Very scary moment!

Very scary moment!

Author
Discussion

jezMc

Original Poster:

39 posts

254 months

Thursday 10th April 2003
quotequote all
Noticed coming up to a junction that the beast was reving unusually high - switched to tacho mode and noticed she was ticking over @ about 1700 / 1800 revs blipped the throttle a couple of times - still the same.
Coming up to a quiet roundabout I did it again - this time it went full revs , lights on the pod turned into blackpool illuminations, engine was screaming and the only option was to quickly turn off the engine and cruise round the roundabout.
Pulled over and popped the hazards on and tried starting it a couple of times. On about the fith time she was fine.
Does this sound familiar to anyone or just lucky me?!

Jez

andyvdg

1,536 posts

283 months

Thursday 10th April 2003
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This sounds either like a sticky throttle (obviously) or a sensor problem causing too much fuel to be injected. I think either way a trip to the dealer is required!

Cheers,

Andy.

singh

348 posts

270 months

Thursday 10th April 2003
quotequote all
Jez,
No your not the only one but it sounds like you had a lucky escape mate, in that you were in a position to safely knock the engine off quickly...but your right its bloody scary!!! Here is part of a post that i put on the T.owners site recently

Another tale of woe,

Having got my car back after the flying roof incident (roof good as new) it
seemed to have developed a slightly sticky throttle so she went back yet
again before I was off on my hols. Picked the car up last Wednesday and
found that the roof catch had been fitted (v.good news) and the sticky
throttle which had been presumed to be a frayed cable turned out to be no
more than grit etc. stuck somewhere inside the pedal housing, cleaned out
and now not a problem.
Two and a half days of carefree and very happy motoring brings us to Friday
afternoon.
Clear dual carriageway, good weather etc. decide to hit a few change up
lights floor it, all sounds great go to change up .....where's the f***in
throttle pedal gone???? Its stuck down pretty much to the floor the red
(change up now u twat) light is flashing at me but what can I do?? cannot just
knock the engine off am on a dual carriageway flyover section with no
shoulder, so am stuck with the car screaming for what seemed like an
eternity but in actual fact was about 10 seconds as I reach the crest of the
flyover I knock the engine off knowing I will be able to coast down to the
lay-by about 100 metres away. So hazards on I bring the car to a halt using
h/brake as there is smoke coming from under the bonnet and into cockpit.
Start to wonder whether she is on fire but the smell is not an acrid one its
more just oil on hot metal. Whilst I gather my thoughts ring the dealer who
asks me to get in the footwell and pull pedal up, since I had already
managed to do this he suggested starting her.
But to no avail when she did eventually 'catch' sounded rough as a birds
bottom and wouldn't tickover without throttle. So recovered back to dealer
over the weekend got a call on Monday to say the engine is going back home
suspected head gasket apparently all else is completely fine (thank God)
however is likely to be away 3-4 weeks.
Dealer confirmed that throttle did stick at 3/4ish travel he puts it down to
a snapped spring in the airbox?.............

So you see good bloody job you knocked it off when you did. Upside is no permanent damage done to mine (i think that means nothing that can't be fixed)But I could have done with my car back a fortnight ago!!


>> Edited by singh on Thursday 10th April 11:09

NickD

417 posts

262 months

Thursday 10th April 2003
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This happened to me after about 20 miles after picking it up after the PDI. Was very scary.

Excuse my ignorance of mechanical parts - I'll describe it as I saw it (and as it was described to me): As the engine got warmer, the throttle butterfly was sticking open in the carburettor body.

Or alternatively, it could just be that the throttle cable has come unlinked from the back of the pedal.

girlracer

442 posts

255 months

Thursday 10th April 2003
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Jez, the poor girl just wanted to go faster and took matters into her own hands

Seriously - that's scary. Very pleased you escaped without any harm.

21TVR

655 posts

256 months

Thursday 10th April 2003
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this is the big trouble with optimax!