Please help! My VX commodore accelerates by itself!

[kirsty m]

Hi guys!

I'm wondering if there are any people here who might be able to give me some ideas for a problem I'm having with my VX.

The car randomly accelerates by itself! It's really weird and I don't know what could be causing it because I've tried all the easy things it could be.

What happens is it's like the accelerator pedal is sticking and the car just keeps going. The only way to stop it is to put the car in N and when I've pulled over turn the car off and on again. Whenits in N the car revs to 6000 by itself until I turn it off.

I've had a few people look at it for me, like friends and mechanics but nobody can seem to find the problem. Everyone has had their ideas but when I drive the car after they think they find something it still happens.

Things that have been tried:
-Took floor mats out incase they were getting stuck under pedal
- Oiled / Greased throttle cable and looked for damage
-Disconnected cruise control
-Pulled the throttle body off and cleaned it. Someone thought it was the problem incase it was sticking.
-Mechanic checked for fault codes but didnt find anything.

Please help! Does anyone know what the problem could be? I'm too scared to drive the car now because I don't know when it'll happen and I don't want to crash!

Thanks,
Kirsty.

[Sabbath']

Have you had your TPS (Throttle Position Sensor) looked at?

[danja]

Are you sure it's not a Toyota?...

[TI3VOM]

Maybe clean your throttle body with carby/throttle body cleaner sometimes if there's gunk around the butterfly it will stick.

SORRY MATE I JUST READ ALL OF YOUR POST AND YOU'VE ALREADY TRIED THIS MY BAD.

[TrikkBen]

Are you sure it's not a Ford Explorer...?

[kirsty m]

Hi guys, thanks for the responses so far.

I don't think mt car is a toyota or a ford, but that's because my car is good. :P

How do I check the throttle sensor thing?
Someone else suggested an idle controller or something? Could that maybe be it?
Are they the same part?

Thanks!
-Kirsty.

[stockyvrcalais]

yeh was just gonna say the IAC (idle air controller) could be buggered, i know on the earlier v6's its screwed onto the throttle body with an electrical connector clipped onto it, i wouls assume yours is the same

[blownvxcalais]

hey mate, sounds like your idle speed motor is playing up, to see if its working pull it off and connect wires back up then get someone to turn the ignition on and see if it pushes out and then returns to the closed position, if its sticking on its going to increase idle and increase throttle. very unlikely but possible. another thing to check is the springs on the outside of the throttle body. make sure there not catching on anything.

[acarmody]

Check the spring on the throttle body as mentioned above. Go to engine bay and open throttle body all the way and then release it, the throttle body should snap shut. If it doesn't close hard then get a new throttle body. If it does close properly, check the pedal assembly, stick head under dash and closely inspect it. Disconnect throttle cable from throttle body and push pedal all the way down and back sure it returns to position properly.

I don't believe its a sensor as the IAC couldn't provide enough air to properly accelerate a car.

A sticking accelerator is very dangerous, and cop would not accept it as an excuse if you have an accident.

[a1k3m1]

yeh im with acarmody on that one, i don't think its the IAC either, as he said the IAC couldn't let enough air through to move a car, just make it more nosier.. maybe the cruise module has got stuck somehow and keeping tension on the throttle body? .. maybe have a look and see how much tension is on both the accelerator and cruse cables..

[lufkin]

this happened to me when i drove my parents VS, i pulled up at a set of lights and was hardly slowing down so locked up brakes, i ended up sitting there at lights doing a stand still for a few seconds haha, i roared off, ended up calling RAA, the cruise control cable had frayed inside the plastic so it pulled on when i accelerated but wouldnt release, could very well be something similar

[wana s' charge stock vt]

mines play'd up a couple of times, once it was the cruise control clip on the throttle body bit, would half fall out and put extra tension on cable and keep it open. other time was throttle cable sticking. it felt ok with it off, was real easy to slide but was still sticking when on the car, ( would pull ok but wouldnt release properly).

[kniever]

same thing happened to a mate of mine, the butterfly inside the throttle body somehow bent and it caused the revs to stay up and like lufkin said he was doing stand stills at every set of lights lol

[kirsty m]

The last few responses are sounding like a similar thing to what's been happening except that the cruise control was disconnected to try and rule it out as a problem. I think it was unplugged on the motor and unhooked from the throttle body too.

If I was to get the whole throttle body and accelerator cable replaced (hopefully fixing it), and it still did it, what could the cause be then?

Thanks for all your help!


-Kirsty.

[wana s' charge stock vt]

when it gets stuck/reving at 6000 with no throttle turn it off and take off the intake pipe and see if throttles shut properly. if it is stuck open a little diconect throttle cable n see if it shuts,

[lufkin]

If I was to get the whole throttle body and accelerator cable replaced (hopefully fixing it), and it still did it, what could the cause be then?

-Kirsty.

could disconnect throttle cable too, so nothing is connected, and rev it manually? see what happens

[a1k3m1]

that would be the go, take the intake pipe off and see what the butterflys doing, could be loose or something, but i first would take the cruise and accelerator cables off and turn the car on and see if it revs up, if it does then its something screwy with the throttle body, it could even possibly be filled up with gunk which is stopping the butterfly to close properly.

[kirsty m]

I had a friend pull apart and clean up all of the intake stuff. There was a lot of black stuff all over the inside of the throttle body but it was all cleaned up and put back together.
It used to stick closed, not open but doesn't anymore. The whole thing operates more smoothly now, but the problem doesn't happen until the cars been driven for say 3/4 of an hour.

Nobody has been able to make the car do the rev thing whilst it's sitting still.
When I had it at the mechanic he said one of the engine mounts was on the way out but otherwise thought everything was okay.
He did the computer thing and said that was fine but it would only show a problem if it was doing it at the time. Is that right?

I don't understand how all this works, this is just all the stuff I've been told. :S

[wana s' charge stock vt]

the computer records a problem and stores it in the computer till its reset. if it found/recorded a problem last week it would show up today if ya did the test.


could always try a second hand throttle body from wreckers. i got one for $20 with the iac +tps sensors in it.. second hand cable was $20 aswell. might save alot of time rooting around.

[kirsty m]

For $20 I may as well just source a replacement.
When I asked Holden for one they wanted more like $1000 with sensors so I thought they were all real expensive.

Thanks!

[lout]

you say the car accelerates by itself, do you mean it will actually increase from where you are or that it is not returning to idle.
my money is on IAC valve

[acarmody]

Just adding on to some above advice. If you are looking down the intake pipe to see what the butterfly is doing, don't turn the car on. The car requires the MAF to run or it will be very bad. Would possibly dump lot of fuel in engine to run and kill the catalytic converter.

[edals]

I had the same thing happen to me, its really not a nice feeling when your car throttle jams on, my cruise cable clip broke, and was pulling the throttle back, i just came off the curb slowly, then my car started to pull away, hit the brakes and the rears just lit up, was no fun, switched the car straight off. but as mentioned you already disconnected. But i cant see how its possible unles the butterfly is stuck open, or something is not allowing it to return. hope ya sort it cause its scary when it happens

[nathanVY]

lol at the title in the quick view area "Please help! My VX commodore accelerates"