<VV> Gas Pedal / idle problem

[David Baker]

Russ,

The gas pedal can stick where the pedal shaft goes through the
bracket that holds the pedal to the floor. The shaft can get
rusty and stick inside the bracket.  Was it sticking before?

When you were blipping the throttle with the cross shaft, were
you revving the engine then releasing the shaft quickly? Maybe
that quick movement was enough to overcome any sticking the pedal
was doing. When you push on the gas pedal and release, it's not a
quick enough movement to overcome a sticking pedal. Just a
thought, I could be wrong.

Try taking the throttle linkage rod that comes from the pedal and
disconnecting it from the cross shaft. Then step on the gas pedal
and see if it returns by itself. You'll have to have the return
spring connected to the throttle rod to have the gas pedal be
able to return on it's own. If the pedal doesn't return on it's
own, it's probably rusty and sticking.

To free up the gas pedal, you have to peel back the carpeting to
expose the bracket holding the gas pedal to the floor. You can
then try spaying some rust solvent on the bracket where the gas
pedal rod goes through it and work the pedal back and forth to
try and free things up. If that doesn't work, you may have to
remove the pedal from the car to work on it. Remove the two bolts
holding the bracket to the floor. Be careful not to break off the
bolts if they're rusty or you'll have more problems.

You'll also have to jack the car up, support safely, remove the
tunnel pan so you can disconnect the gas pedal rod from the
throttle linkage that's in the tunnel. You can now remove the gas
pedal from the car. You can remove the gas pedal from the rod
that goes through the bracket, I don't remember now just how it's
attached. Remove the rod from the bracket. You can then take some
sandpaper and clean the rust of the rod, and clean the rust out
of the bracket. Put some grease on the rod where it goes through
the bracket, insert rod, reattach gas pedal, reverse procedure to
put everything back together. Your gas pedal will now work
freely. HTH.

Dave