Has anyone else had their accelerator pedal stick while at a stop so that you have to hit it hard and then make the car suddenly launch unnecessarily? This has been happening occasionally on my Maxima and I was wondering if anybody knew of a quick fix, like spraying WD40 onto a certain part. I actually don't know if it's the pedal or the throttle body. I want to fix this before it sticks OPEN.

 

The same thing happens in my dad's Pathfinder... and it gets annoying and I'm always scared that I'm going to lurch and hit someone.

And I've looked under the pedal, it doesn't seem to be caught on anything. Micah95GLE, you've tried to reproduce it at home/in the driveway, with no sucess, right? Cause I did it and the pedal always seems to go down when I get home and try it then.

So, if anyone has any solutions to this, I could probably apply it to my dad's Pathfinder.

[Edited by clee130 on 03-11-2001 at 12:39 AM]

 

Yeah, it does it once every few days, so it's hard to pinpoint.

 

It's a dirty throttle body.

 

Its most likely a dirty throttle body. Mine did a similar thing a while back. I cleaned the throttle body out really good and it runs very smooth. You need to get a wire brush or something and really clean around the butterfly part. I don't know if you have a butterfly, but my '90 does.

If that not it then check and make sure your throttle cables aren't too tight.

Peace

 

Don't worry, it's not going to stick in the open position.

When you release the gas pedal the throttle blade closes tightly against the walls of the throttle body. If it has accumulated some "gunge" in that area the blade tends to stick, requiring extra force to open the throttle again. You may clean the throttle body by removing the air duct and gently wiping the now-exposed throttle body interior with a lintless rag moistened with carburetor cleaner. Hold the throttle open with your left hand while you rub with your right hand.

High-mileage cars may develop a small "step" in the aluminum throttle body at this point. That problem may be addressed with gentle application of fine emery paper to smooth away the step.

 

Thanks Mr. Martin!

 

Don't use a wire brush to clean the inside of the throttle body. It isn't necessary, and you can scratch things. A soft brush, like a baby bottle brush, is good for cleaning. Mostly a lot of throttle body/injector cleaner is what is needed. Also avoid spraying the throttle position switch.