this may be a dumb question but how do i know if your throttle cable has a lot of slack? its a 1994, would you think it would have a lot of slack? i mean its a 13 year old truck. and what shall i expect if it were to be fixed? thanks.

 

If it has a throttle position sensor all you have to do is take it to someone who has a code reader that can interface with your onboard computer and you should be able to see throttle %. I used my dad's snap on code reader on my 98 and it shows some neat stuff I didn't even know was in there.

 

What makes you think there's a problem?

 

A quick diagnostic procedure would be:

• Crawl underneath your dashboard so that you can see the top of the throttle pedal.
• Pull the cable out away from the firewall until you feel the throttle body grab.
• Place a zip-tie in the slack portion to keep the slack out.
• Take it for a test drive and you'll feel the effects immediately!

 

well reelfishin ive drove a i believe 98 ranger with the 3.0 and it seemed to run a little bit more quicker than mine which is a 94, also needforspeed3685 i did look under the dash and i saw a spring on a little wire (cable i suppose?) also my gas pedal (i dont know if this is on everyones truck but its very loose, like i can bring the pedal up like an inch and it will drop quickly and also it seems like i kind of have to mash the pedal a little to get up to speed and i know its a 3.0 but still the 98 was very very "responsive" when i hit the pedal. this may seem like a dumb observation but if anyone could help me out that would be great.like i said its a 13 year old truck so is it more than likely to have some slack? thanks again.

 

The slack you observed and the play in the throttle pedal is due to a stretched throttle cable. Go back under the dash and put a zip tie right after that spring towards the end of the cable. This will hold the cable taught and will also keep the pedal in that "up" position.