Throttle cable broke while driving

[Iznodmad]

Yep, I was only about 2 miles from my house and the throttle cable broke in half about an inch from the pedal assembly. There was no warning, just a loud snap and my foot went to the floor. I couldn't think of a way to fix that on the side of the road, so I used my AAA. It has been over 10 years since I was "stranded" in a DeLorean. While waiting for the flatbed, I had at least 12 people stop and talk to me and check out the car. I suppose I just need to order a new cable. Sorry guys, I didn't take any pics. For future reference, is there any way to "fix" this on the side of the road?

[dmc6960]

If you have a screwdriver/pliers, you could open up the throttle bypass screws to give the engine additional throttle. Perhaps around 2000rpm. That should be sufficient to limp home going through gears, both auto or manual (if auto try not to stay in Drive while stopped for too long). Might be screwed though if you need to go up a big hill.

[Farrar]

Although my cable hasn't snapped since I switched to teflon-coated stainless wire rope, I carry a small roll of it in the car just in case. In my case, I use the screw-operated kind of cable stop like they have in the lawnmower section of your friendly neighborhood hardware store on both ends. I'm not sure if you could use that with the standard throttle spool, though.

Farrar

[Dangermouse]

Need:

Screwdriver - flat
Pliers
Electrical crimper
Crimp
2" extra cable at the throttle spool

Use the screwdriver to release the cable at the throttle spool.
Grab cable at pedal with pliers and pull a couple of inches into the cabin.
Thread through hole in pedal.
Crimp electrical connector onto end of cable
Tighten screw at throttle spool
Pray you have a tight crimp
Drive home

Alternatively you could extend the cable (at the pedal) using the connectors that Farrar references, if you have a 6" piece of spare cable.. Won't be pretty, but should get you home

[content22207]

Farrar is talking about cable stops, not some sort of splicing gizmo. They do the same thing as your crimp connector.

I travel with a length of wire rope (pre-soldered on the end for easy threading) and some extra cable stops myself.

Bill Robertson
#5939

[Malevy]

I picked up some 1.5mm cable at the local Lowes, along with a crimp style cable ferrule. I think the total cost was about $2.00

Afterthought, I should have bought some extra to keep in the car!

[jmrydholm]

My cable is fine, but I realized the past few winters (esp. when I was in MI) that the rubber insulation is split, so it freezes up even with the ice shield on the throttle. Is there any way I can temporarily tape it up or insulate it short of replacing the entire cable? Is it a lot of labor to replace that cable? Normally I wouldn't be so cheap, but I just threw $2K into the fuel system and I need to pay that off first.

[Bitsyncmaster]

My cable is fine, but I realized the past few winters (esp. when I was in MI) that the rubber insulation is split, so it freezes up even with the ice shield on the throttle. Is there any way I can temporarily tape it up or insulate it short of replacing the entire cable? Is it a lot of labor to replace that cable? Normally I wouldn't be so cheap, but I just threw $2K into the fuel system and I need to pay that off first.

Depending on how much is split. You can get some vacuum hose, spit it, add it over the damage and seal the ends and spilt with RTV.

[Iznodmad]

All good ideas, thanks everyone! I kinda like Marc's solution, for approx $2 it surely can't do any harm. I'll pick some up tomorrow and give it a try.

For the hell of it, I checked the condition of the cable in my other D. Everything looked good there.

[Beachdrifter]

This happened to me a few years ago. Luckily, it was while I was still in the garage.

Mine snapped int he middle and there was a piece stranded blocking the way. Eventually I bought some electrical copper wire of the same diameter and slowly but surely pushed it through to get the stuck piece out.

What a pain!

Just remember to lube the new cable with grease to keep corrossion off it for years to come.

--Randy