Accelerator Cable spec? (How tight)

[jross20]

How tight should the accelerator cable be? Mine is adjusted all the way and still has play. Should it be like that...or as snug as possible without pulling the throttle valve?

Trying to figure out if I should replace it.

Also looking at the throttle (what people call the kickdown) cable, it is also very loose. I read that you're supposed to have 1mm of the bead showing past the rubber...but mine is way off. Haha

And...the cruise control cable is astonishingly loose at max adjustment, but seems to work fine. Uh..

Here is an image:

 

[Bad Luck]

How tight should the accelerator cable be? Mine is adjusted all the way and still has play. Should it be like that...or as snug as possible without pulling the throttle valve? A little deflection is fine, however a new cable would probably improve your throttle feel. Have someone press the gas pedal down and make sure that the throttle opens all the way by using the pedal. If it does then I wouldn't worry about it.

Trying to figure out if I should replace it.

Also looking at the throttle (what people call the kickdown) cable, it is also very loose. I read that you're supposed to have 1mm of the bead showing past the rubber...but mine is way off. Haha That cable adjusts the line pressure in the transmission according to how far the throttle is open. If you want firmer shifts you can tighten the cable. The correct way to set that cable is with a line pressure gauge hooked up to the transmission. The full procedure and specifications is listed in the factory service manual. Mine was set too tight when I purchased my 4Runner resulting in very firm and harsh shifts especially from park to reverse, reverse to drive, or park to drive. I've sine adjusted it to where there is a little deflection/slack in the cable

And...the cruise control cable is astonishingly loose at max adjustment, but seems to work fine. I wouldn't worry about that. The cruise control motor will take up the slack.

Answers in bold

Note: The "kickdown cable" doesn't actually tell the transmission to downshift or upshift. The transmission is electronically controlled. That cable strictly controls line pressure.

 

[jross20]

Answers in bold

Note: The "kickdown cable" doesn't actually tell the transmission to downshift or upshift. The transmission is electronically controlled. That cable strictly controls line pressure.

Lots of useful information. My pedal does open the throttle all the way but has a fairly large dead spot, I tightened it before and the spot went away. But it slowly returned over the course of a month.

I'm also fighting a bad lack of power and low mpg and was looking into the throttle to see if it may be the issue.

There are certain times where the engine suddenly has WAY more power. Recently it's slowly gotten more and more "weak" feeling, struggling to get up small inclines, refusing to downshift, upshifting way too early and then not wanting to downshift. And no, no codes, never had any. For better or worse! Haha

Mind you I'm not trying to zoom zoom zoom either, haha.
I feel like the lack of power or whatever is lugging her and maybe that is the reason for the bad economy? Not sure.

 

[Bad Luck]

Lots of useful information. My pedal does open the throttle all the way but has a fairly large dead spot, I tightened it before and the spot went away. But it slowly returned over the course of a month.

I'm also fighting a bad lack of power and low mpg and was looking into the throttle to see if it may be the issue.

There are certain times where the engine suddenly has WAY more power. Recently it's slowly gotten more and more "weak" feeling, struggling to get up small inclines, refusing to downshift, upshifting way too early and then not wanting to downshift. And no, no codes, never had any. For better or worse! Haha

Mind you I'm not trying to zoom zoom zoom either, haha.
I feel like the lack of power or whatever is lugging her and maybe that is the reason for the bad economy? Not sure.

I doubt your throttle cable is the cause of any of that. The ECM is monitoring the throttle position at the throttle body rather than the gas pedal position.

 

[brillo_76]

I doubt your throttle cable is the cause of any of that. The ECM is monitoring the throttle position at the throttle body rather than the gas pedal position.

I agree with Badluck. If the butterfly is the entire way open at full throttle it's not your cables.

Sent from my SM-J337V using Tapatalk

 

[plcfcng]

The throttle and cruise control cable should have just a slight amount of slack in them so there should be no pre load on the cable at all. If there is about 1/8 of movement before the start the bracket starts moving that should be a great place to be.

As far as the kick down cable there should be slack in it aside from that just drive it and test it by accelerating normally then depress the pedal until it shifts down like you were trying to pass another car. If it feels like it comes in to late then shorten the cable if it happens to soon adjust it out. A little trial and error you will find the sweet spot. With out pealing into the Manual this should be fine. To much slack gives you poor pedal response to tight give you problems with base idle lane:

 

[sleepydad]

How tight should the accelerator cable be? Mine is adjusted all the way and still has play. Should it be like that...or as snug as possible without pulling the throttle valve?

Trying to figure out if I should replace it.

Also looking at the throttle (what people call the kickdown) cable, it is also very loose. I read that you're supposed to have 1mm of the bead showing past the rubber...but mine is way off. Haha

And...the cruise control cable is astonishingly loose at max adjustment, but seems to work fine. Uh..

Here is an image:

there is a lot of really good info in here. I will give you one more place to look. I would wager $20 it has nothing to do with the cable or the throttle body whatsoever.

I did a vid about it, I have since done this 2x times and it will bring the accelerator back into the OH YEA zone.

I have also seen a T4R member use a rubber stopper from home depot in a thread someplace. I'm not saying use a rubber stopper but I did try it last time and you can remove all the play out of the cable. cables are not that much like 45$ I think.

<iframe width="800" height="600" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aJJLr-2RPCM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


$42 + shipping to the states so maybe $55

ACCELERATOR LINK | 4RUNNER VZN185L-GKPZKA RZN18#,VZN18# | JT3HN87RXY0283787 | Toyota | Genuine Parts Catalogs | PartSouq Auto Parts Around the World

 

[gamefreakgc]

Sputtering acceleration or dead spots can be a spark plug issue. A good check of your tune up items like plugs, wires, MAF cleaning etc might be in order. I also am in the slightly overtightened kick-down cable club. I just like how it'll downshift more easily and makes passing less of a chore. It's just slightly over-tightened, like 2mm. Now you never want to do that with the throttle cable but take out as much slack as you can. If it's not much trouble, take off the intake tube so you can see the butterfly valve. Tighten it so there's no slack but the valve isn't open and can fully "snap" shut, as in you hear the noise.

Replace the cable only if it's starts to stick. My cable was wearing out and if I let off the gas slowly the valve would actually stick and stay open since the cable would bind up. A new cable took care of it.

 

[Bad Luck]

As far as the kick down cable there should be slack in it aside from that just drive it and test it by accelerating normally then depress the pedal until it shifts down like you were trying to pass another car. If it feels like it comes in to late then shorten the cable if it happens to soon adjust it out. A little trial and error you will find the sweet spot. With out pealing into the Manual this should be fine. To much slack gives you poor pedal response to tight give you problems with base idle lane:

That "kick down" cable doesn't control shift points, down shifts, up shifts, or anything except transmission line pressure. These transmissions are electronically controlled.

 

[jross20]

The throttle and cruise control cable should have just a slight amount of slack in them so there should be no pre load on the cable at all. If there is about 1/8 of movement before the start the bracket starts moving that should be a great place to be.

As far as the kick down cable there should be slack in it aside from that just drive it and test it by accelerating normally then depress the pedal until it shifts down like you were trying to pass another car. If it feels like it comes in to late then shorten the cable if it happens to soon adjust it out. A little trial and error you will find the sweet spot. With out pealing into the Manual this should be fine. To much slack gives you poor pedal response to tight give you problems with base idle lane:

Looks like I know what I'm doing Sunday afternoon. Testing!

there is a lot of really good info in here. I will give you one more place to look. I would wager $20 it has nothing to do with the cable or the throttle body whatsoever.

I did a vid about it, I have since done this 2x times and it will bring the accelerator back into the OH YEA zone.

I have also seen a T4R member use a rubber stopper from home depot in a thread someplace. I'm not saying use a rubber stopper but I did try it last time and you can remove all the play out of the cable. cables are not that much like 45$ I think.

<iframe width="800" height="600" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aJJLr-2RPCM" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>


$42 + shipping to the states so maybe $55

ACCELERATOR LINK | 4RUNNER VZN185L-GKPZKA RZN18#,VZN18# | JT3HN87RXY0283787 | Toyota | Genuine Parts Catalogs | PartSouq Auto Parts Around the World

You know I looked at my peddle, it seemed like the rubber was... Torn maybe? I'll try to get a photo.
I'll try this out too!

Sputtering acceleration or dead spots can be a spark plug issue. A good check of your tune up items like plugs, wires, MAF cleaning etc might be in order. I also am in the slightly overtightened kick-down cable club. I just like how it'll downshift more easily and makes passing less of a chore. It's just slightly over-tightened, like 2mm. Now you never want to do that with the throttle cable but take out as much slack as you can. If it's not much trouble, take off the intake tube so you can see the butterfly valve. Tighten it so there's no slack but the valve isn't open and can fully "snap" shut, as in you hear the noise.

Replace the cable only if it's starts to stick. My cable was wearing out and if I let off the gas slowly the valve would actually stick and stay open since the cable would bind up. A new cable took care of it.

You know the accelerator isn't that smooth, maybe it would not hurt to replace it. I also know for sure it's not pulling the valve at idle, so that's good.

My MAF is actually stuck... One of the screws just disintegrated....so I've got to get that thing out. I was thinking about replacing the MAF since....well it is 20 years old and I know that some sensors can experience "drift" after a long time.

I see them for $75 on Amazon, but I also found a highly rated eBay seller who has them for $15. Says they are oem Japanese. Still not sure if I should trust it. Haha... But the price is tempting

 

[gamefreakgc]

Looks like I know what I'm doing Sunday afternoon. Testing!



You know I looked at my peddle, it seemed like the rubber was... Torn maybe? I'll try to get a photo.
I'll try this out too!



You know the accelerator isn't that smooth, maybe it would not hurt to replace it. I also know for sure it's not pulling the valve at idle, so that's good.

My MAF is actually stuck... One of the screws just disintegrated....so I've got to get that thing out. I was thinking about replacing the MAF since....well it is 20 years old and I know that some sensors can experience "drift" after a long time.

I see them for $75 on Amazon, but I also found a highly rated eBay seller who has them for $15. Says they are oem Japanese. Still not sure if I should trust it. Haha... But the price is tempting

I know the $15 one you are talking about. It's inaccurate and will probably make things worse, I've only heard of bad things from people on here that tried it. If you can manage to get the old one out, a good cleaning with some MAF or carb cleaner does the trick very nicely.

 

[sleepydad]

Looks like I know what I'm doing Sunday afternoon. Testing!

You know I looked at my peddle, it seemed like the rubber was... Torn maybe? I'll try to get a photo.
I'll try this out too!

You know the accelerator isn't that smooth, maybe it would not hurt to replace it. I also know for sure it's not pulling the valve at idle, so that's good.

My MAF is actually stuck... One of the screws just disintegrated....so I've got to get that thing out. I was thinking about replacing the MAF since....well it is 20 years old and I know that some sensors can experience "drift" after a long time.

I see them for $75 on Amazon, but I also found a highly rated eBay seller who has them for $15. Says they are oem Japanese. Still not sure if I should trust it. Haha... But the price is tempting

I replaced the accelerator link on my 2000, way better feeling.

then...

I decided to replace it on my 1997 and wham like a new truck.

picked up a 1998 this last december and it has a much harder accelerator than normal... new cable, boom new truck again.

things do wear out and I'm happy to get 20 years of service out of a part. I don't feel bad about replacing it because my god it lasted 20 years.

I would maybe hit the junk yard and look for a matching year air box in good condition? just swap it out if you can? you should be able to find an airbox for $40 in decent condition.

I just picked up a MAF from denso parts online.

denso parts

you can also cross ref the other vehicals that use that MAF and heck junk yard mazda's should be pretty easy to find.