Throttle Cable - Transmission Behavior

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Sep 10, 2006 | 12:27 PM

sportQ

Thread Starter

AudiWorld Member

Joined: Jan 2003

Posts: 349

Likes: 0

Throttle Cable - Transmission Behavior

I was under the hood this weekend trying to track down an oil leak and discovered my throttle cable was in pretty bad shape. It had a bunch of slack in it and the plastic housing was worn through to the metal spiral core and appears to have some rust damage. So, I adjusted all of the slack out of it and took it for a test drive. I can report the lazy shifts and the behavior of being in a gear too high for the situation are gone. The transmission appears to be more responsive to throttle input and doesn't seem to be caught in a gear too high like it used to do. I'll drive it for a week and see if I still have the same impression. I'll also have to look up to see if there is a throttle cable replacement procedure somewhere.

EDIT: Idle smoothed out somewhat, too.

Sep 10, 2006 | 03:42 PM

KYNZ

AudiWorld Senior Member

Joined: Aug 2003

Posts: 1,515

Likes: 0

really? All it was was a throttle cable? hmmm...interesting.... *runs to garage to check*

Sep 10, 2006 | 03:50 PM

KYNZ

AudiWorld Senior Member

Joined: Aug 2003

Posts: 1,515

Likes: 0

2 questions:

1. how did you go about tightening up the cable tension? Did you simply pull the little green clip off the threaded area and pull cable taught and then replace the green clip further up on the threads?

2. How tight should it be? should it be about to move up and down about 1 inch or so or should it be pretty taugh...ie guitar string...no sagging?

Lemme know.

Sep 10, 2006 | 06:20 PM

sportQ

Thread Starter

AudiWorld Member

Joined: Jan 2003

Posts: 349

Likes: 0

Adjusting cable slack

I pulled the green clip and slid the housing to the right until the slack was almost gone, which was the second notch from the end. This left about a milimeter or two of play. I wanted to make sure the throttle snapped completely shut without any resistance or binding.

I don't have a Bently or other technical resource, so my procedure could be incomplete or incorrect. I remember reading somewhere that an idle switch adjustment has to happen whenever a throttle cable is adjusted?

Anyway, the pedal is tight and the car drives a lot better. It didn't fix all of the little annoyances, but it did make a big difference in my situation. I still get the occasional bump going down hill, etc..., but it accelerates a lot better.

Also, it's simple to check.

Hope that helps.

Sep 11, 2006 | 03:38 AM

Khuram

Audiworld Junior Member

Joined: Apr 2004

Posts: 99

Likes: 0

Are you hoping this may be a fix for the shunting?

As that happens on my car when the revs drop a little below idle. My Throttle cable housing is fine as the TB is quite new but there is a fair bit of slack in the cable... I wonder

Sep 11, 2006 | 04:59 AM

KYNZ

AudiWorld Senior Member

Joined: Aug 2003

Posts: 1,515

Likes: 0

Adjusted cable - WOW what a difference!

it took me about 2 min to do the whole procedure and wow the car is SO much more responsive. There is very little slack in the line, the Gas pedal is very responsive...no more step on it, wait, GO. It also seems to not search for gears as much now that the pedal is pretty much instant on power. It sort of feels like the pedal is a little high (as there is no more slack in the throttle cable to allow the pedal to sag) but i can deal with that for the responsiveness i get from it...just move my seat around a lil bit. It DID NOT fix my rough idle, and i have yet to get it to the speed/rpm range of my dreaded VIBRATION OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION but i highly doubt it will fix that either...but hey, the adjustment put a smile on my face this morning and that should count for something right?