Accelerator problem

[Biniecki]

This problem just started happening yesterday on my 96 Explorer XLT with V6 4.0. When I get up to highway speed around 65 mph - 70 mph the accelerator acts like it gets stuck and continues to accelerate without touching the gas pedal. My first thought was that the pedal was getting stuck and tried moving it with my foot and no change. I was unable to slow the vehicle down by braking so the next move was to put the vehicle in neutral. Once in neutral the engine revs up to about 4k RPMs and the transmission shifts and the problem goes away. I can then put it back into drive and drive at any speed without a problem. Anyone have any ideas what may be causing this problem?

 

[Turdle]

Wow.
first thing I would do is pull the cruise control cable off the throttle cable and see if it re occurs.

If not, it could mean the cruise control servo is causing this. Does your cruise control work? does the light come on ? If no light, it might be in cruise mode and you are not ware of it?

 

[Biniecki]

The cruise control works just fine. No issues with it. The cruise light works when engaged but when this problem occurs the cruise light is off. I have also tried pressing the cruise off button while the problem was occurring and made no difference. Recently ford just replaced the deactivation switch under recall.

 

[Turdle]

The cruise control works just fine. No issues with it. Recently ford just replaced the deactivation switch under recall.

OK, I would disconnect it from the throttle. It might be causing this issue.

The cruise control has an electric motor with control circuits inside to pull the cable --

I might be wrong, but it will not hurt to check.

 

[Biniecki]

Yeah I will definitely give it a try and see what happens