S1 Elise Throttle Sticky

[HereBeMonsters]

Got under the dash to grease up my throttle pedal today as it likes to stick open quite a lot. Fine in the final 2/3s until the end, but either on full throttle or a little bit (such as in traffic) it has a reluctance to settle back to closed.

Anyway, got under the dash to give it some spray grease. Blimey. Is it really that convoluted? There's pivots and linkages and pinions going everywhich way. Looks like it was invented by Caractus Potts.

Anyway, grease doesn't appear to have helped it. Any ideas?

[MiniDiva]

Is the throttle stiff to press down too?

Maybe the throttle cable is corroded/dry - there is a lot of length there to gather friction to fight the return springs.

Other than that throttle body would be my next check - IIRC the plastic throttle bodies can get sticky.

More likely to be the cable though.

[spiralp]

Sounds like a classic plastic throttle body issue. Fairly cheap (£100+ ish) to replace with a Trophy 160 52mm metal throttle body and get a slight performance improvement to boot.

[davidf4]

Could be the throttle cable sticking. Try lubricating it at the throttle linkage end in the engine bay where the inner cable emerges from the outer.
Sorted mine out when the throttle was sticking open a little.

[HereBeMonsters]

Really feels like it's at the pedal end rather than the engine bay. I've lubed everything, but I can feel the whole arrangement adding drag to the mechanism. Will try lubing from the other end. Can't afford a new TB right now...although is this now the time for some bike carbs?

[HereBeMonsters]

Lubed the whole lot with some slightly less viscous grease, and it feels a lot better. Still sticking a little though. Using it as an excuse to drive the car more frequently to "free it up".

Yes, wife, it is entirely necessary that I take you to your dressmaking class in the Lotus. Yes, your sewing machine fits in the boot. No, I can't get over the kerb into the college so I'll have to drop you off here.

[John D.]

I had a sticky throttle right at the bottom of the travel recently. It was sticking around 2k for a second then pinging back on to my foot. Gave me some kind of fked up cruise control. Was very annoying but at least not sticking at wide throttle openings! The pedal itself was clicking as it stuck.

Fixed it by spraying the pivot point on the pedal mechanism with wd40. Happy it was so simple!

[Throttle Body]

MiniDiva said:

the plastic throttle bodies can get sticky.