WOT

Wide Open Throttle....

Normally, WOT is an exhilarating experience, and the more powerful the car, the better the feeling. The other day however wasn't exactly exhilarating. Fortunate for me though, it was an experience I had been through before, a time when my panic level was much higher, so this time around I handled the situation much more calmly.

The girlfriend and I were heading back from getting groceries, and I was merging onto I-94. I always love coming off the on ramps hard and fast, ready to merge into traffic with ease with speed to spare. I figure I was probably at about 80 mph by the time I exiting the curve and entered the freeway, plenty of speed to merge, so I let off the accelerator. Only probably, the accelerator stayed to the floor, and the speedometer needle continued to climb. Hmmm...I though the under dash panel seemed a little lower than normal when it bumped the tip of my tow the other day. Would have been wise to investigate it further I guess, but that was then and this was now. Without panicking, I shifted up into neutral so my speed didn't continue to climb, hit the pedal a few times, then shifted back into drive before the engine over revved, yet still the pedal was stuck. At this point my girlfriend looked at me and asked "What's wrong?" to which I could only respond "The gas pedal seems to be stuck," still remaining calm. After a few attempts, I managed to dislodge the pedal and all was back to normal.

I never broke a sweat this time, as I knew the problem, and had a good idea how to fix it. If not, I had a backup plan to bring the car to a stop safely at the side of the road. I say "this time," as this almost identical incident happened about 5 or 6 years ago, though with my Camaro which had twice the horse power and a ton more acceleration. That time, the firewall fitting for my throttle cable had worn a groove in it, and when I slammed the pedal to the floor, that groove managed to pinch the cable, holding the car at wide open throttle. Now, talk about a panic! Cruising down the freeway at speeds of 70+ mph is one thing, being stuck at wide open throttle when you intended to just punch the throttle to get up to speed on a 35 mph road with heavy traffic is much different. That time, I killed the ignition and coasted to a stop in the first available parking lot. Being behind the wheel of a 500 hp car stuck at WOT ain't no joke, and it's amazing how quickly your mind is able to comprehend the problem at hand.

A bit ago I got under the dash, looked at the situation, then found the stud in which the panel is suppose to be secured to and proceeded to secure it. Problem solved, and hopefully I won't have to worry about another stuck throttle any time soon, as two in a lifetime is more than enough for me.