Throttle Jamming open !

[grahamw48]

Boo hoo!
The AA took me and the Wedge home tonight, and all because of a blinking snapped fanbelt. (naturally they don't carry spares for a 280i - only wish I had )

At least I got my moneysworth, as I was 50 miles from home.

Just before the belt snapping though, the throttle had stuck open, and the engine shot up to mega revs before I managed to turn her off.

These engines are supposed to be fitted with a rev limiter on the rotor arm, at least on the Capri version, so I'll be looking for one of those rotor arms, as well as a fanbelt, in the morning.

Any suggestions as to sourcing the fanbelt ?

[york33]

Have you got the old one or did it ping off somewhere random? Take it into Halfords and compare? Failing that I can measure mine t'moz if you need?

cheers
Dave

edited to say, I wouldn't normally say Halfords but they've got them all on display to compare to, and even they can't overcharge too much on one of them

>> Edited by york33 on Friday 29th April 23:15

[grahamw48]

It would be great if you could measure yours, as it looks like there is a chunk missing out of what's left of mine.

Thanks - Graham.

( I was hoping to go on the Buttertubs run on Sunday )

Edited to say:
I can always run a bit of string round the pulleys and take that along with the remnants.

>> Edited by grahamw48 on Friday 29th April 23:55

[adam quantrill]

I heard that those rev-limit rotor arms were pants.

They also did them on Rover 2000TC's, they either jam
so they permamenetly limit or stop limiting.

I always put the oil I wipe off the dipstick onto the throttle linkage and cable - never had it jam open yet.

[grady]

I changed mine and I think I saved the cardboard jackets because it took several attempts to get the correct size. I'll check tonight after work. Grady

edited to note that it took several attempts because I wasn't very handy with string apparently. It is surprising how little adjustment there is for a belt. I finally bought an entire range of sizes and tried them all until I got the proper fit and returned the rest.

>> Edited by grady on Thursday 5th May 14:36

[nads]

I also had a linkage stick wide open after I hadn't used the car for a while. It was fine at small throttle openings and only stuck when you had your foot on the floor! Great!
I considered fitting a second return spring but just making sure it was clean, oiled and not connecting with the heatproof material has done the trick.
Hasn't happened again.
Throttle stuck wide open in 4th on a country road tends to get your full attention!

[grahamw48]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.
The car is in bits at the moment, as I decided to have a good sort out with the cooling system before summer (haha) arrives. I did buy one or two different sizes of belt though. Now I'm playing with electric fans, thermostats, and radiators. Oh, and also had a broken alternator bracket welded back together by my talented next door neighbour

Just arrived back (1.30am) from jchase's place in Cambridge, with a set of wheels and tyres, plus another rad'.

[grady]

Graham, Did you get your belts sorted?

I only found one jacket which was for the a/c belt with I'm using on an S2 with a S1 tensioner and not the adjustable bracket. It's a Gates 7535 (11A1360) 3/8" x 54-1/8" (9.5/10mm x 1375 mm).

Couldn't find the jacket for the alternator/water pump belt with the size but the Gates # is 7460 (11A1170) so maybe it can be deciphered or cross-referenced. Grady

[grahamw48]

Hi Grady.

My car has neither PAS nor aircon (yes, really ).
The belt size that was originally fitted ( code 975) seemed very tight and difficult to fit, so I've put on a code 1000, which doesn't need levering on with a wrecking bar !

I also had the original alternator pulley replaced with a slimmer one, as it was catching on the engine bay crossbracing bar.
It is a Bosch 70amp/hr, and was fitted with a pulley for two belts, whereas I only need one.

I've also fitted the 'correct' rotor arm, but baulked at fitting a new (motorcraft) dizzy cap, due to them being bloody expensive !

Maybe I mentioned it in another post, but on changing the oil filter I discovered that the filter unit is actually wider than any gap around it!
It necessitates the engine being levered over with a great big metal bar to create a couple of extra mils of space to extract the thing, and get the new one in. Tivs - don't you love 'em.

[grady]

Similar problems with the oil filter; I was seriously tempted to cut a trap door in the footwell. Found that some brands of filters are a bit shorter than others. Intend to change over to a remote filter.

[MJG280]

I A Mann W914/2 oil filter fits perfectly through the gap It looks about half the size of whats usually on offer so perhaps change it a bit more often.