car.

It will also freeze back up again when it gets cold. The only way to really fix it is to do the full recall and get the water out of there. I'm not sure I care for the factory-recommended use of antifreeze in the long term, but you need to get the water out for sure.

Or never let it freeze. I get a call about this from time to time but I'll bet it's a pretty rare issue in Alabama!

[cybercusp]

For my motorcycles I've used this kit to blowout/clean/lubricate the cables with some success. A little messy but it's a simple way to directly inject lubricant while dispelling moisture at the same time...short of taking the cable off completely and gravity feeding lubricant from one end to the other.

http://www.motosport.com/dirtbike/pr...utm_medium=cpc

[refugeefromcalif]

This was a known defect/factory recall all the way back in 1981, i.e. the first winter the cars were on the street.

See http://www.dmcnews.com/bulletins/SC-01-1.82.html

You have water in the throttle cable that goes from the gas pedal to the engine. The low spot is inside the car near the shifter.

If you let the car idle for a while with the heater in full blast it will thaw out since the part that freezes is inside the car.

It will also freeze back up again when it gets cold. The only way to really fix it is to do the full recall and get the water out of there. I'm not sure I care for the factory-recommended use of antifreeze in the long term, but you need to get the water out for sure.

Or never let it freeze. I get a call about this from time to time but I'll bet it's a pretty rare issue in Alabama!

Thanks for the link Dave.

I wished I'd been at home in Alabama but, I was at a motel in Greenevile TN. so I could visit my son and grandkids for Christmas.
Even in the mid 20's here at home, I'd never had an issue so it took me by surprise.
Running the heater on fan speed 4 for 20 minutes up did the trick.
(I did this after I'd run the defroster for 10 minutes to clear the windshield, noticed the stuck pedal, then Panicked and opened this thread).

I'm going to have to go over the service bulletins again. When I bought my car from DMC Florida I was told that ALL of them had been done.
The bad part is, they can't give me any paperwork copies of the work they did on the car before I bought it.

Thanks again for all the input/help everyone!

George

[DMC5180]

I'm with Dave on this. It's seems odd to put anti-freeze in the cable jacket. Too me anti-freeze is thick and would be some what gummy and cause excess friction in the cable assembly. Of coarse it would be free, which is better than frozen. Too me the best lube is just a dry cable assembly or perhaps dry power graphite lube.

[David T]

I'm with Dave on this. It's seems odd to put anti-freeze in the cable jacket. Too me anti-freeze is thick and would be some what gummy and cause excess friction in the cable assembly. Of coarse it would be free, which is better than frozen. Too me the best lube is just a dry cable assembly or perhaps dry power graphite lube.

Anti-freeze is pretty slippery stuff. The easiest way to get it in there is to undo the inner cable at the throttle spool, slide a piece of hose about a foot long over the inner cable and use a hose clamp to secure it to the outer cable sheath. Fill the hose with anti-freeze and then hold a blowgun on the hose and give it a squirt till you see anti-freeze come out by the gas pedal. The shield is supposed to prevent water from getting in and if any does the anti-freeze is supposed to keep it from freezing. My biggest worry would be that you can thaw it out but once you start driving it could freeze again, that water is still in there. Good point about being careful to NOT turn the key too much, just enough to shut the motor down or you lock the steering. That could be an even bigger problem than a stuck throttle!