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I bring to you, the most mysterious Contour problem ever. *Throttle Hang of Doom*

M

Moloko

New CEG'er
Joined
Jul 9, 2004
Messages
5
Location
Pennsylvania
I've posted this on here a few times, and no one seems to have any idea. I thought since I havn't been on here in a while, I'd give it another go.

For over a year now, my car has had basicly the "Throttle Hang of Doom". Where most cars rev-down slowly, mine just doesn't rev down; at all.

Here is what it does. If you are not moving (at all) the car idles normally. The second you start moving the revs start going to 3,000 or higher. They will NOT go down until you stop. Every time I shift the revs fly up. Fun thing is some times it will do this, other times it will not. Some times it will fix itself, and then start doing this again just from gear to gear.

Car throws a P1120 for out of range TPS. Guess what? TPS is fine. It's been tested, and then changed just for fun. No help. IAC is good, MAF is good, wiring to the TPS tested out good, TPS base voltage is set correctly to .9 volts. Cruise control was disconnected, all no change.

Here is where it goes wierd. Lately it's gotten MUCH worse. Now the car can no longer hold idle right. It's starting to idle at 1500 rpm. It's also started bogging at low rpm after downshifting (or even sometimes bucking).

Heres some more. Using a scanner, it showed 13% TPS at idle. After driving it for a few minutes, it went to 17%, and the idle was higher. At full throttle the TPS only showed at highest 80%. At 17% TPS, idle was at roughly 1100 rpm.

Taking a piece of wood, I pressed on the throttle lever that the cables go onto. Slight pressure resulted in the idle dropping to 700RPM.

So, what is everyones take on this? I've had two garages take a look at this. I work at one of them. Hell, I've even had two Ford master techs take a look; neither of them have any idea either.
 
put a differnt tb on:shrug: or pull your stock one and clean it really well. not uncommon for sludge to build up and keep it from closing all the way.
 
TB has been cleaned, taken off, and cleaned again. We just checked it and it's clean as a whistle.

I'm planning on changing the TB, but apparently I have to find a manual one (and I don't see too many manual v6 cars floating around).

Intake has never been off, but I can't figure out why that would effect the throttle.
 
Sounds like it's your tps, though from what you said, the tps is fine. There are somethings I've seen happen on my car that were tps related, but I never had to replace the tps to fix them.

That said, my first issue was the tps wiring harness pigtail. I got fed up with the throttle hanging and I just started wiggling wires. Sure enough, I could get the hanging to start and stop by wiggling the wires right before the tps connector.

Another throttle hang problem I had was when I tightened the tps screws too tight. I think it was causing the sensor to bind. I loosened the screws slightly and it stopping hanging.
 
Moloko said:
TB has been cleaned, taken off, and cleaned again. We just checked it and it's clean as a whistle.

I'm planning on changing the TB, but apparently I have to find a manual one (and I don't see too many manual v6 cars floating around).

Intake has never been off, but I can't figure out why that would effect the throttle.
Click to expand...

Have you replaced the TPS ever?
 
Pushing the throttle further closed and having the idle return sounds like a possible clue.

Will the idle properly return if you take the cable off?

Has someone been messing the the hard stop idle adjustment and left it too high?

Is there anything keeping the linkage from fully traveling all the way to to the hard stop? Throttle bracket bent? Sticky throttle cable? Something in the pedal area?

Is the throttle shaft worn? If not the shaft, the bores that the shaft goes through?
 
morbid said:
Sounds like it's your tps, though from what you said, the tps is fine. There are somethings I've seen happen on my car that were tps related, but I never had to replace the tps to fix them.

That said, my first issue was the tps wiring harness pigtail. I got fed up with the throttle hanging and I just started wiggling wires. Sure enough, I could get the hanging to start and stop by wiggling the wires right before the tps connector.

Another throttle hang problem I had was when I tightened the tps screws too tight. I think it was causing the sensor to bind. I loosened the screws slightly and it stopping hanging.
Click to expand...

I had that theory too, and I already changed the pigtail. No help.
 
Big Jim said:
Pushing the throttle further closed and having the idle return sounds like a possible clue.

Will the idle properly return if you take the cable off?

Has someone been messing the the hard stop idle adjustment and left it too high?

Is there anything keeping the linkage from fully traveling all the way to to the hard stop? Throttle bracket bent? Sticky throttle cable? Something in the pedal area?

Is the throttle shaft worn? If not the shaft, the bores that the shaft goes through?
Click to expand...

Taking the cables off makes no difference.

I have bent the idle stop to set the TPS voltage, but that was done with both a snapon diagnostic multimeter and a scanner to verify it. That made the code go away for inspection/emissions this year, but it came back with a vengence.
 
Moloko said:
I'm planning on changing the TB, but apparently I have to find a manual one (and I don't see too many manual v6 cars floating around).
Click to expand...


I have a manual V6 TB in my garage just waiting for you to buy :D
If you want it, I will sell it to you for $20 shipped. If you want it powder coated in a color I have, $35 shipped.
 
Both the old TPS and new one tested fine. The TB is squeeky clean.

I'm getting a new throttle body this week, we'll see what happens.

Also, oddly enough, I just did the throttle hang fix to see what would happen. It kind of helped, but it did not effect the idle like it said it would in the how-to. It started up and idled no problem, no bogging or "re-learning" like it should of.

Also, the engine idles fine with the IAC unplugged, which from what I understand really shouldn't happen. With it unplugged the engine should barely idle. Mine holds about 800-1000 rpm with no IAC at all.
 
Moloko said:
Both the old TPS and new one tested fine. The TB is squeeky clean.

I'm getting a new throttle body this week, we'll see what happens.

Also, oddly enough, I just did the throttle hang fix to see what would happen. It kind of helped, but it did not effect the idle like it said it would in the how-to. It started up and idled no problem, no bogging or "re-learning" like it should of.

Also, the engine idles fine with the IAC unplugged, which from what I understand really shouldn't happen. With it unplugged the engine should barely idle. Mine holds about 800-1000 rpm with no IAC at all.
Click to expand...

Geez it sounds exactly like a tps problem. Yes the car should idle fine still if the IAC is un plugged.

Did you see what beyondloaded se wrote? when you set the TPS into its place did you place the tabs above the tb shaft or below it?
 
Moloko said:
Also, the engine idles fine with the IAC unplugged, which from what I understand really shouldn't happen. With it unplugged the engine should barely idle. Mine holds about 800-1000 rpm with no IAC at all.
Click to expand...

Take the next step, and remove the IAC and block it off. Make a block off plate to slip between the IAC and the manifold from the lid of a tin can if needed. If the idle comes down, you have a leaking IAC, if it doesn't, either the hard stop idle is too high or you are fighting a vacuum leak.

In spite of how you set the hard stop idle, I suspect it is not properly set.
 
i had a horrible throttle hang problem. mine would rev over 4k on shifts and not rev down until i stopped the car. sometimes it fixed its self. i did the throttle hang fix with the copper pipe cap and everything has been perfect since. before i was on these forums i changed the IAC twice.
i hope that helps. but it looks like you have other causes.
 
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