Hey guys, I recently took all of the slack out of my Throttle cable/pedal by installing a metal window slide lock (old fashioned hardware) to replace a bunch of zip ties I used previously, then adjusted my Throttle cable nuts. There is 0 slack at the pedal and at the TB, but after having someone press the pedal all the way down, I reached in and was still able to add another 3/8" of turn to the Throttle.

Is there anyway to remove that last bit or is it supposed to be like that? The only thing I could think of is tighten the TB cable an extra quarter inch and see if the IAC can adjust for it, although I doubt it. That's a lot of Throttle to adjust for.

I ask because driving at about 55mph at 1800 RPM in OD, and giving it full WoT, it will down shift to 2700 RPM and that's it. It seems like it should be able to shift down one more gear. I carry a cargo hitch full of materials, cargo area is full of tools, I have 3 ladders on the roof and 34" tires with a lift, and I travel the interstate a lot. There are a lot of hills around here and I'm starting to think I need a turbo or supercharger to get this thing enough power to accelerate up hills instead of barely holding speed at WoT.

I've also taken all slack out of the Trans kick cable with no change

All helps appreciated!

PS - If I activate cruise control to a speed, it WILL kick down I to the next gear and run at 4k-5K RPM to maintain speed.


Wayne

Have you tried pressing the "ECT PWR" button on the dash? That will make downshifting and upshifting happen at higher RPM, generally. That said, the ECU really doesn't like to put the engine up at high RPM, I think we all fight this one.

You may also be surprised if you remove the intake hose and look into the open throttle body - the gasket blocks a reasonable amount of the opening.


left: TRD gasket, right: stock gasket

Otherwise, I haven't tried to see if I'm missing throttle opening with the pedal. I'll be interested to read other's input on this.

-Charlie

I’m with Charlie on the kicking down sucks. On a rare occasion I can get it to kick all the way down to first. But usually is grabs 2nd and bogs till the rpms get above 2000’s.


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I just had the intake off last week and cleaned out the TB, I guess someone previously replaced the TB gasket with one similar to the TRD, it was completely round on the inside.

I found my problem. I previously had a Volo VP16 plugged in and it stopped working (it plugs into the OBD CAN port) and I left it unplugged. It dangled down behind the pedal. After I removed it the problem was solved. BTW, don't buy that chinese piece of junk. It stopped working within an hour and although the site I bought it from says they give a refund no questions asked they will not honor it after sold. And they speak with broken English through email, and the company seems American (Hydrogen Garage), but they clearly are not. At this point I will pay 3-4x to make sure I don't buy any product made in China. I'm tired of their chintzy quality and doing anything to make a sale and rip you off.

Anyways, when working on taking out the slack in the cable I used the below device to take out all of the slack and it completely reset the cable to be like new, it was about a 1 inch item. You can only adjust the nuts at the TB to remove a small amount of slack as you're just shifting the cable sheath to stick out further to remove slack. Adding this little device down by the pedal physically takes out all of the cable stretch. I highly recommend. Just make sure you completely remove the cable at the TB to give you more slack at the pedal to pull the cable down and clamp it on. It only took me 30 seconds and it was a night and day difference.

I have a picture of the exact one I used, but from the looks of all of the other versions I think they will all work. They're better than the items sold at the auto store as you don't have to cut the end off of the cable and it will fit any cable size.

It's a Window Slide Lock (in case you want to google). I hope the attachment is visible, I haven't used forums much since 2011.

Attached Images

 

So that cable is adjustable as you know, and so is the kickdown as you know. There is a millimeter spec for both of those believe it or not. For sure there is a spec for the kickdown cable. You're supposed to measure the end gap on the cable. I'll have to find it in my book somewhere.

This is going to sound dumb, but I just want to give you my experience just in case it's the same issue for you.

Initially, when I purchased my 4runner back few years ago, I thought that it had some throttle adjustment issues. And it did. Set it to spec and it did better but still not great. Power was way low and transmission shifting sucked. Like you said wide-open throttle, 55 mile an hour.

So I was getting ready to go down the rabbit hole, and then I paused and thought back to my technician days. I said you know what we gotta go in baseline this thing otherwise we're just throwing darts. at that point I had the throttle kick down cable adjusted much tighter to assist and shifting. all that cable does is Signal pressure in the transmission. and it is very sensitive.

So I pulled out the spark plugs to redo, plugs and wires and wouldn't you know, the spark plugs were worn out to a hilarious level. I wished I had measured them, but it was probably wore out somewhere in the .150" and change range.

Rolled in a set of correct plugs, wires and wouldn't you know completely different machine. Kickdown was actually way too aggressive, I set everything back to OEM spec for cable tension and it has been perfect since.

Mine is also missing the rubber cable bumper inside the cab which caused me to have to adjust the throttle cable tighter than needed. I have a new cable sitting in the garage. I just need to get it installed one of these days. But I was able to get adjustment exactly where it needed to be even with that rubber piece. Missing with the play and adjustment available in my 99 throttle body.

All I'm trying to say is don't assume you have a throttle cable problem. You may have a worn spark plug or some other type of problem also causing your low power scenario.