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pedal covers - messing up idle switch?



I decided to check my accelerator cable adjustment today to make sure
that the butterflys were opening all the way and that idle switch was
being tripped.

I found that about 1/3 of the time (particularly when the gas pedal was
let off slowly), the idle switch was not being activated even though my
foot was off the pedal completely. So I adjusted the cable until it was
being activated every time.

Then I realized that at this setting the throttle was only opening about
70 percent. I tried to adjust it again and after several attempts I still
could not adjust the cable properly for both WOT and the idle switch.

The spring responsible for that last tiny bit of uumph to hit the idle
switch didn't appear to be doing its job so I took off the accelerator
cable and tried opening the throttle body. It hit the switch every time,
as long as the cable was not connected.

I then grabbed the cable and tried pulling it.. it was very smooth with no
binding. What the hell??

All I can think of that would prevent me from being able to adjust the
cable right would be

1) the throttle body spring is worn out - not likely because it swung back
   very strong when I tried it with the cable disconnected
2) the accelerator cable needs to be lubricated - this is possible but it
   sure didn't feel hard to move
3) the extra weight of my aluminum pedal covers is making the throttle
   body spring work harder to lift the pedal back up and thus the switch
   is only closing when the pedal is "gotten off of" quickly.
4) while I was down there I noticed that I do not have an accelerator
   pedal bushing between the O part on the pedal arm and the hook on the
   accelerator cable. I assume this is the bushing people have been
   talking about on the list lately? My pedal has a lot of up-and-down
   slop but its not noticable unless you lift up on the pedal. Is it
   possible that this is making the accelerator pedal hit the stop on the
   carpet before WOT?

I'm trying to figure this out because every time that the idle switch
doesn't get tripped I have to blip the throttle to get the car idle right
- otherwise the idle speed varies sinusoidally with a period of about 2
seconds.

I realize there is a certain cheese factor to having aluminum pedal covers
but mine are purely there for functionality. Most of the time I drive in
tennis shoes and when they get wet (which is 6 days a week here in
Seattle), they slip right off the stock rubber pedals like they were
covered in oil - very dangerous! The covers I use have little grippy spots
on them that improve the traction drastically. I've been looking for a
way to further improve traction that doesn't involve putting grip tape on
them, if you have any ideas let me know.

So, I guess for now I'll try and hunt down an accelerator pedal bushing
and see if that fixes my problem.

-Toby