Ok, it finally happened, I am faced with something I have never seen before. Now, we are all familiar with the stories of the lady in a minivan (why is it always a minivan?) who can't stop her van from accelerating, right?

Yesterday, after having rear tires put on (went with Hanooks in Gary and Kim's wider version, again), I drove to the mountains to walk. On two curves, it SEEMED like the car was "dizzy" or sliding. What the hell is this? But later, it would occur to me what was going on...


I had left the car parked for ten minutes when I started it and headed down hill in TIGHT curves. It SEEMED like it was accelerating at times. I THOUGHT I had hit the cruise lever by mistake. So, the second time I felt it, I pushed the clutch in - the tach went to 4K and sat there about 5 seconds and then went to idle. The next time it went to 4K I tapped the pedal and it settled to idle. It kept doing this over and over - one time, with the clutch in, it went past 4 to 5 and I turned the key off! Turning the key on and letting the clutch out, of course, started the engine and I was down the hill. I was about out of gas, so I filled it up at the station at the bottom of the hill. All ok all the way home (about 40 miles). I'm thinking the throttle position sensor at the pedal is at fault.

It was not until I got home that it occurred to me -DUH!!!! I can set the Ultragauge to display the throttle position the ECM is getting - if it rises during these times, I know it's the TPI. But if it doesn't, then it goes back to the ECM, I guess?


I don't remember ANYONE ever experiencing this - am I right? Did I just encounter a new (to us on the forum, anyway) problem? Anyway, the Ultragauge is set to display throttle position percent... we'll see.

Oh, and I have no CEL, no codes and no pending codes - per the Ultragauge.