'97 Legacy 2.5l GT accelerator cable adjustment.

[mrfixiter]

Last year I posted a question about how to test the coolant temperature sensor because the idle never dropped below 1100 rpm. Someone suggested that replacing the sensor would make more sense than to purchase a Scangauge. Since the high idle wasn't that much of a bother to me and everything else was fine, I just lived with it.

 

Long story short, today I was in contact with a guy that goes to different small repair shops with his scan tool and reads engine trouble codes. I asked him if his scanner could read the coolant temperature sensor and he said it did. But as luck would have it, by the time I drove over there, the idle had dropped to normal. It hadn't done that in about 8 months. Since I had made the appointment, I let him inspect the car. He said the tension in the accelerator cable was too high (engine off, with nobody stepping on the pedal). His point of comparison was the amount of slack in the adjacent cruise control cable. Just for reference, I'm talking about where the cable attaches to the manifold with a nut on each side of a metal supporting post. He loosened the nuts so there was more slack in the cable and said that should do it. I was sort of scratching my head why he was even messing with that because the idle just happened to be fine at the time. He secured the nuts and I drove the car home. A couple of times when I stepped on the gas I felt a definite sticking in the gas pedal at the beginning of its travel. Once I got past the sticking point, it was fine. My question is, what are the guidelines for adjusting that cable? I cannot find anything in the manual. And could an improperly adjusted cable cause it to stick like that? There are very obvious paint marks on the threads so I assume it must be calibrated in some sort of way. By the way, the coolant temperature sensor reading was 90 degrees C.

 

Thanks for your help.

[987687]

90C is about 195F. A little warm, but feasible if it's been sitting and idling. Wouldn't worry about that.

 

For the accelerator cable I've always just adjusted it tighter and tighter until it just started to open the throttle plate, then back the nut off till the plate closed. Then back it off another turn just to make sure it doesn't hold the throttle open... Whether that's correct or not, it's worked on a few different cars just fine.

 

High idle could be a vacuum leak. Could also be a sticky IACV. Check for leaks and clean the IACV. That's what it was on my car.

[mrfixiter]

Thanks for your answers. They make perfect sense to me. I would imagine there wouldn't be any reason to have so much slack in the cable. I have since readjusted it a few turns tighter. Not sure why the cruise control cable is so slack. It works so I'm not going to touch it. On the other hand, when I hit the "Set" button for the cruise control, the speed always sets a few mph lower than my current speed.

 

What is the diameter of the vacuum hoses? Any idea what length of hose I would need to change them all? I inspected them a while ago and one was really stiff and had lost its flexibility so I just cut off the inch or two that was like that and reconnected it.

 

In the short time I've driven the car the past two days, the idle has been fine. How much disassembly is required to clean the IACV? Or do you just spray some cleaner into it?

 

Lastly, I'd like to post a picture of the accelerator cable because the end of it doesn't look right. How can I insert a picture into my message?

 

Thanks for your help.