My accelerator linkage has always had an awful lot of "free play" in it. I can press the accelerator pedal down at least one inch without raising the RPM level of the engine above idle. Although lots of linkage rods are moving, it appears none of them are actually doing anything. At about 1 inch of downward movement on the accelerator pedal, the rod to the injection pump (I believe) starts to move and the RPMs increase and the engine revs up fine. The car starts and runs fine--has "good" pickup for a diesel and I'm perfectly happy with city and highway performance.

However, I would like to get quicker throttle response to movement of the accelerator pedal. It appears to me that adjusting the various linkage rods could help, but I'm concerned with the size of adjustment necessary. The car has never had any serious work (205K miles) and it doesn't seem plausible that normal wear and tear could cause this excessive slop. Before I do something foolish, can anyone tell me if this kind of "sloppy linkage" is by design and should be left alone?

I see a single threaded rod near the firewall where the main linkage originates. I am tempted to take up slack there, so I won't have to fool with the multiple linkage rods on top of the valve cover. That would be easy to undo if for some reason it adversely affected performance. Anybody have any suggestions or cautions? Thanks, John Downey