Accelerator jam car hits 135mph

[brimic]

I used to have a FixOrRepairDaily that had an accellerator that stuck 2 or 3 times, shutting the key off worked every time. It was the only car that I owned that needed the throttle linkage lubed about once every 2 or 3 months to prevent tis problem, and the only Ford I'll ever own again.

[mfree]

Never had the throttle stick problem, though I've had a throttle runaway before... Wonderful EFI, introduce a vacuum leak that's *just* right and you've got a 3500RPM idle. My own fault for not replacing a few hoses that were affected by an engine fire (my own mistake).

I *did* do a moronic thing once though and drive around a car with failing/faulty brakes. I was poor, and working multiple jobs to afford to place my tail in a classroom at the time. Both rear wheel cylinders were damaged (one stuck piston each , so the other piston overextended), and an oil leak at the "front" of the engine (passenger side) liberally doused both the belt and the passenger side brake rotor in oil.

I was blissfully headed down the interstate one day when I rounded a bend and noticed traffic was stopped. The tail guy in line was rather surprised to see this little natty blue car zip past him on the shoulder with one wheel stopped and smoking (no squealing, surprisingly). Got 3 cars deep before I stopped, I just turned the hazards on and waited for traffic to clear up.

Brakes were fixed the next day, I ramen-ed up to afford it. Some things you don't scrimp on I suppose too I'm lucky that the 4 wheel brake job I did in my driveway only ended up costing me $200, parts were cheap.

[Art Eatman]

Heavy trucks don't steer worth a dam without power steering, but cars?  A bit stubborn, yeah, but I don't know of any passenger car that's not steerable without the power steering working.  Hard to parallel park, sure, but on a road?  We're not talking an anorexic 15-year-old, here.

, Art

[280plus]

Yea, I caught a video clip of this guy on the tube. He didn't appear to have it all going on. If you know what I mean.

BTW, I've been thinking. In my old 1971 Rustang the ACC position was beyond "off" and back the other way. The old cars were like that IIRC. You youngers wouldn't know that. There was no leaving it halfway between "on" and lock so I could steer with a dead engine. I was in deep doo doo. I was expecting my beautiful souped up 351C 4bbl to blow up but it was a better option over death or serious injury. I suppose...

It managed to pull through unscathed.



The throttle sticking had nothing to do with it being a Fix Or Repair Daily but was entirely due to my failings as a young mechanic. But I learned an unforgettable lesson that day.

[Brian Williams]

I had a '53 Willy's CJ-3 with a hand throttle, It had a 283 chevy with a real short exhaust into halfway burnt out Thrush mufflers.  I would often in a fit of nutsyness push in the clutch and put it in 3rd and low overdrive and slip it in to low range, and yank on the throttle and drop the clutch.  It would rev the 283 that I had in it and still only go about 12mph,  then I would bail out, screamin' it's gonnna blow.  I saw more A$$holes and elbows that way.

I also had a 68 GMC pick-up with a 305 V6 (a 350 minus 2 cylinders) that had some amazing back fire capabilities, I was driving past my local Pizza Hut and the lowest delivery boy was changing the sign, I gassed the engine and turned off the key, and that let up on the gas pedal and turned on the key again, it would belch out the best backfires. It also had dual exhaust which happened to be about 15 feet from this poor schmuck when it popped, he threw the plastic letters up in the air and went ducking and jiving back behind the sign, My kids told everyone that their Daddy shot up the Pizza-hut guy, even the pastor of our church, took a while to live that down.

[Balog]

Ok, an up armored HMMWV weighs around 12,100 lbs before you put 5 guys, a heavy machine gun, and a bunch of ammo, chow, water, fuel, rockets etc etc into. My driver weighs about 135. Power steering goes out one night a good way from base. That was a fun trip back. Can you say 36 point U-turn? A small hajji shop was open on the street we were doing this on; the owner's kids thought it was hilarious. Little bastard.

[mfree]

Ooh, gotta share this.

I had a 1979 Lincoln Mark V. It had a "new wonder" technological thingy, as lincolns usually do (well, did)... hydraulically assisted brakes.

So, this meant two things:

1. If you pressed the brake pedal really hard, the power steering pump would squeal. With the V-belt a little loose, it'd sound just like the tires screeching, which made for a few wide eyes and hellish looks at stop signs or in traffic *evil grin*

2. If the engine stalled, not only did you not have power steering on this 4500 pound land yacht, but the brake pedal would go rock hard because you aren't just working the brakes, you're working the slave servo, *and* this car had massive 4 wheel disc brakes. You made *darn* sure when tuning that you didn't get the idle too low. With power off and car moving you could actually feel the brake pedal start to flex before the brakes would catch.

[280plus]

Did it have the 460 CI motor? You could lay down a lotta rubber with one of those.

[jefnvk]

Heavy trucks don't steer worth a dam without power steering, but cars?  A bit stubborn, yeah, but I don't know of any passenger car that's not steerable without the power steering working.  Hard to parallel park, sure, but on a road?  We're not talking an anorexic 15-year-old, here.

, Art

I used to shut the Cavalier off on a long two mile downhill stretch we have up here.  Never had a problem steering around some pretty sharp corners.

[Guest]

What a dumb@ss.

I had the throttle stick open on my '85 Toyota Cressida (it really needed to be lubed). It was my fault for mashing it to the floor in the first place to get around another car (after 200,000 city miles, the durable but straight six had lost some compression). So it was stuck wide open. Big deal. I just shifted into neutral, turned the engine off, and coasted into a parking lot. No reason to panic or find out how fast that 16 year-old car could go.

[mfree]

Blackburn,

Did you miss the *evil grin* part? It was almost always deliberate

And 280plus, it was the 400. But it also had a ~550cfm 2 barrel carb rejetted, and an RV cam installed straight up. Even with the 2.47:1 rear axle I could lay stripe, a very similar motor for a claimer dynoed at 180hp@2200rpm and 550lb-ft@1850 (!) RPM.

I miss it dearly (apologies for thread drift, btw) but I don't miss 8mpg in the summer and 4mpg in the winter.

[280plus]

I love the 400.

Sigh, guess it's time to once again ressurect the memory of my two door 1970 Galaxie 500 with the 400M motor. It liked 110 best, that was it's crusing speed.

I miss mine dearly too. The ex got it and turned it into trash.

I once had a dream of putting 351C 4V heads on a 400. All the angles are wrong.

With what I know now, I guess it COULD be done with some fancy mill work.

Hmmmm...

Naw, there's probably something else that would foul it all up. The centers on the pistons for example.

Oh well,,,

[280plus]

Let's face it, Say what you will about Ford, but they've put some GREAT motors on the road over the years.