[velocedoc]

The other day I lubricated the throttle linkage on the 94Q as it was very firm to press down. Now the throttle is so loose that the car wants to "jack rabbit" up and down when you let the clutch out. It is very hard to drive in 1st gear now in traffic.
The clutch seems "grabby" and causes the car to hesitate, so I quickly dump the clutch, feed in more gas and it goes ok.
I don't know what is going on...any suggestions? Maybe replace the cable...but how hard of a job it to do that?

 

[Alfisto Steve]

How hard was accelerator pedal to push before this and for how long? Just lubing accel cable and then having trouble with clutch control hard for me to fathom.

This reminds me of an old Blue Angel story. I had a flight gripe from our Leader who was flying number 3 one day instead of his number 1 bird one day and wrote up a gripe that number 3's landing gear handle was to loose. I went ou to flight line and checked it out and it was fine. Now how do I sign off the gripe as "no defect" as the BOSS was a full Commander? Well, I decided to go check out his number 1 Jet (F4J Phantom) and found roller bearings in his landing gear handle frozen so his jet was the one with the problem not number 3 jet.

How I solved my problem was I went to his office and discussed issue with him and said we had to fix his jet not number 3.

So if you have been used to a stiff accelerator and now you have a "normal" one you may have to relearn how to drive your new feeling 164. Is you clutch hard to push and has it started to chatter as you engage it?

 

[velocedoc]

Steve, I suspect that the cable had never been lubricated since day one. A while back I had mentioned in one of my threads that the pedal was hard to push down. I suspected that the linkage on the TB was needing some lubrication. So I removed the cover, lubricated everything I could see including the top end of the cable where it comes out of the housing. So, now the cable is I suspect very slick like a new one. You are most likely correct that the car drives like new. It is just now that the throttle is very sensitive to input, hence the car wants to "jack rabbit hop" if you are going very slow in 1st gear. It doesn't chatter, and goes like a 164 should when you put the pedal to it. Thanks

 

[goats]

jack rabbit hop

I'm thinking you have removed the dampening in your feedback system by lubing up the cable. You now have undamped feedback causing the oscillations -- what we would call an unstable closed-loop system.

In electrical terms, you've taken out the capacitor and/or inductor. In mechanical terms, the dashpot is gone!

Give it a while and unless your motor mounts are shot, I suspect you will be back to normal after a while.

 

[velocedoc]

That is what I was thinking, that if I wait long enough the WD-40 will eventually wear off and the car will be more like normal. thanks to all that helped.

 

[velocedoc]

Well...*a deep subject* come to find out the problem was getting worse. At a very light throttle in 1st, 2nd or 3rd, the car would begin to "occillate" or do what I call "jack rabbit" to the point where the car would not go down the street with out having to dump the clutch to keep the car under control.

I was wondering if it was an air leak somewhere. I pulled the AFM off the car and when I reached under the rubber air intake I could feel a very large split in the rubber. The hose was split about 50% around. Being it was hidden underneath, it wasn't readily obvious.

Amazing it was still running. A spider would have just stopped in the road most likely.

New hose on the way Monday.

 

[jontg428]

Good to hear you solved another unforeseen issue with the car, looks like I get to rebuild the front end in mine soon!

 

[gt601]

If they are split on the top the car seems to have issues in reverse. On the bottom the shift of the engine seems to pull it open on acceleration. Hmmm... curious little cars they are.

Paul

 

[velocedoc]

Good to hear you solved another unforeseen issue with the car, looks like I get to rebuild the front end in mine soon!

I do hope you will document the rebuild.

 

[jontg428]

Will do, in 65 miles my 164 will hit 200,000 miles! Actually I am excited about it and hope to have pics to post on the BB when she rolls over!

 

[velocedoc]

Actually I am excited about it and hope to have pics to post on the BB when she rolls over!

*GASP* I hope not from a bad lower A arm! Looking forward to your posts.

 

[Alfisto Steve]

Well, I be darned! I never even thought about that old split in corragated AFM inlet hose trick being your problem from your original lube the throttle cable story.

You better also double check your air cleaner box 4 lower rubber mounts to be sure they are not sheared off, too as that is what took out Myron's almost new tube on his 95LS. If mounts bad it allows AFM and air cleaner box to swing like a pendelum.

 

[velocedoc]

Yeah, that is a good idea. The mounts are almost the same as the old 750/101 fuel pump mounts. They work!

I was thinking the problem came about from a bad thermostat initially, because the engine was running to cold, hence it wasn't in closed loop. However, that didn't pan out. It was a hunch to check the intake hose. Hunch was right.

 

[gt601]

You can also go to the local Mercedes dealer and buy some old diesel air cleaner mounts for say a '85 300D. They seem like they are indestructible. I use them for mounting all sorts of things that need a little shock proofing or to quiet fuel pumps etc. They are pretty handy to have around.

I bet that you accidentally leaned on the hose and stressed it to the point of splitting seeing as you were in that area.

Paul