Hello, I'm really hoping somebody can kindly help me with this. I googled and was not able to find anything

Recently, about 1 out of 10 times when the car is started, the throttle seems to stick. When the gas pedal is pressed, the RPM's will stay up for 4-5 seconds after the gas pedal is a released. This happens in park, neutral, drive...

It's really dangerous. Literally the car will continue accelerating in drive at full RPM for 5 seconds if you press the gas for half a second...

If I turn off the car and turn it back on again, the issue seems to go away. 50/50 chance

Any ideas

Before getting too technical - floor mat (!)

I've had sticking accelerators because of a poorly positioned floor mat before

__________________
1992 W201 190E 1.8 171,000 km - Daily driver
1981 W123 300D ~ 100,000 miles / 160,000 km - project car stripped to the bone
1965 Land Rover Series 2a Station Wagon CIS recovery therapy!
1961 Volvo PV544 Bare metal rat rod-ish thing

I'm here to chat about cars and to help others - I'm not here "to always be right" like an internet warrior



Don't leave that there - I'll take it to bits!

Does the pedal move freely? Make sure the linkage/cable is lubricated well!

__________________
-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

First check floor mat as Stretch says. Next is as pawoSD says.

The Heim joints (ball and socket) in your throttle linkage are not intended to be maintenance-free. ONE AT A TIME pop each apart using a flat screwdriver. Clean with a rag, smear a little lubricant on them and squeeze back together. FSM says to use tranny fluid but anything slippery will work fine. I use a waterproof white lithium grease. Some will go back together easily and others may need some help from pliers.
Do this at least once/year.

If this does not fix your problem, you have a more complicated fuel management issue.

Please report your results back to us as it helps others with similar problems.

The reason you use tranny fluid is so they do not accumulate dirt like they would with any sort of grease

Thanks. I always wondered about that.

Doesn’t the 92-93 500SEL have an electronic throttle actuator?

The engine harness might be acting up. I know ETAs act up.

Sixto
98 E320s sedan and wagon
02 C320 wagon