Stuck Throttle Solutions

Thanks to Lee Rogers

1. "Get some coated throttle body safe cleaner. I think almost all are that way nowadays. Disconnect the rubber intake hose to the throttle body. Place a rag under it to catch runoff. Open the throttle plate manually. Spray liberally. lots of black junk will run out. Pay attention to the area in the bore where the plate closes. After you're done, disconnect the battery for a few minutes to kill the memory, then reconnect and start the engine. Don't press the gas pedal until it learns it's new idle strategy. About a minute. If you don't do this, the idle will probably be well over 1000 rpm." --Glen Murdock
   
2. "On my '97, the throttle would offer resistance when beginning to accelerate, then work freely. I found that the cable at the throttle end goes into black plastic sheath which slides on the cable and into the metal end of the throttle where the cable is attached to the motor. This black plastic sheath would sometimes hang up on the cable. I used chain and cable lube once which has stopped the problem for the last 18 months." --Paul Nimz
   
3. "I recently did this for the second time. The throttle body has a special coating so be sure the cleaner you get is "Throttle body safe." I use good old Gumout that is throttle body safe. To do this you will need to remove the tube that affixes the air cleaner box to the throttle body. You will need a flat blade screw driver or nut driver to remove the two hose clamps at either end. After those are loose, remove the two vacuum hoses that go into the tube by gently pulling them out. Now that you can see the throttle plate and throttle body you are ready to spray away. What I do is spray everything down inside the throttle body while having a helper move the throttle open and shut from inside the car. After a minute of spraying start the car and move the throttle back and forth for about a minute. Then shut it off and go back to cleaning...1 minute spray, 1 minute running etc. etc. etc. Make sure you do it like this so you don't get a buildup of cleaner in the intake manifold. The instructions will probably tell you to use the whole bottle...but I usually only use enough to get the throttle unstuck plus a few extra cleaning/running cycles. When you are done reverse the removal process to put it all back together and drive it around like it's a new car. I hope this helps" --Mike Ivy
   
4. "I have had this problem on other cars and have found, that if you use a petroleum lubricant under the hood it simply attracts dirt which can make the problem return. I clean mine with brake parts cleaner and then use graphite. It allows the metal spring function and not attract dirt. I know that I am the only one who has ever tried this, but it works for me!! Never a problem in 10 years of using graphite on throttle linkages. However, I still use WD40 or Slick 50 in can for the interior of the throttle cable itself. I am just careful to wipe up any that drips on to the linkage." --Richard Moore

Hope this helps the FAQ, thanks for all your hard work!

Lee Rogers
97 Ebony Satin

-----Original Message-----

From: Michael W Frey <mike21b@dejazzd.com>
To: v8 <v8sho@v8sho.com>
Date: Monday, May 07, 2001 4:57 PM
Subject: Smooth throttle now!!


>To all that offered suggestions on my sticky throttle at idle, thanks. A $3 can of "safe" cleaner and 1/2 hour of getting dirty and my accelerator pedal now operates smoothly.

Interestingly, when you take the boot off that's between the throttle body and the air cleaner, there is a little sticker that says "DO NOT CLEAN THROTTLE PLATE".

I wonder how Ford expected us to do away with the sticky plate without cleaning it......