Accelerator Cable, Decided to divorce pedal...

[Ciaran]

Morning guys, hope everyone is well.

I had some fun this afternoon, I was driving up a hill in the 2.1 when suddenly... crack...ping... accelerator pedal limp and on the floor, car rolling backwards .
Seems the throttle cable snapped at the pedal end. My brother and I managed to push it up onto the footpath (with great difficulty as we were on a steep hill when it happened, of course! ).

Anyway, I had no tools with me (stupid really, with owning two XMs and all), so was forced to call the AA. The guy came out, and did a temp repair within about 30 mins. He crimped another 'hook' onto the end of the cable and reconnected it to the pedal.
Unfortunately though, as the cable has obviously lost some length, its too short. the car 'idles' about 2000 RPM, and driving / taking off at low speeds is an interesting experience. In addition, top speed is about 60, because the cable can't pull past that it seems. The pedal is tight and slow to return to position when released. Obviously the cable is sticking / simply too tight.

I know the obvious conclusion is I'll need to get a new cable ASAP, but in the mean time, is there any way of adjusting it to introduce some slack into it perhaps? even if it would last a couple of days it would be handy. At the moment I wouldn't feel too happy driving it as I get the feeling the cable could snap at any moment, especially when the pedal is pushed to it's limit.

Any thoughts appreciated

Cheers

Ciarán

This post has been edited by Ciaran on September 02, 2007 01:26 am

[kiwi]

Hi Ciaran,

Are you able to shorten the outer cable? You'll probably find that the outer just needs to be shortened by an amount corresponding to the length of the inner cable bit that came off, together with any amount taken up with the fix.

Regards,
Kiwi

[Ciaran]

Hi Kiwi,

Sorry to sound stupid, but how would I go about shortening the outer cable? Of course the Haynes manual has gone walkies!!

Ciarán

[Ciaran]

Had a look earlier, and there allears to be some kind of plastic housing with a spring thing in it, where the throttle wire goes inside the black sleeving, right under the inlet air pipe.

I would attempt to adjust that but of course SWMBO has gone off in the S1 with all my tools in the boot!

[DerekW]

Hi Ciaran,

That's the usual way that they are adjusted. I would have suggested it but I didn't know if the 2.1TD had that arrangement. You don't need tools, just pull the clip and reinsert it in a groove that gives a slight amount of slack in the inner cable. There's usually about an inch of adjustment available - hope that's enough.

Derek

[Ciaran]

Hi Derek,

Will have a look at that tomorrow. I'm not entirely sure if I'm looking at the right thing, but its the only thing anywhere on the cable length that looks adjustable...it can't be rocket science.

Its only a few millimeters too short which is causing the extra revving, so that amount of adjustment should be quite ample.

I'll probably get a new cable as a precaution anyway, they're only £15, and the AA guy did say that end he'd crimped onto it was only a temp fix, so...

Cheers

Ciarán

[kiwi]

Hi Ciaran,

Had assumed that all adjustment had been used. I've previously had to shorten the outer on an accelerator cable and managed it by using a razor blade to cut away the outer coating to expose the metal beneath and then carefully used a good pair of sidecutters to trim a small piece off. Not my neatest work but it did the job.

I envy the price of your parts over there - I was quoted the equivalent of £50 when my accelerator cable broke a while ago.

Regards,
Kiwi

[DerekW]

Hi Kiwi,

That's the price you pay for having such a good rugby side.

Derek

[kiwi]

Thats true.

[Ciaran]

Well sent the girlfriend down yesterday to pick up the new cable, just in case the existing one is too short.

They come with quite a few fixtures and fittings, and I'll admit to being a tad confused when I saw two seperate cables, I'm guessing the smaller one is the inner cable thats been mentioned?

This will sound silly, but where / how does it connect to the outer cable?
I'm presuming the sturdy looking white plastic clip attached to the end of it is for joining it to the pedal?

Will attempt to fit it this week, if I ever get time, though thats not looking promising at the minute!

Cheers

Ciarán

[Ciaran]

Well I needed a quick fix, and hadn't much time during the week, so I ended up just adjusting the old cable by taking it down a groove, rather than fitting a new one.

Seems fine, the over revving has gone, however it now tops out in 5th at about 60-80MPH, so I suspect something is still mal-adjusted somewhere, not sure what though.

Will get round to fitting that cable one day!


Ciarán

[DerekW]

"Hi Kiwi,

That's the price you pay for having such a good rugby side."

Sacre bleu!

Derek

PS Sorry Kiwi, I know you must be in mourning but I couldn't resist that.


This post has been edited by DerekW on October 07, 2007 01:43 pm

[kiwi]

Sad but true. Am currently driving my Mitsi L200 truck - not safe to be seen in a French car at the moment. Should be okay in 4 years time when we host the RWC.

Kiwi