What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

[robert]

i have a 98 pontiac firebird 5-speed manual with 100.300miles im currently getting 19mpg and the car is in good conditon with no major problems
the issue im running into is my pedal is very HEAVY and TIGHT almost hard to push down even on a full tank of gas. what can this mean? bad or good? sometimes it will loosen up and it wont be that heavy but most of the time its hard to push.

please give advice

thanks
rob

[Blizzard242]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

Maybe you need to lube the spring at the TB.

[robert]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

thats what i was thinking cause its really rusted. how much would it cost to replace those cables and the spring at the throtle body?

[tampabud]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

also pull the boot off ot the throttle body. and look at the inside to see if you have alot of carbon built up. if so clean it out with a good carb cleaner.

[hockeyman]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

Your TB probably needs a good cleaning. Not the spray type, I mean total removal and disassembly.

[robert]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

Your TB probably needs a good cleaning. Not the spray type, I mean total removal and disassembly.

how hard is it to remove and did dissasemble?
also when removing how do you take off the spring for the accelerator or can you just leave it on

[venom3300]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

ya def sounds like ur throttle body sticking.... we had a 97 chevy van with similar problems, and it was the TB

[hockeyman]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

how hard is it to remove and did dissasemble?
also when removing how do you take off the spring for the accelerator or can you just leave it on

I had taken mine apart a few times and cleaned it...when I had it. It wasn't hard at all, and yes, I removed the throttle springs too.

Basically, I removed the TB, stripped everything off of it until it was down to the bare skeleton, then soaked the skeleton and all other metal parts in a bucket of warm water and about 1 cup of Castrol Superclean Degreaser. Soaked for a while, then removed and scrubbed everywhere with an old toothbrush to remove all of the carbon buildup. You can also use a Pipe Cleaner to get into the really hard area's.

Do not soak any of the sensors in this solution! Instead, dip the toothbrush into the solution and lightly scrub the exposed area of the IAC. The TPS shouldn't need cleaning because it doesn't come into contact with any airflow/carbon buildup in the intake.

Rebuild everything and rub a little bit of motor oil onto the springs before reinstalling. I'd recommend WD-40, but it's a bit too thin and doesn't last that long.

Cleaning the MAF is at your own risk. Have I done it? Yes, but it isn't recommended. I used a Electrical Sensor Cleaner, and very lightly sprayed it onto the ~very fragile~ sensor.

One more thing; *Wear rubber gloves when working with any type of degreasing / cleaning solution!

If you have any issues, PM me or ask here on the board.

Good luck:D

[StrtRacer98]

Re: What Can A Heavy Pedal Mean?

Also, heres a write-up I did a few years ago on cleaning the TB. It's helped alot of people, Pretty easy to do and makes a pretty big difference.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2197072/6