after some driving, acc. pedal doesnt return to idle position
 

About a week now, I've noticed that after 1/2 hr of driving, the accelerator pedal does not return to the idle position when I come to a stop light....and it idles at 2K....

i literally have to reach down and pull the pedal back to get the rpms to drop to where they should be, around 1K....


what's the problem and how much to fix if i bring it to a wrench? Anything I can do myself or is the job too complicated.

the car is a (euro) 83 SC.

Thanks for your help

Might want to lube and/or replace the throttle cable, check return spring as well.

pull the floor board off, disconnect the rods from the bellcrank, and see if the bellcrank bushings are dragging.

thanks but what rods are you speaking of and where is the bellcrank in the following assembly diagram?

bellcrank is 17, the rod from the pedal pops onto it, as well as the rod that runs thru the tunnel. you can see the bushings in the picture.

what is part #12 called?
bob
68L

PET calls it a "Reverse Lever" here in the states we would refer to it as a "Bell-Crank"

Keith

12 would be the bellcrank on the side of the trans. generally not the problem, although the bushings are often missing on older cars.

john,
when i put the tranny /engine back in the car upon the tranny rebuild, i neglected to put the washer (#14) back on. i did replace the #13 nylon(?) washers. anyway - there seems to be enough play in the linkage that the cable will sometimes rest against the tunnel housing. could this explain the "vibration" i hear/feel through the acc pedal at freeway speeds? the sound disappears upon clutch engagement. i keep meaning to get back under there and re-examine when i do my 1K post tranny rebuild flush. tia.
bob

I had this problem last year myself. The #17 lever in the picture: The rod is spot welded to the lever, but mine came undone, allowing the lever to move sideways and get caught in the sheet metal near the pedal a couple of times.
After rebuilding the pedal cluster and re-welding this part, the action is like new...

hey rick...good to see ya post and share some info.
How is the project coming?SmileWavy

This may sound stupid,but... When I drove my car home from NY it did the same thing. It ended up being the floormat bunching up and pushing on the pedal.

I think there is a pivot in the linkage under the car as well (at least the later cars have these). They can rust and bind and cause the exact problem you are describing.

Rich

this is interesting....i only have this problem after driving for about 20-30 minutes or so after engine reaches operating temperature...

the first 20 minutes, the pedal works like it's supposed to.

can anyone explain that one?? what's going on here?

Is it possible your problem is in the engine area?I am thinking that the engine is warming up and transferring heat into the areas that pivot from the throttle cable,maybe these need a little lubrication,may be binding once warm,also check the return spring,may be broken or just worn out.

Pull out the floor mats and drive it. If there is still a problem you'll know it's linkage/bushings. Have you actually changed anything yet?

EDIT: just noticed that this has been going on for a while. Again, what have you tried so far?

rfuerst911sc,

You theory makes sense...you may have something there - now if only I had an engine picture of where the assembly is that I need to lubricate....but why would the engine at operating temp. cause this to bind. wouldn't it be the other way around?



Dr Williams,

I pulled out the floormats...same problem...but I haven't tried anything else so far ( too busy driving to work and home)...I set up an appointment to have a mechanic look at it on wed. but I'd rather try something myself...

Check to make sure that the clutch cable's bowdin tube is not contacting the throttle bell-crank on the transaxle.

Excess heat expands metal, thins lubricants, and makes for parts that don't want to boogy together right... The fingertips tell all

I had a similar problem after adjusting the throttle linkage at the throttle body. It turns out that a rubber hose (~1 inch dia.) running to the decel valve was rubbing against the linkage. After replacing this hose that now had a hole in it, the car no longer idles at ~2000 rpm.