Throttle linkage went to "cruise control mode" ;)

[thornado327i]

So I'm driving home from my uncle's place (app. 60miles), and after just few miles my car started going by itself - felt like I had cruise control - you let go of the gas pedal, and the car keeps its speed - funny.

Being a clever guy I found a place to pull over, to check WTF is going on before it would brake on the road. I discovered throttle cable housing to break just by the firewall, causing the cable to bend an get stuck at one point.

After toying with it for a while it broke (must have been bent for quite a time).

And so I'm stuck in some sort of village with the problem.

Sure - my uncle has some parts, BUT since he always makes fun of me having a 20yo car, that would be the last thing to do.

Then spotted couple of guys on quad bikes having a meeting of some sort. So I went up and asked whether they had a steel cable of some sort. One of them went home and brought me a broken motorcycle clutch wire - was broken at one end and had a perfect stop at the other.

I asked him for a nut and bolt to make the stop at the other end. Having that, I ripped the cable housing out, run the clutch cable, wrapped it around the gas pedal lever, and used bolt and nut to make a stop.

Got home no problem.

Went from "damn car! I hate you!" mood to "I love you for your simplicity" mood.


Just a story to share ;)

[accident]

bravo sir.

[dashboardmonkey]

Ingenuity is a must when owning an E30

[reccaoconnor]

Ingenuity is a must when owning an E30

i hear mcguyver learned the tricks of his trade from owning an e30.

[AndrewBird]

Very nice.

On my MG once, I lost the center carbon rod out of the distributor cap. Ended up cutting a piece of throttle cable housing and using that in it's place. Worked good and got me home.

[Naplm00]

check out my old thread about this same shit

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=128987

my suggestion is replace the whole cable assembly, its only 20 USD

[BillBrasky]

Then spotted couple of guys on quad bikes having a meeting of some sort.

They were probably changing a bulb.

[thornado327i]

check out my old thread about this same shit

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=128987

Yeah! I searched for similiar problems and found it - thumbs up for creativity!

my suggestion is replace the whole cable assembly, its only 20 USD

Done. But now I miss my ghetto cable fix ;)

[Dillinger]

Very cool, MacGyver tricks. I drove one home on kite string run up under the hood and through the window once.

[Franken30]

^brilliant fix --- LMAO. Kite string. Man - I bet that thing "flew" after that. : o )

[thedeal]

I had a similar issue on my e30.

My throttle cable was literally on its last threads so i replaced it. While replacing it the clip that holds the cable to the throttle linkage must have cracked. Couple hours later I lose all power, Plastic clip (bearing as BMW parts calls it) is totally missing. I take out an old library card, cut it to the right shape, punch a hole in it and cut a slit from the hole to the edge of the card. I slip it over the throttle cable, with the tension from the cable and a bit of JB weld, it ran. Used it for a week until I had the time to pick up a new part. MacGuyver skills to the rescue!