New experience for me: The Null Accelerator

[Crunch]

Two weeks ago I was coasting along through a residential neighborhood with my foot off the accelerator. When I got near the end of the neighborhood I pressed the accelerator, but nothing happened. The engine was idling at normal speed so I coasted to a stop sign and stopped. I ran the shift lever through all the gears then put it in park. Still no accelerator, but normal idle speed. I put the transmission in drive and coasted through the intersection and on to a side street, where I stopped and shut the engine off. I waited about 5 minutes, restarted and everything was back to normal. The problem hasn't returned since. A couple of times in the past I've notice that the engine seemed to stall as I coasted through a wide turn then accelerated on the back side, but it was only for a second and was fairly rare. This last time was a real incident. Anyone know what the cause and/or solution for this is, or is it even something to worry about? This is the first vehicle I've ever owned that didn't have a mechanical accelerator. If this happened in a fly-by-wire aircraft I would have been screwed.

 

[JimB1]

Search "throttle position sensor" and in next menu box select "search titles only".



That'll give good info for your question.

 

[SShafranko]

You have an APPS-Accelerator Pedal Position Sensor. Check to see if you have any codes. Auto Zone, Advanced Autoparts scan it for free and give you the results. It could be your APPS.

 

[Crunch]

Thanks for the clue-in. I haven't seen any codes light up on the dash, and haven't had a chance to get to an auto parts store or dealer to have them check it out. I knew it had to be something like a sensor or computer problem. What's funny is that even after I told my friends that the throttle isn't a mechanical throttle they kept suggesting that I check to see if the spring came unhooked. Haven't had the problem return for a few weeks, so after the ice melts I'll have it checked out.

 

[CPittman]

Almost certainly the APPS or "throttle position sensor". You can buy it from Cummins or from Dodge - the difference is that the part from Dodge is already calibrated on the bracket, you'll have to manually calibrate the part from Cummins. Have your buddy at the Dodge parts counter hook you up.



Good luck.