Free power increase!

hehe on my old MK1 the cable had moved in the past 20 years of use and i took some slack out of that, didn't make it any quicker but the responce was well good!

What happens if you don't have a throttle cable :(

make one? :)

Not a lot when you press the pedal. ;)

I dont have a throttle cable, it's DBW these days init :)

Makes fitting a new engine into an old car a bit harder. Bring back carbs I say.

I had the same when I got the Pug. It's drive-by-wire, but still has a throttle cable running from the pedal through under the bonnet to a, er, rotator thing. I had noticed that I could accelerate more if I rammed the pedal right into the carpet - on closer inspection, it transpired that full throttle wasn't rotating the rotator as far as it would go. I disconnected the cable and reseated it correctly, and now full-throttle is obtained with the pedal to the floor. Hurrah.

Mate - years ago - had a Rover P6 3500 auto, and complained it was slower away from the lights than much smaller cars. And had a low top speed - not even 70. But was very economical for an engine of that size. A local garage had said it needed a new engine - and auto as it kept on changing down at random.

Having had one I knew exactly the fault - the bearing in the bulkhead for the throttle countershaft had collapsed. Allowing no more than about 25% throttle opening. And some pratt had adjusted the gearbox downshift cable to make it still kickdown.

Replaced the bearing - which is simply a brass bush in a rubber grommet - and adjusted the pushrod to give full throttle. And reset the gearbox modulator valve cable which on the Model 35 controls everything - no vacuum link etc.

Went like sh*t off a shovel - it was an early high compression one. And Clive wrote it off the next day. ;-(

My mother had a HDi 306 with drive by wire gubbins, however the throttle pedal still operated a throttle cable which terminated in the engine bay and operated the electronic gadget that told the engine to giddy up.

Douglas

TBW? Drive by wire means that that funky wheel thing you turn is linked to a wire... :)

What is the point in drive by wire?

Yeah, that's exactly how it works on mine too.

It allows the ECU to alter the throttle, etc, more easily - perhaps easing power on an auto on upshifts, etc.

Most cars already take some control of throttle off the driver already, like controlling idle speed.

Traction Control uses it. The idiot behind the wheel can keep the pedal on the metal while the TC reduces the throttle to limit power and hence wheelspin.

It allows better control of the engine. On a diesel, the foot position may say 100% but emission control may say "no, not yet, you can have 75%, now you can have 85% and now you can have 100%."

It's also great for ECUs with built in cruise control too. It's probably cheaper, heh.

ECU has all throttle control.

So Cruise Control is free - the necessary servo etc. is already inplace - and the ECU can do nice things like blip the throttle on down-changes.

Except that any Traction Control system that worked in that way, would be utter s**te (read : Vauxhall).

Mine's a proper apply-the-brakes-to-the-spinning-wheel setup - ie, a fake LSD.

Yeah, I forgot about that.

It completely does away with the need for any sort of idle-control-valve (which are prone to dying and gunking-up) - the ECU can allow as much air in as required, at all times.

You say that, but how does traction control work in formula one cars?

Which if used rather enthusiastically can overheat the brakes, as seen by Clarkson driving that new Merc saloon / coupe thing.