RestoTII

I left my car sit for a while in the winter while i came back to school, and my brother took it out the other day to make sure it ran before I came home to get it. Anyways, he said that the throttle would stick open, but it was mechanical, not like a mat stuck under it or anything. So I took the car out when I got home. Sure enough, when the car is cold, it'll stick on me. It's not like it goes to WOT or anything, but if I go half throttle, it'll stick at about half throttle until I blip the throttle and snap it back. I thought it might be cable was tight/loose, but then it would affect idle or response. Neither of those are affected. So I thought it might be getting stuck on something, but that woulnd't happen only when it's cold. So my final guess it that it might be the dashpot sticking when it's cold, since it would probably have a little more viscosity. Any ideas on the dashpot theory, or suggestions of what else to look for when I go out to check it out? thanks

NZConvertible

The dashpot is easy to check. Just lift the plunger and make sure it extends back out smoothly. It could be the throttle cable, remove it and lube the inner cable with grease. Then get some WD40 and spray the crap outta the whole TB while working the linkages to get the WD40 to penetrate into all the springs, shafts, etc. Check for any surface corrosion that might cause binding. Hope this fixes it.

Keith

I had the same problem on an old '75 Saab I bought new a long time ago. I would be driving along, and let go of the throttle, and it would continue going along. Just like cruise control. I would beat on the throttle with my foot, and it would eventually go back to normal. Only happened on cold days (Cleveland, Ohio). Took the new car back to the dealer, he installed a Technical Bulletin fix. Guess what the fix was? He jumpered in a throttle body water jacket into the heater hose circuit to fix, would you believe, THROTTLE ICING! Which leads me to my question. You haven't by any chance done any of those throttle body mods where you have removed water circulation from the throttle body, have you? If you have, don't drive this car in the winter! You now know why. If you still have water circulating thru the throttle body, maybe you have a blocked passage or collapsed hose, keeping water from getting there. Check it out, because you have an amazingly familiar sounding set of symptoms there! Good luck!

Irv, Keith's dad

Thaniel

is it a pre 89 car (mechanical OMP). My linkage got sticky between the throttle and OMP and it made the throttle "sticky". Worth a look.