Dead Area in Pedal

Hey guys,

Currently looking at trading in my WRX for a 3rd gen. WRX is getting too expensive to own and I want something for camping / off road adventures.

Anyway, I test drove a 2000 4 runner this weekend. It drove great and only has 130k miles. I noticed with the gas pedal that you could press it down like 1 inch without it doing anything. It felt loose for that first inch you pushed it down. After that it would actually start accelerating. That 1st inch didn’t even seem to be part of the throttle and the best way I can describe it is it felt loose.

Is this something normal with the 3rd gens or something that could be fixed? It didn’t bother me, just wanting to make sure everything’s solid before I buy it.

Thanks!

 

I'd wager it's something mechanical and not electrical. Might be the throttle cable is not snugged up. You'd have to find the play in the linkage between the throttle pedal and the TPS. I don't have any real play in mine but also not as precise as your WRX, I am sure.

Just an FYI, 4Runners are fairly cheap to fix and fairly easy to work on, but that's a 2 decade old car and things will start breaking.

Did you check the frame for rust? Northern 4Runners are notorious for rusted frames.

 

Haynes!

 

Well, the one I just bought this last March doesn't have that situation with the gas pedal. 1999 'Runner, 350,000 miles. Just getting broken in good BUT: mine's a MT 5 spd 4WD. If it matters. I don't know it does.
In any event, if I were to guess, which I am, I would say that maybe the PO replaced the throttle cable with an aftermarket item, that is about an inch too long. If not, it may be that the cable needs adjustment at one of the two, or both, ends. If it's aftermarket, personally, I would replace it with a OEM item. That would probably solve the problem right off the bat.

I would check the pedal's alignment, and make sure the cable is routed properly. The FSM doesn't have a lot of very good info on the routing of cables, but it's better than nothing. The write up on the pedal's alignment is very good, however. Might be something to look at.

Good luck!
Pat☺

 

Definitely sounds like the throttle cable needs to be adjusted. There's adjustments on both ends - at the pedal and at the throttle body. Believe it or not, these things can stretch a bit over time. After I adjusted mine, there was no dead space in the pedal.