Sticky Gas

M

MasonMetcalfe

Member
:
2002 Mazda Protege 5 Dark Blue
so, my issue is that my gas pedal got sticky, It wasen't hard to push in or pull it up with my foot. but it dosen't quite come up that last little bit. when it was really bad it would sit near 2k rpms. but generally when I came to idle it would idle at around 1200 rpms but i could pull up on the gas pedal and it would return to ussual ~750. and stay there after a light tug up on the pedal with my toe.


this only seems to happen once the engine has warmed up.

What i have done, taken off my SRI and used some throttle body cleaner with a gentle toothbrush and cleaned out the gunk, thought it wasen't that bad. with the intake off I could see the butterfly not completely closing. anyways, it hasen't seemed to help really, might just be in my head, if I give a soft push on the gas itll still sit at 1200 and not return until i pull up on the gas.

after this i unhooked my throttle cable at the throttle body and did some more cleaning and noticed the throttle body clicks completely closed perfectly fine when unhooked. also, the throttle cable doesn't seem to be stiff it slid back and forth perfectly cleanly while unhooked.

any ideas? there is another cable hooked up to the gas pedal that goes somewhere else, though I don't know if its related. any ideas?
 
right, forgot to mention, that I lubed that up with some spray, like everywhere. what parts of the gas pedal would fail? the spring on the pedal still seems to be pretty strong.
and wouldn't the spring at the throttle body over come the small weight of the pedal and pull it back?
 
It may just be the throttle cable then. They can get rusted and stick sometimes. I'm not sure what the other cable could go to possibly cruise? Ill try to look tomarow to see if I have 2 of them. Does the 2nd cable go off the throttle body or the gas pedal?
 
the cable when unhooked from the pedal seemed totally free and i could move it back and forth no problem.
I don't have cruise control.
 
That had no mention of the actual pedal sticking. Although if my problem comes back I know how to fix it thanks. But if its fine on the throttle body and fine in the cable then its gota be at the pedal. Did you try playing with the pedal with the cable unhooked to see if it was catching? If its not that try tracing the other cable to see where it goes
 
the pedal seems a little floppy with the cable unhooked. by a little floppy i mean there is some play before there is resistance from the spring, I guess this could be it.
the other cable goes over the passenger side of the engine bay at the firewall into a big round drum thing.
 
Are you sure you don't have cruise control? I thought all P5's had cruise? And that's what the drum is braced off your passenger side strut tower. The 2nd cable is the cruise control cable and it's the cable on the left side of the throttle pedal. I've done a lot of adjusting with my throttle cable with my swap. Did you see by the throttle body the black plastic assembly with the white locking clip? You can adjust the length of the cable by unlocking the white clip then carefully twisting the top of the assembly to unlock it. Then give the throttle cable an extra thread of slack and see if that helps. Also try lubing the cruise control cable at all the points you can see in the engine bay and by the throttle pedal assembly in the cabin. Good work on lubing and cleaning, that's a great start. I think perhaps it's just binding up somewhere along the line. You'll find it.
 
you know, I might have had cruise at some point. But I suspect the previous owner changed the steering wheel and that's when I lost the control switches. and thus my assumption that I don't have cruise. I wonder if it's that cable that's binding. I will investigate that tomorrow after work.

however, I did not notice a white plastic assembly. Are you talking about the one with the weak spring that wraps the cable housing? is this the area to look for the rotating clip and the length adjustment?
 
Yup, that's the adjustment assembly. It's a black housing with a white clip you push down, then you can rotate half the assembly (where that weak spring is) on the "threads" in that assembly to give the cable some slack.

Check the back of the throttle pedal too. There is a little white plastic sleeve that maybe be binding and could use a shot of lube.
 
any thoughts on just unhooking the cruise wire at the pedal and leaving it unhooked, seeing as I don't have the controls anyways? (i havent looked at the car yet, just asking)
 
No issues with that at all. I deleted my cruise control and also removed the cable and mechanisms on the throttle pedal for it. It's a tight squeeze in there but no worries. :)
 
unhooked the cruise wire at the pedal after getting home. seems to have solved it, will be driving it to work in the morning to confirm. seized cruise control wire.
thanks all!
 
https://mazda626.net/topic/40463-very-very-high-idle/#comment-328635

I've been having this issue since my first engine rebuild in 2010. It was rare, I had to pull back on the gas pedal sometimes. After my second engine rebuild in 2013 it was all the time. I have since figured out that the cable is causing the TB to not close fully. I was about to buy a new one until I stumbled onto the post above (while searching for the part to purchase). I'm going to try this tonight and hopefully it lets the TB close fully.
 
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