Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting Help! Throttle with a mind of its own

Hi Folks,

I've read the various descriptions of throttle hang in this forum, but I'm looking for any opinions on what the Contour experts think of my demon car:

1. I start my 2000 Mystique V6 MTX in the morning (September in DC now, so its not cold out), RPM up to 2000 then quickly down to 1500 then *slowly* down to 1000 over the course of the next 3 or 4 minutes. Warming up cycle?
2. I put it in reverse, back out of my spot, and the RPMs quickly drop to 750. Car drives normally at first.
3. In the next 20 miles (my commute to work), I am almost guaranteed to have the car flip out at a stop light or two. Basically, as I approach the red light, I start slowing down, probably taking it out of gear. As soon as I pop it out of gear (in fact, as soon as I push the clutch), the RPMs *shoot up* just past 3000 and stick there for several seconds before *very slowly* coming down. I promise you, my foot is not on the gas, nor I am using cruise control, but the car acts as if I have it out of gear with my foot on the gas.
4. The RPMs are now around 3000 and I am out of gear, but I can pop it back in gear and slowly come off the clutch, which causes the RPMs to drop pretty quickly.
5. This happens fairly intermittently. It may happen for several miles straight each time I come out of gear, it may not happen at all one day, but just when I hope its gone for good, it always comes back again.
6. Another data point: once, the throttle seemed to be stuck in gear as well and so much so that I could take my foot off the gas while on the highway and have the car continue to cruise on its own at 60 MPH (no cruise control of course). Yup, the car that drives itself.

I have already tried to have my dealer address this (I have an extended warranty with Warranty Gold), but they gave me the "you are full of s**t" look, and if they can't reproduce it in a 10 second test drive, they assume you are nuts. And ideas?

I don't want to have my demon car drive itself (and am sure my mileage is impacted negatively) and otherwise am quite happy with the Mystique.

Thanks in advance! This forum is superb.

Car:

Its a 2000 Mystique V6 MTX with ~50k miles. It has no modifications to any engine parts. The fuel pump and IAC valve have already been replaced once each about 6 months and 1 year ago under warranty (fuel pump due to complete stall out and IAC valve due to the the "moose" mentioned on this board). I've kept up with all fuel filter, air filter, oil changes, etc.

this sounds exactly like throttle hang to me. my car also does from time to time - I'm led to believe it's an emissions thing, and is completely normal.

I did the "throttle hang fix" to my 95SE yesterday. Took mere moments, but fixed the
"moosing" problem I was having. Look at www.contour.org under the FAQ under repairs/driveablilty
until you find it.

It's fast cheap & reverisble in minutes, so why not try and see if it solves the problem?

Brent

These are not the normal symptoms of throttle hang. It sounds like you throttle is "sticking" or a valve or sensor is out of whack. There are two areas that could be causing your problem. The Idle Air Control(IAC) valve could be sticking or need to be replaced and/or the Throttle Postion Sensor could be shot.

I had this problem and a recall took care of it. I could cruise down the road at 50 MPH and not even touch the gas. Very dangerous!!!!! The recall was for part of the accelerator cable causing it to stick before returning to its "resting" position. Yours sends more like one of the two above mentioned things though.

there was actually another "termed" problem ironically called "Throttle rise"

Has been posted since the new forums have been up.

anyone?



HTH
Ray

Might also want to check the throttle return spring and the the throttle cable. The cable can easily be nudged to where it is resting on top of the lip where the hood closes. The throttle butterfly may be sticking due to a gunked up throttle body. (Cleaning + spring should help.) IAC seems like most likely culprit though...

I posted the same problem about a month and a half ago. It seems to have gone away on its own for now. It seems to be getting more and more common. My Dad's SVT has done it and CEGer Steener has had his SVT in the shop a bunch of times trying to fix it.

Good luck with the garage clowns.

Harry

It's not your imagination, and it's definitely not "normal."

Do a search for "throttle hang/rise" and you'll see what's been done on this in the last month or so.

I've had a terrible time with this myself. Good luck...and if your dealer wants to call my dealer, by all means, encourage that. Campbell Ford in Ottawa, Canada 613-725-3611...they're becoming experts on this, and they know it's not an imaginery problem.

I had something similar and it turned out to be a sticky IAC. Thats where I'd start my seacrh personally.

My car is doing this as well. I have cleaned and replaced the IAC. Resetting the PCM seems to help for a while. Interesting I have noticed a correlation with using the AC on a highway drive as quite often causing this condition to flare up. I really think this a firmware bug in the PCM code. There have been rumours of some people getting updated PCM code but I have seen nothing concrete yet. Does anyone have any information?

// Chris Root
// '99 SVT