Almost blew my engine up today
 

Today when i was driving home from work i was pulling out of the parking lot and traffic was real heavy, so i got a break and got on it real fast, pedal on the floor and as i shifted to second gear my throttle stuck! and i was like WTF? my rpm's shot way past 8k so i immediately shifted to 5th, its not my gas pedal because it didn't stick, so as i was driving with the stock throttle in heavy 5th, the rpm's started to rise quickly and all the sudden the heavy 5th gear was up to 4.5rpm and rising going like 80mph i was confused and scared and everything was happening so fast i didn't know what to do so i cut the engine off and coasted in heavy traffic to the nearest gas station, popped the hood, screwed with the cable it seemed fine so i carefully started it back up, the rpm's shot up again but started to decrease slowly and sluggish, then 5 seconds later it started to idle normal and i drove home at very low rpm's (not past 2.5k) has anyone ever experienced this? or do any of you guys know how to fix it?
thanks

well my dellorto would do this if i did a lot of wot. it made track time FUN. i would smash hell out of the gas pedal and it would pop back to normal. i think it was the cable binding

i wouldn't mind if i was on the track and it stuck, but in traffic its pretty scary, i looked at it again today and everything seemed fine, i tightened the cable a little bit more, i doubt its fixed though

My GSLSE throtle was like that for a while . whenever i pressed the gas to 6000rpm it would stay there and take a couple minutes to go down.(making driving extremly unpleasant) I thought it was going to annihalate my clutch/tranny. so it cut a 1/4 off my throttle return spring . It worked no more sticking throttle.

You're carbbed right?
 

It's your seccondaries. Mine did/do that from time to time. Try it sometime you have an open road and no one around.

Secconaries open at about 4-5k RPM and are vacuum actuated. While in gear, floor it so vacuum is high (Vacuum is higher with engine under load.) and see if it happens again. Be ready to be able to slow the engine down somehow if it does happen again. Turning it off may not be the best idea because it may flood.

If it is your seccondaries, the spring, linkage, and diaphram is under a plate, I think on the passenger side, towards the front of the carb. The plate is square and secured by four screws. Open it and clean with carb cleaner. (Don't rely on my cleaning suggestions. I havent tried it and am not entirely sure if everything is correct. Wait till someoen has had a chance to review it and secconds the suggestion. I don't wanna be responsible for you messing up your car.)

Pele,

Not to contradict you or anything, but if I'm remembering things correctly, vacuum should be lower as the throttle is opened further. When vacuum drops, the spring begins opening the secondaries...

Am I way off here...that's the way I remember reading about it, but maybe I'm smoking dope...??

i bought some carb cleaner and used like the whole bottle, the throttle cable was a little bit loose so i tightened it up more, and i took it out for a test run, i took it easy in 1st gear and got on it in 2nd to about 6k rpm the buzzer went off and i let off the gas, and there it went again shooting up to 8k, so i killed the engine again going about 40mph, coasted in some dude's driveway and waited a few seconds then started it up and the rpm's shooted up but only for a second.....man this sucks, i know its the secondary's cause it dosen't stick unless i go over 4,500rpm or so.
pele: i'll take your advise and check the spring linkage and clean it out
anyone else have any other suggestions?
thanks

The secondaries get there vac source before the throttle plates, so... when the car is idleing or under low load the velocity of the air that goes past the port for the sec is very low, when you have your foot in it the air velocity increases which increases the vac to the secondaries to overcome the spring that holds them shut.

Get it? ;)

Edit: Yep, your right setzep. Thanks for setting me straight there. For some reason I was thinking manifold vacuum, not the vac signal for the carb. Proof that one should never post while one is drinking lol.

I Have the same problem, but my secondaries sometimes dont open, other times the secondaries will stick wide the f*ck open. Help!

My 80 did that once on the highway, I just immediately shut the engine off. If that happens dude, just turn the key to off :)

When I got home, I got it freed and then I oiled the crap outta the throttle linkagae and never happened again, but kinda scres ya...

Diggin up bones here arent we? This post is OLD!

OMG... that happened to me too, luckly it wasn't during traffic, so I shut off the engine and then it fixed itself... But now I might want to check that plate and stuff out :)

SCARED THE SH*T OUTA ME!!! My heart was pounding so hard... *thump, thump, BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM*

Old but relevant...my parents' '85 GSL is starting to do the same thing when driven hard and now I know where to target my cleaning. Thanks for the tip, MIKE-P-28....:cool:

How about an 11 year update? I solved the problem by selling the car :p

hope this doesn't happen to me...

Almost an 11 year thread with an update from the OP, I gotta get in on this. I actually had the same issue with mine when I first got the car, and it stuck open even after I shut it off. I had to play with the linkage and i finally let the throttle idle down. Scary as all hell and no fun whatsoever. So I'm thinking of going with mechanical secondaries but I'm not quite there yet with the MPG drop I'd be expecting..

Meaning you didn't solve it at all - - you just dumped it in someone else's lap.

I'm sure you warned them about it, right?

Considering the high likelihood of being held liable if you sell a car knowing it has a dangerous flaw and don't disclose it.

You Kalifornia guys crack me up :D

Product of our environment; a lawyer under every rock, and half of them starving for a meal.

why are you guys trying to drive with a stuck throttle? i shut the car off immediately.. not like diagnosing a sticky throttle is really intimidating either or replying to a 10 year old thread from an inept.

I can't believe how fast time flies but i remember everything pretty clearly :) I ended up swapping a 13b from a wrecked GSL-SE and sold the 12a to someone on here. It was pretty scary though and i hope no one else has to deal with it. I'm not going to lie though i miss the crap out of my 1st gen :(