Intermittent gas pedal failure

About 11 months ago, my gas pedal momentarily stop working. I started the vehicle, put the vehicle in gear and rolled out of my driveway. As soon as I hit the street, I pressed the gas pedal and... nothing. Managed to get it safely back in front of my house to look everything over. Connector on the gas pedal was solidly connected and no damage to wiring. Restarted the vehicle, still nothing. About 5 minutes later, restarted the vehicle, gas pedal was working again.

Here we are 11 months later. I'm driving up a slight hill and the throttle just cuts out. I pull over to a safe spot, check the pedal, no obvious issues. Restart the vehicle, limp it to the gas station down the road. I noticed when i press the gas, the RPMs only to up maybe about 200-300 RPM. After sitting at the gas station for a bit, I restart the vehicle, gas pedal works again.

@jdm-v35 said he has this issue and replacing the pedal assembly solved the issue.

There are no codes. I also don't have anything like a pedal commander. Vehicle runs normally otherwise.

Have other people experienced this? Anything else I should diagnose before I spend money on a new pedal assembly?

 

To be safe I replaced both the gas pedal and the throttle body. No throttle response and no codes. This leads me to believe it was primarily the pedal because if there was a discrepancy between the pedal and the throttle body readings it would throw a code. If it just plain sees no throttle input it thinks the pedal is not being pressed. I just go way too far off grid to take a chance of either being bad. Gas pedal also seems to be a common failure on 4th gens.

 

If the ECM mistakenly senses the brake pedal is pressed, it cuts the throttle. Visually inspect the brake pedal switch for damage and looseness. Readjust brake pedal switch height per FSM.

 

Try to reset your battery...

 

Yikes! First time I’ve heard of this.

 

I made it home last night. The issue is happening this morning too. This affects cruise control as well. After I got it going again, I set cruise control once I was above 25mph. About two minutes later, the throttle cut out again.

Do you have a link to the FSM?

 

I found a copy of the FSM. I'm looking it over now.

https://youtu.be/Yjddrs5U1U4

Edit:
I did a quick test. I set the parking brake, put the vehicle in drive, hit both the gas and the brake. I can still rev the engine while the brake is depressed. Shouldn't this disable the throttle?

Edit 2:
I tested again with the vehicle in motion in an empty parking lot. If I'm moving with my foot on the gas and depress the brake, the throttle does cut out. Without releasing the brake, if I hit the gas again, it does give throttle. Or if I stay on the gas and release the brake, the throttle comes back.

With the issue I'm experiencing, the throttle cuts out until I restart the vehicle and possibly until some time passes. If I restart twice, waiting about 10s each, the throttle works again.

 

I think I'm going to order a new pedal travel sensor. Like @jdm-v35 said, if the throttle body was malfunctioning, there should be some codes. I'm assuming cruise control must rely on the sensor to function?

Maybe the sensor has been defective for a while, and sub-freezing temperatures reveals the issue. It was roughly 7°F overnight. The coldest so far for this winter. On my commute to work, the pedal stopped working several times, and I went back home instead. After the sun was out for a couple hours, the vehicle ran fine the rest of the day.

 

I own a 4Runner now, and used to have 19 frontier. Had to get TB replaced, I was under warranty. But they still gave me a bill. I mentioned something about California emissions warranty, and bill was free and under warranty. Dealer wanted $1390 for TB assembly

now, I don’t know if that is California specific, but I do live in Florida. A little backstory, service did misdiagnose a P0101 SEVERAL times, and wanted me to pay for throttle body. I brought the emissions warranty up, then it was free.

you wouldn’t believe what they changed out, and parts cannoned my previous truck. PCV valve, intake gaskets, brake check valve, new Ecm lol, and finally, a whole engine wiring harness. I fought them for 13 months, granted it was paid off, with 53k miles, but once I got the harness replaced, I sold it.

I will never buy a Nissan from that dealership again. And honestly a Nissan in general. I straight up told that sales manager why I should give you guys 40+ k on a new frontier, when I can get a 4Runner. Are you telling me it’s the better product? Honestly hand to god, he didn’t have a response and walked away. It’s

it’s a long story with that p0101 for me to trade in a paid off truck with 53k.

 

Mine happened under the same conditions!! cold winter, negatives daily with max 10F temp during the days. The throttle body was 280 so it was worth the piece of mind imo but I believe it was the pedal.

 

Not too expensive on The Rock: https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=8056780&cc=3443368&pt=5061&jsn=575

(Wells is owned by NGK)

 

Installed the new pedal today. It definitely feels more solid than the old one. It's subtle, but noticable. Now I just have to wait for a very cold night....

 

^Can always put the old gas pedal in the freezer for a few hours, then check the output per FSM. If the values are discrepant, then you've isolated the problem 100%.

Did you end up buying the WVE gas pedal or OEM?

 

I went with OEM. There was a dealer not far from me that offered a discount plus local pickup.

I'm not sure if the freezer gets cold enough. It was clos to 30°F degrees for a few days and I had no issues. Seems like the issue happens once the temp starts dropping below that.

The only thing I can think of is that somewhere there's a bad connection, like a broken/loose solder joint that contracts enough at those temps to break the connection.

 

^Typical freezers are 0-5 °F. Higher temps like 30 °F would be unsafe for meats lol.

 

Good to know lol. I never really questioned it. I assumed they were around high 20s.