Life has a way

[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.....