Toyota

[shatto]

Gas Pedal

I drive a couple hundred miles every weekday and I'm not concerned about the current problem Toyota has with gas pedals, or anything else with my Tundra because I have a damn good mechanic who has kept all my vehicles running for over a million miles, including 623,000 on the last truck a Dodge Dakota. I figure he'll keep me going. Besides, he just finished Prius school at Toyota, which has nothing at all to do with the gas pedal...no, they are on the list.

Anyway, if you are near enough, visit his shop in Concord, California.
If you can't, you might do some serious investigation into really good independent mechanics. Maybe he was cloned.

Dex's Automotive
1102 2nd Avenue South, Unit B-12
Pacheco, CA 94553
925-685-1527

Drop by for the 25th Anniversary open house January 30. 4 pm to 8 pm.

[bowtieguy]

i understand the toyota acceleration issue is coming up again. the latest...

1 toyota is maintaining that it is NOT an electrical issue--they claim it is still the pedal, throttle linkage, floor mat, or some combination thereof.

2 congress will again be meeting about it soon

3 NASA engineers are scheduled to do their own testing of the issue

4 toyota has moved to discredit the critics and their speculation

[bobc455]

Originally Posted by bowtieguy

3 NASA engineers are scheduled to do their own testing of the issue

Am I the only one who thinks this is a bit ridiculous?

I just envision some stuffed shirt sitting in his office yelling "well then get NASA to figure it out", and some underling not realizing that it was a joke (or other type of sarcastic attempt at humor).

[bowtieguy]

yup, but how 'bout the engineers POV? well, fred, we got this "unrelated" (to rocket science) issue that congress would like you to look into. but, hey we're(NASA) cuttin' back anyway so...

[theholycow]

They've got a mystery that engineers can't agree on. They've got NASA, an institution that needs more support from an apathetic public. Seems like a good combination to me...NASA saves the day and attitudes about NASA slightly improve.

[shatto]

Five months and the panic is gone........

Where did it go, I wonder?

[Ford Man]

I've thought all along it was an electrical glitch and still do. My '88 Ford Escort done the same thing when the ECU went bad. I'd be driving down the road at 55-60MPH and it would start to accelerate and would continue until I shut it off and restarted it.

Toyota keeps saying the ECU doesn't show any malfunctions. When my Escort done this I hooked up a code reader (OBD I) to it and there was no communication between the ECU and the code reader, therefore no codes for malfuctioning equipment. I just helped someone on a Ford forum a couple weeks ago with the same issues, it was a bad ECU and once again no communication with a code reader.

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Hmmm....I wonder...about a month ago, I was driving through my neighborhood in my Geo. I had just listened to a radio news story about Toyota and their trials and tribulations. All of a sudden, my car started accelerating full throttle, even with my foot off the gas. Of course, full throttle acceleration in my Geo is a slow, gentle process, so I was able to shut off the car before I even broke the speed limit. Nice invention, the ignition key.

Now a 1991 Geo is not drive-by-wire, I've never noticed any binding in the throttle linkage anywhere, nothing was catching on the gas pedal. Don't know what could have happened...maybe a little glitch 'twixt the TPS and the ECU? Anyway, it hasn't happened again.

Or maybe it's the aliens...or the gov'mint...

[bobc455]

Well if we're gonna have NASA getting involved in every which type of engineering problem, how about going after that oil leak in the Gulf. Now THAT is a problem.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by JoeBob

Now a 1991 Geo is not drive-by-wire, I've never noticed any binding in the throttle linkage anywhere, nothing was catching on the gas pedal. Don't know what could have happened...maybe a little glitch 'twixt the TPS and the ECU? Anyway, it hasn't happened again.

The TPS can't move the throttle, it can only report the throttle's position. At most it can convince the computer to run rich but that's not going to give you any real acceleration with a closed throttle.

Are you sure it was WOT? Could it have been a malfunction in the IACV? Unless your car has cruise control, or if a 1991 Geo is equipped with a throttle actuator for some other reason, it would need air from the throttle or the IACV to accelerate. At least, I'm pretty sure I've got all that right.

Originally Posted by bobc455

Well if we're gonna have NASA getting involved in every which type of engineering problem, how about going after that oil leak in the Gulf. Now THAT is a problem.

Good idea. You ought to suggest it to whoever approved the Toyota/NASA idea. It won't matter to as many people but it's more important.