My SVX almost killed me...twice
 

So I was driving up the interstate, and hit the gas to pass a car. I accelerated rather rapidly, passed the other car, and then took my foot off the gas...but I kept accelerating. I hit the brakes a bit, but for some reason, it was like the gas pedal was floored, even though my foot was off of it. I kept accelerating, and this is when I realized there was a serious problem. Luckily, I do not get easily panicked or rattled, so I made my way into the right hand lane, and started to really apply the brakes. That brought me from about 90mph to about 70 or so. I made plans to get off the interstate, and headed for an off ramp, still standing on the brakes, I had slowed to about 50, so then I tried to see if the acceleration had stopped. I took me foot off the brakes, but sped up again. My new plan before flying through the intersection into another car was to aim for the right hand side of the road, which was covered in about 2 feet of snow. This way I could plow through the snow until it stopped. Luckily, I also stuck my foot underneath the gas pedal, and pulled up with my boot. This caused it to slow down just in time, and I was able to safely pull off the road and safely stop, with no damage to myself, others, or the car. So I did some testing on the side of the road, and everything seemed normal. I had to get back up to my house which was about 10 miles away, so I got back on the freeway, and made it home safely, with no further incidents.

I needed to see if it would happen again, so I got back in about an hour after parking, and started off slowly. But right away, it was as if I had floored it, and I headed straight towards an intersection. This time since my speed was much slower, I was able to slam on the brakes, and pull the key from the ignition, stopping myself just in time (again). I pushed the car into a parking spot, and made sure that it was in park with the E-brake on, and then tried the key to see what would happen. as soon as the car turns on, its like im flooring the pedal, and its loud as hell. I looked under the pedal, and everything seems normal. I know the problem has got to be the throttle cables, so im getting it towed to a shop tomorrow.

Anyways, any other thoughts?

Have seen that happen before but not with our cars. Also seen where Cruise control caused a car to keep accelerating :confused: luckly Cutting the car of caused it to stop. If that happens again you might wanna try tossing flashers, putting in neutral, cutting car off and braking as you won't be able to accel anymore. I am sure there might be another way someone might correct me or bash this :p but that is o.k I just know it will stop your car from acceling to 100+. Sorry that happened .

Had the throttle stick open like that on FrankenWedge (My EG33 Powered XT6) right after I swapped the big motor in...on the DRAGON:eek:...

I've been around enough to know to shut off the ignition in such cases... but it was really due to the throttle cable being to tightly adjusted, it would open the throttle past where it is supposed to, and it would "stick" open because it was getting into a zone it shouldn't have been in...but most of the time just tapping the pedal would dislodge it...

So you may want to loosen the adjustment on your throttle cable a little, if ht ecables move freely....if the cables are tight, then you probably need new cable...

I had that happen to me in a 1 litre VW Polo. After about 30 minutes with the throttle jammed wide open it reached almost 80mph. :rolleyes:

AHHH HAHAHAHA:lol: Sounds like my Pinto...when the throttle stuck on it, that 2.3litres of fury sent me to a dizzying 95mph! I can't imagine it sticking in a car capable of the omigod side of 140mph. that would get scary pretty quick.

Get some graphite lube, put in both ends of the cables. This will free them up, without "gunking them up" For the time being I'd disconnect the cruise cable. Just to be safe.

Throttle Springs
 

As I understand it, it is now a legal requirement with manufacturers to incorporate two throttle springs and the SVX is equipped accordingly. These should be carefully checked.

As most of my cars have been used for competition of some sort, except for the SVX, I have always had an extra independent spring fitted, this being a local requirement in respect of any speed related event. My MX5 therefore has three springs in total.

now thats a hate on hate relationhip:lol:

Update:

The shop checked it out, and found that some of the linkage and throttle cable hardware had come loose. They charged me for an hours labor, and that was it. I tested it out (cautiously, in an empty parking lot), and everything is fine now. The odd thing is that my pedals are at opposite distances now. For the 3 years I have had my SVX, the brake pedal has been higher then the gas pedal. With whatever they fixed, the gas pedal is now higher. It takes some getting used to. But it actually feels better to hit the gas now. All in all, it worked out OK.

thats wrong... The gas pedal should never be higher than the brakes... You need to hit the brake in an emergency situation and you are hitting the gas at the same time??? I smell disaster

Tom

I feel your pain, my gas pedal got stuck on my carpet once, the car floored it. I was in a manual transmission car, so i just pushed the clutch and cut the ignition. In the SVX if it's an auto, simply shift up one to neutral and cut the engine.

Also, testing in parking lot, even if empty... What if it gets stuck again? The SVX can transverse a parking lot very quickly if the accelerator gets stuck and your doing 90mph.:eek::eek:

you haven't lived until you've experienced a stuck gas pedal. my 73' 240z used to do that all the time.I found it kinda fun, even more so when i had a passenger.i have also had a 93' cougar with tranny problems that accelatrated up to 35mph @ idle, luckly for me the dealer took the car back after 3 days of purchase. my brother's old monte carlo's steer wheel locked up on me on route 1 highway simular to route 95 and sent me into a guard rail luckly there was a hammer and screw driver in the trunk to correct the problem.and always tap/pull up the gas petal and put the car in nuetral and when you turn the key off don't throw them out the window or lock your steering wheel you many need to steer.and cars don't kill people they are your friend unless you use your car to kill other people

Re: My SVX almost killed me...twice
 

I came across this thread because my son's SVX had the same problem. What I found was that the throttle cable, in it's final turn before going to the throttle body mechanism, was not allowed enough of a radius. Consequently, it began to wear against the "flange" where it winds up, and had developed a kinking failure of some of the wires. These wires produced a "bulge" of sorts, which sometimes prevents the throttle from returning all the way to idle.

My son had an "oh ****" moment for sure. A new cable is under 50 bucks, and I'm about to see how difficult it is to put in.

You guys might want to look at the cable right now, because this particular failure could ruin a day.

Re: My SVX almost killed me...twice
 

I certainly will!

Keith:)