Seen that before. It's an old mechanic's "quick and dirty" trick for playing with the idle when you don't want to screw with the settings. Given the fact that the computer will try to compensate for any external adjustment you make, adding a spacer to open the throttle blade provides a way around it.

I've often done that with street/strip cars - get it all built, then tell them they need a dime/penny/nickel to make it idle on the street (pull the coin for strip use) because it's got such a lumpy bumpstick in it.

It used to be more common than you think - twenty years ago.

In fact, my old Bug used to flip the throttle blade over on the old Stromberg (before I split the intake and went with dual Mikuni side-draughts.) The fix? I brazed a penny to the throttle linkage to make the end bigger so it couldn't flip over anymore. Put it between the linkage and the spring - made the spring a little snappier, and didn't change the idle either.

Went to the Mikunis because they were more reliable and I could build them in my sleep

lol

WAIT, I GOT IT............ CRUISE CONTROL !!!! HA !!!!

Funny you should mention that- I DID act like cruise control from time to time. Take your foot off the accelerator, and it would stay right where you left it! Not too bad, except most of my driving is around town. Rather inconvenient for stop-and-go driving . It's a good thing that this Jeep has a manual transmission- A similar problem in a Auto could have been a disaster at the wrong time!

I figured it was a shim of some kind- except the location that it was in didn't really do a lot of good. It was UNDER the return spring, so it didn't actually increase the idle in any way, unless it got jammed. So, Perhaps it was put somewhere else, then fell where it is now. Or, possibly whoever put it there read something or "heard from a buddy" that if you wedge a penny in there, something magic will happen, and they tried it.

Whyever it was there in the first place, it's gone now- And it's running a LOT Better... I discovered the source of that bit of hesitation I used to have

How's your throttle response on letup? It could have been put in to "make the spring stiffer" - when replacement would be a far better option (I can see doing it as a "street idle" thing on a motor with a lumpy bumpstick, but if the spring is getting weak just replace the damned thing! There's a fine line between "tuning tricks" and "Afro-engineering," y'ask me...

But, if your throttle letup is slow (instead of fairly crisp, like it should be,) you may need to replace or augment the spring. If it uses the fine-wire torsion spring, you can get a light-duty tension spring from the hardware store to kick it up. Measure the distance between chosen anchors when closed, and again when open. Get a spring that will handle the "open" extension, but will want to be slightly shorter at rest than the "closed" extension.

Chosen anchors? Yeah - pick a spot (probably where you can drill a hole) in the throttle pivot arm and in a convenient braket on the throttle body.

Sometimes, the OEM replacement spring can be a pi$$er to find...

Had a dude bring in a car for electrical problem.. would short out new fuse every now and then...
took to lota places.. nobody found it... took me all of about 10 sec... was pure luck kinda.. but.. when he said all his accecories would go out.. radio dome and cig lighters... was a older car ...for get what year.. but anyway.. I eyeballed around the car front then rear.. and just happen to pop open ashtray on center console...in the rear.. and there was a penny .. in the lighter... :} was luck.. but it did fix it.. lol

Outstanding.

I have found alot of money inside of car that I have bought but I have never seen money in the engine compartment. The best thing I ever found in my jeep's engine compartment was one of thoes extendable magnet things, it was stuck on the fire wall, right below the brake booster.

What are the odds that the penny was kicked up while driving and somehow worked its way to the throttle assembly?

this whole thread is a bunch of laughs!

Actually, the throttle response is MUCH better now that the penny is gone!


I have been through most of the vehicle with a fine toothed comb- As the prior owner(s) liked to do their own work, and did a bit of jury rigging here and there. The electrical system was the worst part of it all- A few things had gone out here and there, so they went in and 'rewired' some of it... The heater blower switch in the dash stopped working, so they added a new switch- No fuse, though- Just an alligator clip on the battery positive terminal and a run of wire through the engine compartment. Nice.

I rewired it through the fuse panel, using the same fuse that the 'real' switch would have used. It took me a whole 15 minutes, and is obviously MUCH safer than the other way...

I still can't figure out why the rear window washer pump runs when you turn the headlights on! But, disconnecting the wire to the pump 'solved' that problem.

I suppose that the goal is to keep the inside of your Jeep from looking like this-



That's what happens when you DON'T use fuses!

-Andrew

Was the penny heads-up? Good luck!

Nice! Misinstalled radio?

I have never liked even seeing half-assed electrical repair (or half-assed any repair, to be perfectly honest.) I've been told that my kludge jobs have been better than others' best efforts - but I'm cranky that way.

A 'gator clip for battery attachement for a high-current draw? Cripes - what were they smoking, and where can I get some?!?

Heh, I'm glad I'm not the only one who ever did that! There's a lucky silver dollar in the throttle of my Volvo 240!

How the hell could a radio do that? Mine are always wired directly to the battery (I like that, lets me keep it on when the car is off) and nothing like that ever happened! I would be more inclined to call it a heater malfunction...

I bet the sensor that controls the idle was bad. What is it called? Throttle position sensor? I bet it was idling too low and he put that in there to raise the idle a couple hundred RPM's instead of buying a new TPS
clint