Gas Pedal Sticks when idling

[Hackettbr1]

1997 SL
1.9L SOHC engine
116k Miles

When i stop at anytime, the gas pedal sticks up. It is very difficult to press down, and sometimes requires me to stomp on it to break it free. I've cleaned out the the throttle body and have no ideas where else the issue could be coming from. any suggestions???

[toggenburg]

You must have a kink in the throttle cable that is getting hung up.

Should be able to get a replacement at most any autoparts store.

It's not all that difficult to replace, that is, altho getting it through the firewall grommet (that is usually stiff and hard to reseal weather tight).

Rarely, is the throttle itself the issue, but you should be able to determine if the sticking is occurring at the spring/pivot or not.

[underthehood]

Originally Posted by Hackettbr1

1997 SL
1.9L SOHC engine
116k Miles

When i stop at anytime, the gas pedal sticks up. It is very difficult to press down, and sometimes requires me to stomp on it to break it free. I've cleaned out the the throttle body and have no ideas where else the issue could be coming from. any suggestions???

Did you take it off and completely scrub it out with TB cleaner and an old toothbrush or just spray some crap and figure it's done. Odds are you did the latter. You cannot truly clean it on the car

[Hackettbr1]

I will try the throttle cable, and yes the throttle body was completely removed from the car and cleaned on both sides. though cleaning both sides did help relieve some of the pressure holding the gas pedal up

[underthehood]

I have never in close to 50 years of wrenching seen a throttle cable go bad BUT I have seen the throttle shaft wear out and bind. But honestly I would not be surprised if something was missed during cleaning

[floridasl22002]

Originally Posted by underthehood

I have never in close to 50 years of wrenching seen a throttle cable go bad BUT I have seen the throttle shaft wear out and bind. But honestly I would not be surprised if something was missed during cleaning

Back in my younger days in the UK I had a car that always had a jerky acceleration. Being young and not particularly knowledgeable I could not figure out what was wrong. I took sprayed some penetrating oil around the carb linkage down to no avail. Then one day I found the problem. The accelerator metal inner cable had become unwound inside the outer sheath and was causing the stickiness. I bought a new cable and all was good with the world again.

[DIYguy]

I have never in close to 50 years of wrenching seen a throttle cable go bad BUT I have seen the throttle shaft wear out and bind.

I can't say that I haven't seen a throttle cable go bad.
My 1971 Mustang ate them periodically, and usually when somewhere far from home.

But I totally agree with the worn throttle shaft and binding.
I have seen that happen many, many times.
The only solution (sort of replacing the throttle body) is usually to adjust the idle stop screw so that it barely doesn't bind.
However the prevailing wisdom on the forum seems to be that if you touch that screw the car will explode (it won't).
I have adjusted them on literally dozens of cars including my SC2.
I haven't had one go up in flames as a result yet......