New Throttle Cable Sticking Issues (Page 1/1)
atv_123 NOV 09, 11:19 AM
Hello, I will try to keep this short.

So my Fiero is extensively modified. You name it, someone in the past has changed it on this car to something else. For context it is an 85 running a 3.4L with an Isuzu 5spd. A fairly common swap I believe.

The car used to have a sticky throttle cable which made driving it a bit of a pain. I ordered a new one from the Fiero store, and threw it in there. Was a bit tricky, but it really wasn't TO difficult... except hooking up the pedal... that was a pain. Lots of scratches on my hands that day. But I got it connected, bolted the pedal back up, reinstalled all the interior, hooked it up to the engine... ran beautifully and shifted great. Problem solved!

Well... I routed it the exact same way that the previous cable was routed... not that there are a whole lot of options, but I made sure to have the heat shielding on there and what not in the same place and ran the cable the same way assuming the last one was routed correctly (it looked to be original... or at least original to the engine swap... it was very rusted, fraid, and dragging in the casing) as it lasted quite a while. This may not have been correct though.

Yesterday, after having this cable in my car for 2 months with Zero issues... I went for some "spirited" driving with one of my friends. We were in some aggressive twisties up in the mountains and I was pushing the car HARD. The engine didn't overheat or anything, but after a while (pretty much the end of our outing) the throttle started to get sticky. Now, the next morning it was almost impossible to press and once the engine heats up, it moves very sluggishly.

My guess... and from the symptoms... I routed the cable wrong and have now cooked my throttle cable. Is there a proper routing I can run my cable through so this doesn't happen again? I thought I did a good job of keeping it away from anything hot, but my new sticky throttle cable is telling me otherwise.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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Real cars don't spin the front tires... THEY LIFT THEM!

[This message has been edited by atv_123 (edited 11-09-2020).]

theogre NOV 09, 01:02 PM
Any flex cable can fail in 2 or more ways... Top three like is:
Cable bending have minimum radius and bend too tight cause problems. Worse when you "mash the pedal" often and "saw" the jacket, cable, or both thru tight bends.
Cable too close to exhaust the jacket melts. A heat shield or nickle tape may help or not depending how bad this is.
Cable allow "water" inside can freeze.

Throttle Cables for Fiero is 2 to 4 times the length then most front engine cars doesn't help.
GM use same cable "gauge" but longer length can big problems for several reasons. Worse if cable have more bend areas.

Some Fiero throttle jackets have a "swivel" part so won't twist the jacket to line up the ends. Twisting jacket can cause about same as bending too tight.
87-88 Fiero w/ L4 have them between engine and firewall. Many think that is a "plug" to take apart but no. All it does is allow 2 part jacket to swivel to allow small end on engine to not break for twisting the jacket because Engine end only fits one way.

Pedal parts can making more problems. Plastic and metal parts can wear and...
Break the pedal.
Wear at pivots making more slop/play.
Bind at pivots.
Any or all at same time, worse if fools use oil or most grease types to "lube" them. (Brake and Clutch pedals have Plastic parts that Hate oil/grease too.)
See "Gas pedal broken again!" http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/132523.html

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

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