Life has a way

[steamer]

Today had a moment of ...hmm     Clarity.

I was bringing my daughter and my wife to a Oncology checkup, I was on the highway, at highway speed  ( 70 mph).

As I approached a merge, and then a split, in a highly congested onramp...a string of cars entered the roadway.   Normally you stay to the left here, which I did....but I needed to cross to the right to get on a different route.

Well....the cars didn't want to let me in, so I decided....no worries   I'm in the passing lane, so I accelerated.

When I did....the throttle on our van stuck ....WIDE OPEN......     
.....

OK   this has never happened to me in 40 years of driving...but I started to work the problem....first ....drive!...
...no cars ahead of me....good....on the brakes ....HARD.....   They immediately started to overheat.....while doing this I check and shut off the cruise control thinking perhaps that system was causing a problem.    No effect......car is going faster now......
OK...I reach down, and hit the ignition,( I really didn't want to drop it in neutral, and blow the engine up) and I start slowing ...but too fast....and I'm getting too close to the merging traffic...so...I turned the ignition back on....and got ahead of the traffic, and then pulled far to the shoulder, and killed the ignition again.....and brought the van to a stop...out of the line of traffic.....

Simple checks....I found nothing...but I suspect I have a throttle position sensor issue....my mechanic is working on it....

......that woke me up......

[crueby]

Terrifying! Glad you are okay!

[Kim]

That is a very frightening experience, Dave!  Scary just to read about!  I'm glad you all came out of it OK. 
Kim

[Vixen]

A bit too close for.comfort. Thankfully you all survived.

[Admiral_dk]

Way too close for comfort 

I have never experienced anything like this in a car .... but first time was on a moped -> much lower speed and no traffic. On those it was often a frayed cable between the twistgrip and the carb.
The worst was on my first fast motorcycle on an unplanned winter trip - no alternative transport - and the carbs all froze at half open throttle - more that enough on ice 
Back then I pulled the clutch and pressed the Kill Button on the handlebar. NOT funny at all, but compared to you having your love ones in the same wheehickle + with a lot of traffic. In my case I had my heart pounding in my mouth afterwards and I'm sure it took quite a vile for you to get comfy after that experience and your wife and Ava where most likely not feeling good either.

Best wishes for you all

Per

[Admiral_dk]

Come to think about it I have tried the opposite in a car. The ECU stopped working and like all computers you just kill the power and start it again ....
But in an car sold in Europe - this usually also means that you lock the steering if you turn the key to the kill position .... Not nice, but it had to be done as I was in the fast lane with a dead engine, so I made very sure I was in the right direction, before I turned the key to Lock position, waited a few seconds and turned it back on -> all was good again.

[sco]

Sounds like a case of SUA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_unintended_acceleration  It's not a Toyota is it?

Glad you are ok!

Simon.

[ShopShoe]

Glad everyone escaped that scary situation.

I had that happen once pulling out of a supermarket parking lot into busy main road on icy, snowy day: Lower speed, but crazy stuff happening fast with all the other cars and the slippery road.

Cause was floor mat slipping under the accelerator pedal. (Yes, it was a factory mat and installed as required.) I took the mat into my shop and cut off the area around the pedal location.

Many, many months later they issued a recall for that issue. My mod was accepted as meeting the standard of the recall.

Stay alert and stay safe,

ShopShoe

[propforward]

Very glad that you had your wits about you Steamer! A truly terrifying situation. Very happy that you guided everyone to safety - I imagine that was a terrifying situation.

[cnr6400]

Glad you and your family are OK. SUA and brake failure are two of the scariest things that can happen while driving.

As others have mentioned some vehicles have a history of this happening, both foreign and US made cars. Just a suggestion - do a google search on your particular year, make and model of vehicle for "stuck gas pedal", SUA, "stuck throttle" etc. To see if others have had the same issue, and if there is a recall or active lawsuit going on. Always good to get the big picture, and it may save you a lot of money on repairs if the carmaker picks up some of the expenses.

[Roger B]

A scary thing to happen   

I often wonder as cars become more electronic what we will be able to do when something goes wrong. With a mechanically operated clutch and manual gearbox you will always be able to disconect the drive. When the gear selector is just a switch with a fancy handle what can you do? When the ignition key switch actually breaks the ignition circuit you can stop the engine. If you have the 'modern' start/stop button will that stop the engine when the car is moving?

[tghs]

just a thought, depending on the make and year and engine type,, the TPS on many engines tells the computer the butterfly position so fuel supply is metered to match,, as the butterfly in the throttle body is rarely looked at, gunk and goo can build up in this area, often the EGR port is close by,, normal driving the butterfly is in a clearer space, opening wider than normal can cause things to get to the gunk and get stuck.. I had an 86 ranger that the gunk would migrate towards the butterfly,, warm engine no problems,, cold engine the butterfly would stick in the closed position.. glad you all are safe..

[dieselpilot]

You can safely put it in neutral or downshift if the car is even remotely recent. Fuel injected cars and probably many with electronic ignition have rev limiters. You simply can't overspeed the engine, well unless you money shift a manual.

Cable or electronic throttle?

[steamer]

You can safely put it in neutral or downshift if the car is even remotely recent. Fuel injected cars and probably many with electronic ignition have rev limiters. You simply can't overspeed the engine, well unless you money shift a manual.

Cable or electronic throttle?

 
Cable.   .  2003 Honda Odyssey  V6.  It appears to be a bad throttle body return spring.   I find nothing on any recalls regarding this.

..I hear you on the rev limiter, but I was trying to avoid that with a 18 year old engine.....
Dave

[dieselpilot]

Seems unusual for a spring to break, especially one that important. Nothing on the web about it. Several references to bad cables though, mostly hard to push.  It's not likely the engine is structurally any less sound today than it was in 2003. If you can stand some course language, you can watch such abuse just search for odyssey neutral drop on YT.

[crueby]

17 years in a New England state, with salt on the roads in winter, not unusual at all for parts to corrode. My mother's 2003 Subaru Forrester has had two front subframes rot away and be replaced (under warranty both times). At least they caught it before the front wheels fell off and the engine fell out, though the service guy said the second time that one more speed bump would have done it.     

[steamer]

Interesting development....
My mechanic got the plenum off and got to the throttle body.   There are 2 bulkheads on the throttle body.  One is for the throttle cable, and the other is for the cruise control cable.    The throttle cable bulkhead is metal, while the cruise control cable bulkhead is plastic       The cruise control bulkhead was broken, allow the throttle valve to remain wide open.    He got a used throttle body from the salvage yard, and it also had a broken plastic cruise control bulkhead.   So...my option is to completely replace the throttle body  ( about $1000 all up) or disconnect the cruise control.   I'm opting for the later!.   We don't take this vehicle on long journeys anymore, so I don't think it will matter....so the cost just dropped pretty dramatically....

....part of me wants to spend the grand, but my wife drives this most of the time, and she doesn't want to spend the money.....stay tuned!

Dave

[Pete49]

Thanks for the heads up but I will stick to my 30 year old Mercedes clunkers. At least I still control my car not a computer. As to salt on the roads ....not until the oceans rise 30 meters. 

[crueby]

Dave, sounds like a great opportunity to design and make a all metal throttle body. Steam powered, couple of cylinders, whistle, all the goodies...

[Art K]

Dave,
The only time I ever had anything like that happen was back when I was in high school probably 18. I used to do reverse drops with my parents car a 65 Dodge Polara with a 383. I only did it once with my own car a 68 Mercury Cyclone 302, it was a dog. later when I stepped on the gas it started surging ahead, it may have been the school parking lot. When I checked under the hood it had broken the motor mount so it lifted the motor jamming the throttle wide open. Glad to hear you have it sorted out and no one was hurt.
Art

[steam guy willy]

I used to have a Jawa Motobike  and one day the clutch cable broke so I thought  Oh No  what do I do ..however the cunning  designer had included a mechanism that also operated the clutch with the movement of the gear lever  ?!!!! so I could still ride home as long as I changed gear each time ???

Willy

[Admiral_dk]

I guess that it is rather nice for you to get a satisfactory explanation for why it happened and a sure way to avoid it happen again on this car - it would certainly make me happier if it was mine ....

Per

[stevehuckss396]

Holy CRAP!

Glad you and your family are all OK.

[Alan Haisley]

Years back this happened to me too. Driving about 150 miles (240 Km) in the worst blizzard I ever experienced. I rented a car in Cincinnati, Ohio to drive home to Kokomo, Indiana. Somewhere in the last part of the trip the throttle stuck. The linkage had picked up so much ice that it was truly a "frozen linkage."
Obviously I got home safely but no longer remember how.
At least the storm was so bad that I probably never got over about 20 MPH (25 Kph.)


This was back in the heyday of Citizen Band radio in the states. Early in the trip, I stopped for gas and coffee and overheard a trucker remarking that at a truck stop in Wisconsin there were "cab over" trucks where only a foot of their CB antennas were visible.

[Stilldrillin]

A scary thing to happen   

If you have the 'modern' start/stop button will that stop the engine when the car is moving?

Yes Roger!
 Tried it, once. (Enquiring minds need to know)..... The engine cut out, after 5 seconds, approx.....

And, re-started. No problem.....