Story Time: When the gas padel goes limp
Posted by Earendil
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I don't need help diagnosing the problem, but I thought you all would enjoy a story :-)
So on an aforementioned 700 mile drive to retrieve my sister for the family Christmas gathering, I had a slight problem. First, I'll paint a picture. I was stopped at a light, on an overpass over Interstate 5, waiting to make a left hand turn to get on the on ramp. There were two turn lanes, and the left hand lane had a large pickup truck pulling a trailer. Naturally being the cocky bimmer driver that I am, I chose the right hand lane, knowing it would be no problem to scoot around him on the outside of the corner. Ha! Light goes green, I ease out in first not needing to push hard, until I realize the truck must be flooring it, and I am not gaining enough ground to get past him before the 2 lane on ramp becomes a 1 lane on ramp just before the merge with the freeway. So I floor second, 50mph and I dump her into 3rd and smash the gas pedal....except the gas pedal goes to the floor like a sack of potatoes, just as I am even with the truck. @#$%. Turn the flashers on and pull over, thinking my throttle cable has probably snapped, and wondering how I could make it the 300 mile home. These french rally drivers gave me an idea, but somehow I didn't think my sister would go for it...or the State Patrol. After popping the hood I see that the little plastic screw that attaches to the end of the throttle cable was gone, but that the cable was intact. After a little bit of praying, and a good bit of searching, I actually found the plastic screw sitting right on top of the intake manifold. I couldn't believe it. It had cracked, and thus was able to pull off when I mashed the pedal. somehow it managed to spring/bounce to a nice safe position. I little electrical tape from my trunk, and the plastic knob was back on the car and I was able to get home just fine. Thank you everyone for actively and passively giving me the encouragement and motivation to know my car, so that things like can be found and fixed in 5 minutes, not a tow truck, 2 days, and $200 later :-) This reminds me that I should do something more permanent than electrical tape... humm... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles 2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles 
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You know this means you are fast becoming a mechanic...you actually diagnose and fix things rather than just replace parts hoping that was the problem
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My electrical tape only lasted so long, and came apart on my on the freeway while cruising. Arg.
Anyway, now that my paycheck is in, I'm looking for the part...and can't find it. It's #17 in this RealOEM diagram, however a part number is not listed, and I can't find anything but the cable at BavAuto. Anyone know the name of this little doohicky? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles 2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles
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"# Items pictured but not listed are not installed on your vehicle."
How did they know that? 
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RealOEM is amazing like that
I selected the first and last production E30 trying to find a car that was supposed to have that part, with no luck. All of them have the exact same diagram 
Perhaps I should move this question to the technical forum :-) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles 2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles
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I was going to swing by the hardware store this evening and do just that. I figure it can't be worse than the electrical tape solution. If it looks solid enough and doesn't look like it'll cause a problem, I'll go with it as a long term solution. The last thing I want is to jerry-rig something that will cause my throttle to stick at WOT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1989 - E30 - M20 - Manual. Approximately 270,000 miles 2000 - E46 - M52TUB28 - Manual. Approximately 110,000 miles
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this happened to me, too, except it was at night in a very rural area, and i didn't have a good understanding of how the throttle cable connected to the pedal. i was towed home, and the next morning realized that the little rubber grommet that slips over the metal thing that sticks into the hole in the pedal had slipped off, and that was it. lame. 
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"...except the gas pedal goes to the floor like a sack of potatoes.."
 ) that exact thing happened to me merging from one freeway to another (280 to 92 for those in nay area). Unfortunately that little fastener is the only one in that size on the whole car so you can't borrow it from any other place...thankfully I had duct tape and some wire in the car and made it to the parts store across the bay ( DO2).
Even funnier mishap was when coolant had a slow leak in the middle of nowhere and I had to refill it...after a while I rigged-up a hose from windshield wiper reservoir and kept refilling the coolant reservoir while driving (by pressing the lever on the steering column). It kept me from stopping as often... |
That is genius!!! Gold.
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This also happened to me, except my plastic clip actually lodged itself to keep the throttle open... My problem was I was sitting in DC traffic confused on what was going on, GPS on the dash, cell phone in hand trying to find out where I am going and car revving @ 3,000 rpm! Good times. FYI my throttle cable grommet (at the pedal connection) just went out, a cheap $1.40 fix but I would recommend replacing it. This also makes the pedal go limp! When this happens to you, know the metal cable itself will stay in the hole, but you must tighten your cable at the throttle body slightly to reduce the play in it.
Cheers! o
'84 325e |
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