Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting MIND OF IT'S OWN!

I know car's can't really do things on their own but this is weird. So there I was going on the highway and I was thinking to my self "hmmmm....this is strange, it feels like cruise is on..." I pushed in the clutch to down shift cuz traffic was slowing and I watched my rpm's go from 2500 right up to 4000! I thought I must have had my foot slightly on the gas so I figured I'd let it go. Low and behold, it didn't stop, in fact it got worse. My car would stumble (bad) starting up a hill the accell was impossible and I looked like a new driver who doesn't know how to drive 5 speed. Needless to say it's not normal. I kept my eye on the problem and I had noticed it once before this. I simply turned off the car and right back on and the auto accel went away but the impossble uphill normal accel didn't go away. I got a cel once and my mechanic said o2 sensor but he wanted a crazy amount of money to fix it 750+ (2 o2's or something) I have no idea what to do about this and I'm very unsure if my car is safe to drive right now. I have to drive 25mins 2 ways every day and I don't like the idea of the car accelerating by it's self. Can anyone help? Also, the car stumbles/misfires/poor power in any gear untill the rpm's are above 3000. This is really crappy. Love my car, hate the problem!

It sounds like a vaccume leak, maby.

You'll want to search the list for "throttle rise". I've had this happen over and over, and it seems to be something that doesn't have a permanent fix, nor a definite cause. Things to look at are the IAC Valve and Throttle Body. Some people recommend having the Throttle Body cleaned. In any event, your symptoms sound typical - lift off the gas in neutral and watch the revs rise up 1-1500 rpms from where you were shifting at. Revs hang there forever, and the car won't settle into a normal idle (1200 rpm vs 750 rpm). Good luck.

I'm having the same problem right now. See my post "erratic idle" from a few days ago. I ordered a new MAF so if you want I will post my results back and let you know if it fixed the problem. I just have a strange feeling that the oils from the KKM may have affected the MAF sensor. We shall see. My next guess for a fix is the throttle body, possibly. I think this is a possibility because all of the teflon coating on the throttle plate is gone. I think there is a possibility that with that coating gone, the airflow may be affected. Though the problem seems more electrical to me. If it was the throttle body it seems the problem should be present ALL the time, and it's not. Just a thought, anyone with more info/intelligence feel free to chime in! Hopefully the MAF will fix it! If not I'm gonna order another IAC and go from there.