Gas Pedal Hanging PSA

At Yesterday's NTAXS event my 2002 Miata was acting weird.

On my final run I ran the first slalom and it felt like the throttle hung just a touch at the end of it. Blamed it on my mediocre driving and kept going.

Then it hung again as I was going down the center of the course the gas pedal stayed on the floor which lead to my DNF run since I could not keep the car on course since I should have been off the gas but the car was still on the gas.

Thoughts of eating the fence flashed in my head and I depressed the clutch and kicked the gas pedal which came loose. I completed the course but I know it wasn't pretty since I was still trying to process what just happened.

This scared the crap out of me and made me mad at the same time.

I always try and make sure the car is ready for an event. But the gas pedal hanging in the carpet wasn't on my check list. It is now. I'll try and post a picture of the little cut in the carpet in the morning that caused my issue. I've had 3 Miatas before this one and this is the first one to have this issue.

A little googling lead to this post - https://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.php?t=462489

First I've ever heard of that issue. Good find.

+1

This bending of the pedal seems like something we all should do.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/oh0146vs55...26.40.jpg?dl=1

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7e7zydqw6b...25.57.jpg?dl=1

That damn near invisible mark it the carpet grabbed the lip of my accelerator pedal and held it to the floor and some poo came out. ::turd::

Barely broke the backing of the carpet....

https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5dtf3pcm4...46.11.jpg?dl=1

Is there left-to-right play in the peddle?

Barney concurs: Attachment 7125

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Originally Posted by sammm

Is there left-to-right play in the peddle?

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Not that I can tell.

^Interesting...that would mean the carpet's moving?

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Originally Posted by sammm

^Interesting...that would mean the carpet's moving?

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The Floor below the pedal isn't flat. So when you mash the gas it touches harder on one spot on the carpet when the carpet break through the pedal stays hung in the carpet.

I see.

So are you going to bend your pedal up or do something else?

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Originally Posted by itsnota911

So are you going to bend your pedal up or do something else?

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I'm going to ignore the problem and act like it never happened. ;-)

Honestly I don't have a solution - Yet.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sammm

Is there left-to-right play in the peddle?

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Grabbed the gas pedal to see if I could bend it toward the brake pedal - the arm flexes side to side more than I expected!
With a lever, I was able to bend the arm towards the brake about 1/2 inch.


I blame the PO!

You guys should pay attention when you're not running. A couple of seasons ago this happened in the Bus Lot to a green NB. (Can't remember the guys name.) It stuck WOT and he was doing a great impersonation of that Cobra kit car at Texas Metroplex Drag strip the one time we AXed there. He finally killed it, and I think he diagnosed it before anyone else arrived. He told me the thing that freaked him out was he couldn't steer the car. 'It was pushin' like a dump truck' as Ol' DW would say.
Common problem for fast NBs. I ain't too worried.

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Originally Posted by POS Racing

I'm going to ignore the problem and act like it never happened. ;-)

Honestly I don't have a solution - Yet.

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Duct tape.

If I recall Wagner and I both had it happen on the NB. Sticking your head in the sand will not help. Back in the day tech use to look for signs of a hole being made in the carpet. The solution is not that hard. You might pm Wagner and see if he has a good solution. I just don't remember. Think I did the bend fix.

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Originally Posted by wrx74

With a lever, I was able to bend the arm towards the brake about 1/2 inch.


I blame the PO!

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The garage was on fire, not the car!

It happened to me at a Mineral Wells AutoX. Razor knife and no more carpet under the gas pedal.

My NB had the same problem. I always had to put the floor mat back in after tech.

I don't autocross, but this started to happen to me so I bent the pedal up about a year ago. 6 months ago, it was doing it again and I noticed the pedal bent back up much easier that time. Pretty sure the pedal arm is weakened so I ordered a new gas pedal from Mazda and I'm pretty sure it was like $20, and it's on the list of things to replace while my engine is out.

I'm no welder, but I bet the arm can be significantly strengthened by welding on a couple .125" steel strips on whatever section is bending the worst.