Accelerator Stuck

[leeshell]

Today I was driving in traffic around 10mph (2nd gear), after a gentle brake I went to re-apply my foot to the accelerator pedal and it would not go down. It seemed solid and didn't budge at all. I coasted into the side and tried again with no difference. I then hooked my foot under the pedal and pulled up, it didn't appear to move that way either but when I tried to push down everything was fine.

I drove home without further trouble.

Anyone else had this? Anyone know why it may have stuck?

Thanks for any replies, Lee.

[AMG Merc]

Sorry, never heard of this one. Sounds like an inspection around the pedal area will bring a clue though.

[turbocup]

I had the opposite after a service. There's a hose clamp, that if aligned the right/wrong way, will jam the throttle open. Brown trouser moment of note.

[leeshell]

I feel a little sheepish now.

When I looked earlier, nothing was out of the norm.

I've just inspected again now and I noticed the carpeted wall lining (which is metal) behind the pedal was loose. I gave it a prod and it swivelled around (it's a right angled triangle in shape) and it fitted perfectly between the upright part of the footwell and the rear of the pedal.

The silicone is no longer sticking it, so I'll put it right at the weekend.

Thanks for your replies (at least it's not mechanical )

[node]

turbocup said:

I had the opposite after a service. There's a hose clamp, that if aligned the right/wrong way, will jam the throttle open. Brown trouser moment of note.

so where exactly is this hose clamp?

I've never heard this before. Can you please post a photo of your hose clamp in question so we can all have a better understanding of the problem


thanks
George

[turbocup]

I'm nowhere near the car right now and the incident happened a couple of years ago. As far as I can remember it was one of the clamps on a turbo hose. When correctly aligned there is a bit of clearance between the clamp and the throttle cam. Maybe just look at the throttle cam on your car and I'm sure you'll see what I'm talking about.

What the technician who worked on the car did was to turn the clamp so that the protruding bit with the tightening screw was as close as possible to the throttle cam. This had no effect at part throttle, thank goodness, as I drove the car home in heavy traffic. Later that evening, when the roads were clear, I took the car out for a burn. At wide-open-throttle the throttle cam "ramped over" the protruding part of the hose clamp and became stuck in this position. I was coming up to a bend, and it was only after I dabbed the brakes to scrub off some speed that I realised I had a problem. I can tell you that as good as those big APs are, they have absolutely no effect on an M400 in full flight if the throttle is open. The front wheels locked briefly before I realised what was happening and cut the ignition. The skid marks were about 10m long, but I was doing about 150km/h, so it all happened very quickly. Luckily the road was deserted, there was plenty of space and I've had the throttle jam open twice on me before during my racing days, for different, equally silly reasons, so no harm done.

[m12_nathan]

Imagine how amused Andy Walsh must've been when the Throttle on Andrew G's old car stuck open through Eau Rouge. Owners of older cars - make sure your throttle cable is routed down the sill and not next to the turbo, I paid to have it moved on my old car and suggest you do the same*

• In the absence of Noble doing the right thing and recalling cars for a problem that could kill someone.