Scary Experience!
Discussion
Just Thought i would share an experience that has haunted me for a week now.I picked my car up from having its 6000 mile service (only done 4300 miles)
I had lost her for two weeks waiting for a part not the dealers Fault, i have complete faith in the dealer i am using and have every confidence in the fitter that works on my car as he has proven to be helpfull and well versed in cerbies, anyway there i am driving home after paying the bill grinning from ear to ear with every pop and bang she made on the sedate warm up to the M11 turnoff, So now i am on the slip road leading to the motorway the cars warmed up now so i decide to give her a burst of speed as a car was trying to get past me on the inside (I really hate that)well she roared off like a bat out of hell grinning madly i decide to slow up to make my entrance on the motorway safe only to find AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH! the throttle is jammed wide open! without time to think about it my reaction was to hit the kill switch as i didnt want to scream the engine with the clutch in well now ive done it, no power steering and oh yes no servo brake assist so here i am trying to control an excorset missile the size of a bus with next to no steering and brakes reminisant of a go kart ............lets just say it was an experience i dont want to repeat! after managing to weave it onto the hard shoulder and composing myself i noticed the mil light is now on and the internal siren beeper thing is permenantly on i decide to use the key shut off switch to kill the power as the red ignition button would not stop it, well niether did the switch! after calling the garage they sent the fitter out who serviced it he looked confused at the electrical fault. He unplugged somthing in the boot to reset it but even though we then managed to restart it we could not then kill the engine!!!?? sorry forgot to mention he found the throttle cable had come off and jammed the quadrant wide open (he was fiddling under the scuttle panel to do this and thats the part i had to wait for) he asked me to follow him back to the dealer so i turned the hazzard lights off and the car then stopped!? after this it became electrically normal started and stopped ok?
So my questions are what the hell is going on electrically to cause this? and the burning question is, how likely is it for the cable to come off on its own and cause this near death experience again? i am not looking to blame anyone at the garage as they have been really good to me in the past but i would much rather know it was just human error while working on the car that caused this cable to come off and jam due to work being done that might have disturbed it than thinking this could happen at any time on any road!
Any views on this will be appreciated especially from anyone familiar with the throttle assy if you read this Jools i would be gratefull for your input.
I had lost her for two weeks waiting for a part not the dealers Fault, i have complete faith in the dealer i am using and have every confidence in the fitter that works on my car as he has proven to be helpfull and well versed in cerbies, anyway there i am driving home after paying the bill grinning from ear to ear with every pop and bang she made on the sedate warm up to the M11 turnoff, So now i am on the slip road leading to the motorway the cars warmed up now so i decide to give her a burst of speed as a car was trying to get past me on the inside (I really hate that)well she roared off like a bat out of hell grinning madly i decide to slow up to make my entrance on the motorway safe only to find AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHH! the throttle is jammed wide open! without time to think about it my reaction was to hit the kill switch as i didnt want to scream the engine with the clutch in well now ive done it, no power steering and oh yes no servo brake assist so here i am trying to control an excorset missile the size of a bus with next to no steering and brakes reminisant of a go kart ............lets just say it was an experience i dont want to repeat! after managing to weave it onto the hard shoulder and composing myself i noticed the mil light is now on and the internal siren beeper thing is permenantly on i decide to use the key shut off switch to kill the power as the red ignition button would not stop it, well niether did the switch! after calling the garage they sent the fitter out who serviced it he looked confused at the electrical fault. He unplugged somthing in the boot to reset it but even though we then managed to restart it we could not then kill the engine!!!?? sorry forgot to mention he found the throttle cable had come off and jammed the quadrant wide open (he was fiddling under the scuttle panel to do this and thats the part i had to wait for) he asked me to follow him back to the dealer so i turned the hazzard lights off and the car then stopped!? after this it became electrically normal started and stopped ok?
So my questions are what the hell is going on electrically to cause this? and the burning question is, how likely is it for the cable to come off on its own and cause this near death experience again? i am not looking to blame anyone at the garage as they have been really good to me in the past but i would much rather know it was just human error while working on the car that caused this cable to come off and jam due to work being done that might have disturbed it than thinking this could happen at any time on any road!
Any views on this will be appreciated especially from anyone familiar with the throttle assy if you read this Jools i would be gratefull for your input.
I suspect these are entirely unrelated. the throttle cable came off because it hadn't been adjust to take out the free play at the end of it's travel.
The electrical fault is mysterious and I have no explanation at the moment.
First port of call of course should be the dealer that did the work in the first place, see what they have to offer, only the technician who worked on your car knows for sure exactly what he did.
The electrical fault is mysterious and I have no explanation at the moment.
First port of call of course should be the dealer that did the work in the first place, see what they have to offer, only the technician who worked on your car knows for sure exactly what he did.
...//P//Thanks Pauline,And thanks for your input Jools, when the fitter came out to me he imediately fiddled under the scuttle panel and repositioned the cable and as he had just fitted the scuttle panel as it was a replacement then i figured he may have dislodged the cable accidently while fitting the new panel coz it was the first time i booted it from picking it up and thats when it jammed open/full throttle dont get me wrong i am a maintenace fitter for Ford myself i understand mistakes happen to the best of us and im not beying for blood i just would have liked an explanation of how this could or did happen because i dont want to be worrying about it happening again as i really believe i was lucky i didnt hurt myself or anyone else as 60 seconds later and i would have been really flying down the motorway and i can picture the result at xxxxmph with no brakes and steering when the engine was killed, and this is the first time since owning the car that i dont trust it anymore.
Danny,
You are probably right if had not used the clutch i would have had more steering and engine braking for that matter but in the heat of the moment you just do whats instinctive to you, stupid i know but there it is :- if in dought both feet out and yes i was telling the truth about the brakes they were almost non existent i was almost bending the floor pan to slow her enough to make the hard shoulder.
Since my last post i have been speaking to the manager of the dealer and explained i was not trying to blame or shame anyone i just needed to know how this could have happend and i explained i had recieved some advice on what could cause the fault to occur I.E. bad cable adjustment or human error he spoke to the fitter and confirmed the options and explained the cable was correctly adjusted so it shouldnt happen again, he also explained the idle had been adjusted and the fitter agreed that it was possible he may have dislodged the cable but that it was very very unlikely to happen again, and like i said before all i wanted from this was to regain confidence in my car as i have only been round the block in her since and this explanation means if it is correctly adjusted as they say it is unless somone dislodges it again i should be safe.
You are probably right if had not used the clutch i would have had more steering and engine braking for that matter but in the heat of the moment you just do whats instinctive to you, stupid i know but there it is :- if in dought both feet out and yes i was telling the truth about the brakes they were almost non existent i was almost bending the floor pan to slow her enough to make the hard shoulder.
Since my last post i have been speaking to the manager of the dealer and explained i was not trying to blame or shame anyone i just needed to know how this could have happend and i explained i had recieved some advice on what could cause the fault to occur I.E. bad cable adjustment or human error he spoke to the fitter and confirmed the options and explained the cable was correctly adjusted so it shouldnt happen again, he also explained the idle had been adjusted and the fitter agreed that it was possible he may have dislodged the cable but that it was very very unlikely to happen again, and like i said before all i wanted from this was to regain confidence in my car as i have only been round the block in her since and this explanation means if it is correctly adjusted as they say it is unless somone dislodges it again i should be safe.
I'm really pleased you decided to talk to them Gadget. I had written a post advising you to do that but decided not to post it 
.
I wish more people followed your lead - by being calm and looking for a mutually beneficial outcome you've got a load of goodwill from your dealer, and they'll probably be better disposed to doing you favours in the future. You see countless posts on here slagging someone off and shouting about legal action before even talking to the other party (or establishing if it was the dealer's fault)! That's the quickest way to get them to offer you your minimum statutory rights and the opportunity to bugger off forever IMO.
Glad to see such a positive conclusion.
. I wish more people followed your lead - by being calm and looking for a mutually beneficial outcome you've got a load of goodwill from your dealer, and they'll probably be better disposed to doing you favours in the future. You see countless posts on here slagging someone off and shouting about legal action before even talking to the other party (or establishing if it was the dealer's fault)! That's the quickest way to get them to offer you your minimum statutory rights and the opportunity to bugger off forever IMO.
Glad to see such a positive conclusion.
Thanks Rude Girl,
Since my last post i have had a visit from a friend of mine who works for MIRA he is a vehicle technician who works on vehicle testing even though he trained as a mechanic on Fords with perrys :-) anyway while he was over i asked him to operate the throttle while i looked at the Quadrant operation with a torch i just wanted to convince myself it was adjusted ok as the manager suggested i did this for peace of mind, well to cut a long story short it is VERY loose so jools was right! with the pedal allowed to come to rest the cable becomes loose enough to flick the cable off of the quadrant with one finger it loopes up where it is slack, i am now going to get it correctly adjusted as i am not going to touch it until the dealer has seen it.They will be sending somone out to sort it for me so all is well that ends well................ kind of anyway
Since my last post i have had a visit from a friend of mine who works for MIRA he is a vehicle technician who works on vehicle testing even though he trained as a mechanic on Fords with perrys :-) anyway while he was over i asked him to operate the throttle while i looked at the Quadrant operation with a torch i just wanted to convince myself it was adjusted ok as the manager suggested i did this for peace of mind, well to cut a long story short it is VERY loose so jools was right! with the pedal allowed to come to rest the cable becomes loose enough to flick the cable off of the quadrant with one finger it loopes up where it is slack, i am now going to get it correctly adjusted as i am not going to touch it until the dealer has seen it.They will be sending somone out to sort it for me so all is well that ends well................ kind of anyway
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