Weird car issues for unknown reasons *shrug*

[David]

Hey guys,

So I’ve been doing basic maintenance on my car for last few days, cleaning throttle body, adjusting throttle acceleration cable & cleaning the engine bay. Anyways, I went out tonight, car drove fine, parked, went had dinner etc..
When I finished, started car & driving out of car park, blinkers wouldn’t work properly. They (mostly) came on, but, blinked slowly (blink…..blink…..blink…..blink etc.. rather than the usual blink..blink..blink..blink.. if you know what I mean : )

That was issue #1.

Then came issue #2.
Driving along (straight road) accelerator seemed to be getting a little stuck (would stay on after taking foot off). After a couple minutes of this, it seemed the accelerator pedal became hard to press as if something were blocking it. I tried to kick the pedal thinking something was lodged underneath, but nothing.
The became worse, accelerator wouldn’t come off, would clutch in to slow down/change down gears & it would rev!. Accelerator wasn’t stuck to the floor or anything, just seemed ever so slightly engaged to give it enough to chug along (not out of control)

Managed to get home ok, so I grabbed a torch and tried moving pedal by had.. nothing. Couldn’t see anything that might be causing it to stick. Popped the hood & disconnected the throttle acceleration cable and noticed I could move it at all. So.. something between the accelerator pedal and the throttle body has caused it to jam :

Problem #3.
During poking around, I moved the accelerator housing a little and noticed, somehow it was causing the lights (in & out) to come on and off… I checked around the cable housing to make sure I wasn’t moving/touching cables.. I wasn’t. Even turning the car off and removing the key somehow left the lights on (in and out)… :

I removed the battery and tested, it had 12.3v, so now I have it on charge.

So.. all up,

#1 blinkers acting stupid

#2 accelerator cable jammed

#3 electrical problem

I have ABSOLUTELY no clue what I’ve done /facepalm

So, I ask you fellow car guys, can you shed some light on what may be the issue(s)…where can I start? 🙁

**NOTE** When I ‘cleaned’ the engine bay, I did use plastic bags over most of the electronics.. but I guess I could have missed something.

~~~ CAR ~~~

98′ Hyundai Excel (U.S. Accent)

Currently it too late to work on it, but will be tomorrow.

If anyone wants me to take some pics/video, let me know & Ill do that tomorrow 🙂

Regards,

Topic

[Wayne]

When cleaning this engine bay did you just cover the PCM with plastic and use de-greaser and a garden hose, or did you use a pressure washer?

If the later, then yeah, you may have introduced an issue. Not sure without seeing a service manual, but what you list is usually controlled with a BCM anymore inside the vehicle, with the PCM being a separate entity inside the engine bay, but as it’s a bit older this may not be the case or it’s in the engine bay as well. I’d try to find it’s location and if it got hit with any water. Dry thoroughly if it did.

As to the cable, yeah, degreaser and water = bad idea. These need greasing, and usually cleaning introduces more dirt in the sleeve, so it’s likely binding now. You can pull it and try to fix this, or just replace. Usually faster and easier to just replace.

[EricTheCarGuy]

I’m not a fan of cleaning engine bays for this very reason. That said, it does sound like an electrical issue, possibly a ground connection or a short somewhere. More information here.

http://www.ericthecarguy.com/faq/solving-automotive-electrical-problems

Keep us posted.

[David]

Heeey Guys, thanks for the replies 🙂

Soooo it would seem some silly-billy didn’t screw a ground wire in properly (least I think it was a ground. little wire screwed into side of car). Tightened the screw, installed battery and all seems ok (for now, need to do a test drive)

So, issue #1 and possibly #3 fixed. When I re-install accelerator cable, I’ll test #3 again.

#2.. nooo idea : . I removed the throttle cable (see pic attachment.), tried degrease the cable.. but no luck. I cannot make the thing budge at all.. it’s like it’s fused in there and won’t slide :

When I cleaned the engine, I only degreased in certain areas, but I know I didn’t go near the throttle cable, nor with the pressure washer. :

So at this stage, looks like im off to the wreckers for a new cable. By the looks of it, I can’t just change the cable itself, I’ll need everything in the picture??

Thanks again,

Attachments:

• throttlecable.jpg

[Wayne]

Yeah, not having a good frame ground will give you electrical gremlins.. Glad to hear you didn’t hose down the PCM or BCM.

As to the cable, yeah, they’re normally assemblies unless you have a rather ancient vehicle. As to why it’s bound up now, can’t be sure, but not directly hosing it, it’s still likely some dirt and various garbage got knocked into it, and likely had some previously that just wasn’t causing an issue yet. They also do tend to rust internally over time even with the coatings they get.

My old volkswagon beatle I had in the early 90s used to bind randomly. I actually had to turn the car off more than a few times to avoid a wreck, coast to a stop, pop the hood, fiddle with it to temporarily unbind it, then drive off again. Ah, to be 16 again…and that stupid (and broke).

[David]

UPDATE: So.. I purchased a new accelerator cable (about $65) and while I was there, the sales guy asked what happened with my original cable (seized), he told me the most common cause he’s seen is a poor ground connection somewhere (either engine block or chassis) can cause a current to make its way through the cable, heat the plastic shielding and cause it to bond with the cable, thus seizing :O … makes sense since I had the poor ground to the chassis.. go figure.

So, just need to install the cable, test drive 🙂 .. then hopefully all good.

[Wayne]

Good to hear..Ok, well, see. Thanks for the update, and the likely cause.

[Author]

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