`93 rodeo 3.2L stiff throttle spring

i've recently aquired this vehicle with 120k and of course there are going to be problems on a 12 year old vehicle. if it were perfect, why sell it?

but of all the annoyances, one thing is driving me nuts (this is a manual trans). accelerating in small increments is almost impossible as there is so much resistance to pedal pressure. trying to accelerate, let's say, from

700rpm to 1000, will always cause an overshoot to up to 2000 rpm. it's just hard to press down on the pedal. so i disconnected the cable from the throttle, lubricated it there, at the pedal side as well as all the pedal mechanisms. while the cable is disconnected from the throttle there is no evidence of a 'sticky' problem. from the the throttle end of the cable all the way to the pedal all seems gliding free.

so i noticed, while the cable's disconnected, that pushing on the throttle with my thumb is v e r y h a r d. and i had lubricated the the throttle spindle and bushings to death. it seems to me, that the friggin' spring is just too damn stiff.

so, here's the question. has anyone else noticed this? is it possible to remove the throttle spring and replace it with a wimpyer one?

because man, that would make the constant shifting i have to do in dense urban traffic soooooo sooooo much easier. it's ridiculous as it is now. i have to hold my breath, gently as possible increase pressure on the pedal, wait for it to deccelerate from 2k to 1k and let out the clutch in 1st gear, then quickly do the same up to 2nd. it's awfull.

/ba

Reply to
Basil Abbott
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"Basil Abbott" wrote in news:wlfde.260$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com:

impossible

while

wimpyer

my 93 has the exact same problem as you have described. i am wondering if the throttle cable is possibly going bad, i have done all of the same lubrication things that you have done, and have about decided that the throttle cable may be going bad. i will sure be interested in knowing what you figure out on this issue.

Reply to
electro punk

Mine had exactly 120k on it when i bought it.

I can't tell if it's the cable or not. Like I said earlier, i disconnected the cable from the throttle and it seemed to move perfectly free. Unless whatever problem that might be in the cable only acts up when there's tension on it or some such weird thing (which wouldn't really surprise me).

Or, another thought, maybe it's not the spring having too much tension. Maybe the throttle gizmos themselves are binding somewhere. Life isn't so simple that merely replacing a cable (let alone just lubricating it) would solve the problem. It doesn't look like there's any way to mess with the spring and throttle parts on the vehilce. It seems that the injector has to be removed and messed with on the bench. And, as I don't have a bench, it appears that a highly skilled, certified, well-tooled "technician" with a bench will have the luxury of charging me up the yin yang to accomplish the mechanical feat of fixing my &%$-ing car.

Anyone out there with a `93 manual trans Rodeo that does NOT have this problem?

/ba

Reply to
Basil Abbott

"Basil Abbott" wrote in news:LVTfe.427$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com:

somewhere.

there's

mechanical

the part that the throttle cable hooks to is the throttle body. what the cable does is open and close a butterfly inside the throttle body. the further that you push down the accelerator cable, the more this butterfly opens, and the more air gets into the engine. the butterfly on all throttlebody type fuel injections systems are notorious for getting gummed up and dirty, causing them to stick, a lot of times worse after the car has been parked over night. if you havent taken a look at, or cleaned yours yet, you probably need to do that. it is a very simple procedure, requiring only a #2 slot screw driver and a can of aerosol throttle body cleaner (can be found at any auto store for about $4.00). just loosen the 2 hose clamps on the large black rubber duct that runs between the throttle body and the air cleaner, and move the duct out of the way. look into the throttle body while you open and close the throttle a few times, and you will see the butterfly moving. just take the cleaner and spray the whole inside until it is clean (open and close the butterfly several times while spraying, and dont get that stuff in you eyes, it really burns for a few seconds), and then replace the duct and tighten the clamps. the first time that you start the engine, it will be a little difficult to start, and will run pretty rough for a few seconds until it burns up all of that cleaner. hope this helps you.

Reply to
electro punk

i assume, then, that you've cleaned the throttle butterfly on your machine, as you've described, but still have the problem or did that clear it up for you?

/ba

Reply to
Basil Abbott

"Basil Abbott" wrote in news:A6fge.747$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr17.news.prodigy.com:

your assumption is 100% correct, still have the sticky pedal...

Reply to
electro punk

ah ha.

now sherlock begins to study the ambiguous evidence forthright. let's see here.... hmmm

perhaps the motor mounts have been trifled with by patriotic terrorzits, and too much left lean is pulling on the throttle calble, and that means that no matter how many 'gumout' products you submit yourself to in desperation, all you've accomplished is raising their corporate stock which depends on such idiocy.

but, perhaps, i may simply need another new car....

/ba

Reply to
Basil Abbott

"Basil Abbott" wrote in news:WqCge.1393$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr33.news.prodigy.com:

calble,

their

throttle butterfly cleaning didnt fix mine, doesnt mean that it wont fix yours, in my 26 years as a dealership service manager i've seen it fix literally hundreds of sticky accelerator pedals...

Reply to
electro punk

right. i'm going to try it first chance i get.

but here's another quirk i've just noticed today. pushing on the pedal doesn't really seem all that abnormal when the engine isn't running. there's a very noticable increase of resistance as soon as i start the engine.

Reply to
Basil Abbott

Thats proberly because when the engine isn't running there is no vacuum trying to keep the throttle butterfly closed :O)>

Reply to
Darren Dempsey

right, but it can't just be the vacuum alone causing that much 'stick.' you can hardly push the pedal. and when you do get it to move, it will overshoot from 700 to 2000 rpm no matter how much effort used to accelerate slowly.

i'll see what happens after i spray it all out.

Reply to
Basil Abbott

"Basil Abbott" wrote in news:CpSge.1649$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr19.news.prodigy.com:

hey basil, got mine fixed last night, i went and bought some real throttle body cleaner ($2.49), rather than just using the cheap carb cleaner ($1.39), and sprayed the butterfly clean (pay close attention to the top and bottom) and also cleaned the throttle shaft on the outside of the throttle body. while i had my hands dirty, i un- hooked the throttle cable on both ends, then pulled as much of the inner cable as possible into the passenger compartment, and lubricated it with a heavy grease (i used marine grease), then went under the hood, and pulled out as much of the inner cable as i could, and lubricated it with the same grease (you have to pull off that little rubber boot, you'll see), put it all back together, and no more sticky pedal (for now at least, i'll see how long it lasts). thanks for all of your input, it really gave me a "gotta figure this thing out" kind of attitude...

Reply to
electro punk

i've sprayed it all in and out until is's shiny clean but no luck. other than the spring resistance i've mentioned it moves freely. it must be in the cable somwehre. i've been lubricating mine at both the pedal and the throttle side in the same manner you've described and sometimes it does semm to make a slight improvement, but not for long. but that could be psychosomatic.

have you noticed whether or not, when you push the throttle all the why open, your cable goes into the sheath? or does it bind and bend upward like mine does? the more i mess with it the more it seems like it does feel a little hard to push the cable back toward the pedal. who knows, maybe someone had to pull it all away to do some engine/valve work or something and the cable got crimped crimped.

i'll just have it replaced and hope that that takes care of it. don't know what else to try at this point.

but first, as of today, i have to have the starter replaced.

you're welcome. same here.

Reply to
Basil Abbott

"Basil Abbott" wrote in news:7xwhe.1369$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr31.news.prodigy.com:

mine does have a slight upward bow between the throttle body and the sheath, however there is now very little resistence when i push it back towards the pedal

Reply to
electro punk

okay. thanks.

Reply to
Basil Abbott

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