Sticky gas pedal/weird noise help...

[Dylansav]

I just got two questions about my 98' 4.0 SOHC explorer. The gas pedal on the truck is always "sticky" when I need to gas. It's nothing big, it just like I have to quickly tap it and "break" it from the stickiness than it works fine. It's kind of hard to explain. It is entirely with the pedal, the engine accelerates fine and all. It's just kind of annoying, having to quickly tap the pedal whenever you take your foot off it. I'm going to try to make an analogy...Its like spilling pop on a table and letting it dry and than getting your hand wet and placing it on the table and than trying to move it after a minute of sitting, you need that initial push and than you can slide easy until you stop again... Yea...been a long day.

The other problem I've noticed is that I have a really funky noise when the truck is running and in park. It sounds like that sound when you need to replace your pads on the breaks and it makes that annoying-as-hell screech. But the screech is continuous like whatever is causing it is some kind of gear or something. This only occurs when the truck is in PARK and running. I put it into drive and it sounds normal. The sound seems to be coming from near the driver's seat. The sound is really faint too, I can barely hear it when I'm in the drivers seat.

hehe..while I'm at it I was wondering if it is normal to have like a one second delay when you go from drive to reverse or vice versa. It's like I shift it from drive to reverse and press the gas pedal and it takes a second to actually move in reverse and there's a small jerk.

I'm sorry if I'm going on, I get paranoid with this kind of stuff hehe

Thanks for any help or advice

 

[storlied]

I have the same problem, anyone know a fix? This IS with the pedal, not the TB or anything else.... why is it doing this?

 

[duke16]

My pedal does the exact same thing, but not all the time. It seems to be only after I push the pedal to the floor.

 

[manaen]

take off your throttle body and clean all the carbon out, then use WD40 on and around the bearings for the butterfly to make sure it doesn't feel sticky. Then spray down your throttle cable and make sure there is not old grease in there. That worked for me, everything is buttery smooth now. Oh almost forgot I also checked the gas pedal when I had the linkage disconnected, and slide the cable by hand to see if it is sticky. My problems came from carbon buildup in the throttle body, and dry bearings/ seals on the butterfly.



Oh and that noise you hear is your IAC, there is a black plastic cap that has a filter under it, take the whole thing apart and clean it really well. Ultimately you may need to replace it, usually when they start to make noise they don't last much longer. The cap will just pop off with the right amount of prying force, there is a small peice of felt in there. Clean it all out and then clean all the carbon out of the valve side of the IAC. I think I used a little WD in the hole where the cap is, and then made sure the valve moves freely.

 

[manaen]

Oh you will also want to visually inspect the throttle cable to make sure the plastic protective coating is not cracked or rubbed off at any spots, if it is you should make every effort to seal it up. I've had good success fixing things like that with either liquid electrical tape (sold at HW stores) or that rubber dip stuff for tool handles. You just need to be careful that it doesn't soak into the cable. I use a tiny brush (kids paint brush) to apply it in very thin coats over the crack, then once you have a base down and dried you can apply a heavier coat.

 

[storlied]

It's not the TB for me, and it does only do it sometimes.

 

[manaen]

It's not the TB for me, and it does only do it sometimes.

did you check you throttle cable and pedal?

 

[storlied]

If I spray where the pedal is connected to the floor, it's good until the WD40 dries away. So for me, it's my pedal..

 

[Mbrooks420]

My cruise control makes my pedal sticky. Any time I use the cruise the pedal is a PITA. I've taken the cable of the cruise thingy and lubed it, but it didn't help. I do think my cable is pretty whooped.

 

[storlied]

Same here, I notice it the most after I use CC. But it's not ONLY because of CC.

 

[Mbrooks420]

I think it's the cruise control motor thing that the second throttle cable goes to. I used an attachment that injects puts a dry film lube into the cable, and that didn't help. I was tempted to spray WD-40 in the cruise thing, but decided against that. Now I just don't use my cruise. What great repair skills I have.

 

[greyphox]

I used to have the same sticky pedal syndrome. Seems pretty common among our 2nd gens. What I did was adjust the screw on the TB that sits just below where the throttle cable attaches to it. It only took an extremely small turn for it to go away. I don't know if this will help you guys, but it worked for me and its free, so its worth a try.

 

[Dylansav]

thanks for the help. it's good to know that i'm not alone with this sticky-pedal syndrome.