Frozen/stuck throttle butterfly!

[Nate]

The car that is having issue is a 91 Subaru Loyale.

The throttle is competently seized up in close position. It won’t open at all even with force. The car would start and idle high but won’t have any responds to the gas pedal since the gas pedal is also stuck. The car was driving fine one day and out of a sudden had problem accelerating on the road. Then it was parked and has never been fixed. Looking from the top of the throttle, it seems normal. Not sure what is the problem.

Any idea? Thanks guys!

Topic

[Nate]

here is a picture

Attachments:

• IMG_20140818_164842680.jpg

[Ingvar]

For starters, regarding your pic link:

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As, of your original Q.
I bet it’s not throttle plate, but it’s cable from gas pedal.Ripped, torn, stuck somewhere on it’s route. Do this: disconnect cable from throttle and see what happens.

[Nate]

I re-attach the picture again.
The cable has been disconnected already. Still could not move the throttle at all.

[Austin]

I’d take your throttle body off your intake manifold and inspect it from the back. If you see no way to release it, or indeed it is frozen I would replace the TB

[Nate]

Could the throttle position sensor cause the problem?

[Austin]

Possibly, take it out and see if the butterfly unlocks. Know that when you take it out when you put it back in youll have to take it to a shop and have them do a TPS relearn procedure with a scanner.

[Nate]

Ok. I just search online and it seems really hard to find a throttle body for this car. Also the TPS cost a few hundred bucks.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Based on your description and answers posted here, I’d suggest removing it to have a closer look. It’s very difficult for us to say via the form what the issue is at this time. I think your best option is to put your hands on it and look for what’s causing it to bind.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[Nate]

After taking off the throttle body, I was able to break lose the plate with a bit of force. Turns out it was just gummed up. Now I have a sticking throttle. I tried clean it off with throttle cleaner as much as I can, but it still stick.
Any better way to fix it?

[EricTheCarGuy]

Check the throttle shaft. If it’s loose in the bore it will cause the throttle plate to bind. It can also cause a vacuum leak which can lead to performance and idle issues. Unfortunately if this is what you have you’ll need to replace the throttle body as there is no fix that I know of for this problem. If it’s just a ridge build up, then perhaps you can use a bit of fine sand paper to sand it down. Just be sure to rinse off the area well after you’re done as you don’t want to get sand paper debris down into the engine.

Keep us posted.

[Nate]

Thanks Eric!
The Throttle shaft seems fine. Just need to be clean up.
One more question. How much should I torque it down? I couldn’t find torque specs for the car.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I don’t know the exact torque but I wouldn’t go past 25lbft on a throttle body just for round numbers.

[Author]

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