SLOW RETURN TO IDLE

[jtencer]

My '72 1.7 (orig FI) rpms stay high for a couple of seconds whenever I take my foot off the accelerator to shift. Any advice? Other than that, no problems. Oh, except this San Diego winter weather. What's up with 36 degrees? I guess I'll have to relocate closer to the equator.

[TimW]

Sorry, you get no sympathy from those of us who live in Wisconsin .

As for the accelerator, I could only guess that maybe something is sticking? But I'm sure you already thought of that .

[HMeeder]

Had the same problem with my '72. Found a slight kink in the accelerator cable near where it comes out of the center tunnel. Helped a bit but still wasn't quite it. Then I sprayed a bit of teflon based lubricant on the accelerator pivot on the pedal cluster (you'll have to loosen the backing board under the pedals to get at it. You won't have to remove it entirely. The pedal pivot is back behind the clutch and brake pedal arm pivot.) That worked for me. The pivots ride on nylon bearings that can eventually get gummed up with carpet fibers, possibly brake fluid if you've had a MC leak, and who knows what else. I went and bought the brass bearings for a cluster rebuild. The bearings are available here at PP and there is a great article with nice pictures under the tech articles section of this site. That should permanently cure the binding.

BTW I live here in SD also. Drop me an e-mail and we can hook up and compare cars and concerns. 36 has given us some cold nights but 65 degrees daytime with crystal blue skies make for good driving temps and tinkering under the car!

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Herb

[John Rogers]

You might want to try disconnecting the cable at the throttle body and work the throttle arm to see how free it is. If it has little to no roughness or sticking then hold the cable while someone moves the pedal inside the car. If the cable is sticking or rough then you will feel it. If it is the cable it is easy to replace. You open the small access plate at the front of the tunnel then hook the front of a new cable to the rear of the old one and pull it through the tunnel. If cable and throttle feel fine, then check the advance mechanism in the dist to see if the weights have gotten rusty and are sticking which can happen easily on 914s. Good luck.

[This message has been edited by john rogers (edited 01-18-2001).]

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

The sticking idle could also be the decel valve. They are adjustable. There is a jam nut around the fitting where the small hose hooks. Loosen that, and you can screw that small fitting in and out. That should change the vacuum level that the valve opens and shuts.

It is well worth checking the throttle linkage first, though! If that isn't the problem, you can check the DV by pulling the hose from it to the pipe before the throttle plate off of that pipe. Then check for air getting sucked in. If air gets sucked in while the idle is "stuck", and stops when the idle starts going down, then your decel valve is causing the problem.

On the bronze pedal bushings--buy another roll pin. At least in the past, the ones included in the Weltmeister bushing kit were of poor quality and failed pretty frequently soon after installation. They may be better now--or they may not. I'd get another roll pin and use it just to be on the safe side.

--DD

[mikey]

Ya........where do you get those roll pins anyway? Do they have them at the hardware store or local auto parts stores?? I have a bronze bushing kit waiting for me in the garage, but with no roll pin.

Mike

[jtencer]

Thanks for all the advice. I verified that the accelerator cable is not sticking. Went to the decel valve but became confused (happens frequently) about which line to remove to check per Dave's advice. Is it the hose that attaches to the adjustable fitting? I first pulled the one on the complete other end and the car immediately stalled. What about the one that T's off? I played with the adjustment for giggles and it didn't seem to make any difference at all.

[jtencer]

Fixed! Thanks for all your advice. The problem (this was way too simple) was the throttle return spring. I guess there's a lot of air getting sucked through that butterfly valve and it wasn't returning fully to the closed position. Replaced the spring, problem solved! Better feel on the go pedal as well.

[John Rogers]

I use two springs on all our cars since my daughter's 914 had an accelerator spring break in rush hour traffic. One is slighly weaker then the other and acts as a backup only.