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Accelerator sensor cable slack

joooe

TAF Member
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Location
Portugal
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Accord 2.2 i-CTDi
Ok, it's true. I keep messing around too much in my car. I tell this to myself from now and then, and probably I will get in trouble some day. lol.
But this one you got to try. It takes 5 minutes and it really changes the feeling of the car.

Eventually, as I've seen in a Honda spanish forum, it will sort or attenuate the hesitation issues too.
Either way, I took the opportunity and also cleaned the sensor and the plug with a contact cleaner.

You'll have to find the accelerator sensor. Just follow the accelerator cable and you'll see it.
Mine is here (LHD).

img20110613185348.jpg




Now, undo the two screws to remove the plastic cover.

img20110613185139.jpg



img20110613185205.jpg



Here it is.
You can now check the play of the cable. Use your finger and push it downwards and see if it moves too much. Mine had a big slack.

img20110613184907.jpg




To adjust it you'll have to undo the nut marked red, get it a bit loose and next undo the one marked green. Adjust both nuts to make the cable stiffer.

img20110613185002.jpg



As long as you keep this two pieces touching when adjusting, you'll be fine. Otherwise, at idle the car accelerates. But it's quite difficult to move the piece, so no problem of messing around.

img20110613185040.jpg



Now enjoy your new car. The difference is quite noticeable, with a sharper throttle.
 
Great stuff, thanks for the write up and pics, must give it a go when I get a chance.
 
cleaned the sensor and the plug with a contact cleaner.

What part did you clean? Can we see it in the pictures?
 
Padraig, I cleaned the areas marked red. Remove the plug too and clean the contacts.

img20110613184907.jpg
 
nuno i done this on your post about the hesitation problem but didn't cure it.
as you said i had slack as well do tightend it and the pedal felt more responsive.
 
iv just cleaned the maf sensor and it seems to be better but we will see lol
 
If you get the chance, and didn't done it yet, try to clean the EGR and the air intake valve. Pay special attention to the EGR valve closing area. It can build up with dirt and it doesn't close properly.
 
Nuno, I did a write up on the old forum on this. I found slack in mine too, Made the throttle a bit more responsive...
 
This is interesting. I'll have to give this a go. There's a fair amount of slack on my accelerator pedal. I think I also experience this hesitation you talk about. Is it like a lag or delay between pressing the pedal and actually getting revs and also taking your foot off the pedal and the revs sty there for a moment?
 
Thanks for posting this up. I did this on the diesel this morning. Certainly feels a lot sharper
 
Does this really affect us drive-by-wire diesels?
 
Yea, it does Dan mate. It is a drive by wire system to some extent. There is still a throttle cable which leads from the back of the gas pedal to a sensor which you can see in the pics by Jooe. All you have to do is remove the covering box - 2x 10mm bolts, be careful not to drop them down into the engine bay - then adjust the cable so there is not much slack in it. There should be a few mm deflection when you push the cable with your finger if you see what I mean. Basically, you don't want there to be any tension on the cable when you let go of the gas pedal. Also, make sure you tighten up the cable properly so that its held in securely in the holder thing. I think the cars come off the production line well adjusted and its just wear and tear which has caused the cable to stretch. I have done this on my 6th gen a few years back too. I'd definitely recommend you have a go, don't get me wrong, it wont transform the car into a Ferrari or anything, it will just sharpen up the pedal response.
 
Cheers bud, will have a fiddle later.
 
Cheers mate... the dude decided to be a little shi.... pain this afternoon so only got the weekend wash done :( might leave my car missions until I get back from Japan. Overshot my oil change mileage... starting to gnaw the steering wheel now :(
 
I've just been out and done this (haven't driven yet tho). The only thing is there was a huge amount of slack, I took back about a cm worth of cable. Is this about right? The cars done about 109000 miles.





Just been a bit of an idiot and adjusted it the wrong way restricting the car to about quarter throttle lol but all sorted now.
 
There was a large amount of play on mine too, and I could have taken in more slack if there was sufficient thread available, but there wasn't. I tightened it as much as I could while still keeping the end nut fully engaged with the thread.

Made a noticeable difference and improved low end driveability no end.
smile.gif
 
yep this is the first thing that I do on the car too....it's just really odd why there is about 5mm deflection of the cable before it moves the actuator. It's not just a Honda thing to every other car I've meddled with is the same and the thing is there only seems like there is enough room to adjust it once before you have no more adjustment in adjuster.
 
My only concern was that I've adjusted to the end of the thread but if some of you have had to of done this then this seems to be ok, but what an improvement the cars right on the power as soon as I push the pedal and almost feels like I can now open even more throttle.
 
^Yes, I think that is correct. If the cable is tightened and able to open the throttle open more when required, then the car will be quicker of course. It all depends on how much slack there is in the first place. If its mm's defelction, then you wont really notice anything TBH. On some other cars, the throttle cable is clearly visible close to the air intake, however on the accord its under a covering.
 
Just adjsuted mine and about to go on a test drive - I have my adjuster nut right to the end as well - it is easy enough to detach the cable completely but I wonder how easy it is to cut off that little capturing toggle at the end and replace it?
 
Did mine as well today, although not really noticed any difference and mine too is almost at the end of the cable
 
Just adjsuted mine and about to go on a test drive - I have my adjuster nut right to the end as well - it is easy enough to detach the cable completely but I wonder how easy it is to cut off that little capturing toggle at the end and replace it?

I had wonderd this but think its actualy made into the cable, don't fancy trying it incase I'm left without any throttle lol
 
Well just got back from a thorough - and I do mean thorough road test. It has certainly helped with the low speed pick up.... and it also seems to have cured my embarrassing problem of stalling when cruising at very low speeds or occasionally when pulling away. I always blamed it on me not usually driving it and not mentally adjusting from the van, where I do not have the same issue.

A very simple and worthwhile thing to do....although I did have a moment at first when comparing the first picture to my engine bay - LHD and RHD :lol:
 
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