When I mean go Toyota, I mean accelerate on its own? A few months ago, I was driving my 2000 Jimmy on the highway, going around 65-70 MPH. I took pressure off the accelerator, and noticed that the truck didn't have a corresponding loss of speed. I then took my foot totally off the accelerator, and the truck just kept on going. This was obviously unnerving, so I attempted to hit the brakes. It was hard, obviously, since there was no vaccuum assist since the engine was still revving. I finally slowed it down enough to get to the side of the road, put in in neutral, and with the engine still revving, shut off the key. I opened the hood and had my wife step on the pedal while I watched the throttle linkage, and didn't notice any sticking, the throttle was opening freely. Started it back up, got home without incident. At the time, I chalked it up to some cruise control malfunction. I may have been fiddling with the switch on the multi-function switch. The thing is though, that the cruise control cable is broken, and was on my list of things to fix. A few days before this had happened, I was checking the oil and then was looking at the cruise control cable, and I figured that while I was looking at it I had somehow attached it back on to the throttle, leaving it on without realizing it. It was a pretty far-fetched theory, since it would have meant that the brake override would have had to have malfunctioned. I called a dealer, who basically told me that they probably wouldn't be able to do anything about it, if they couldn't duplicate the condition. So I took it to another shop, and they had it for a few days, and didn't find anything. They didn't charge me anything, so I have a feeling they just drove it around, and when they didn't notice anything wrong, didn't do anymore thorough checking. Fast forward to last night, August 25th. There had not been a problem since. My wife was driving it, and it happened again. This time, she was traveling on our street, 30 MPH or so, and she took her foot off the accelerator. The truck did not slow down. The throttle was stuck. She kind of freaked out, put it into neutral, then back into drive, then it stalled. She said it made a pretty bad noise, so it was probably not very healthy for the transmission. What do you guys think is going on here? My wife is now scared to drive it, and I don't blame her. Trust me, we're not idiots who are hitting the gas instead of the brake, of some other driver error. It has nothing to do with the cruise control, as my wife was not touching any of those switches. If I can't figure it out, or find someone who can, I may just get rid of the thing. Thanks.

 

I've had it where like my cruise control would stick before but nothing this bad.

 

Yeah, like I said, I don't think it's the cruise control. I may have overreacted a bit when I said in my first post that I would get rid of the truck. I'm going to inspect the throttle cable this weekend, and see if there is binding. It just sucks since my automotive skills are maybe beginner-intermediate, and if two shops basically said they couldn't help me, I won't trust what I do to it myself. Mostly because my wife drives it more than me.

 

I had this happen once, but it didn't seem as bad as you're describing.

When I replaced my cruise control module, I installed the cruise cable one notch too tight and the butterfly valve wouldn't always return to fully closed position. The engine wouldn't always return to idle speed (I have no tach on my blazer, but it sounded like 1100-1400 rpm)

Was your cruise cable hooked up? The only thing I can think of is you tried to hook it up, but didn't get the clip fully seated onto the throttle linkage so it wasn't properly spaced. (the black plastic clip snaps on securely)

 

No the cruise control wasn't hooked up. I'm positive that it wasn't that. I'll probably check out that throttle cable. If the butterfly valve is sticking, is it safe to use lubricate? Or will that screw up the throttle body?

 

I doubt the butterfly is sticking. What I describe was the cruise cable physically preventing the valve from closing fully.

Carb cleaner is fine, but I wouldn't spray wd-40 or anything into my engine..

You should definitely take a look at the butterfly, though. I saw a thread a while back about somebody that had a piece of the butterfly fall apart (a weld broke or something) and I think her engine might have been racing. She was really freaked out about whatever it was she experienced. Try using the search feature to find her thread.

 

Throttle cable binding in housing is my wag.

 

It has to be a throttle cable that is defective. The Toyota problem is on vehicles that the throttle is controlled electrically. No cable.

 

I know, I was just trying to be funny with the title. I actually got reamed on another forum since I posted the same title on the same topic, I was trying to get a lot of opinions. They all thought that I was giving in to the negative hype that surrounds Toyotas right now. My other car is a Toyota, I have never had a major problem with it. I actually read an article in Popular Mechanics that basically debunks the whole theory that the accelerator problem with Toyotas is because the accelerator is electrically controlled.

Anyway, so on that other forum, someone mentioned something about how the TPS might be related to the problem. I am doubtful about that, but if there's something to it, let me know. I'll be checking the cable and throttle tommorow. Thanks to all.

 

This same thing happened to me. It was only at highway speeds though. Twice, as I was getting off the highway it wouldn't really slow down. It wasn't racing but it wasn't stopping either.

I gave the throttle a good jab with my foot and it went back down to idle.

I couldn't see anything wrong with it so I gave the entire cable assembly, spring etc.. a good dose of PB Blaster, worked it a bit and haven't had a problem since.

Do not try this on a hot engine though.