Accelerator cable stuck please help!

Hey all, So I have a 1998 996 C2 convertible tiptronic which is a bit of a rolling project car. It has been parked up for a few weeks while I have been doing other bits on it and preparing to move house in 2 weeks. Anyway I went out today to change the oil, it started up fine but the accelerator is stuck so I can only slowly roll back and forth, not great when I need to drive it to the new house in 2 weeks time !! I took the accelerator pedal out and took it apart and that all seems fine (thanks very much to all the great posts on here for that one) i can pull the cable from the accelerator a small amount but notthing moves on the throttle body. Disconnected the cable from the throttle body and the cable won't budge at all ( the throttle body moves fine). So I guess the cable is stuck somewhere. I believe it is a early drive by cable rather than Egas. So next place I guess to look is in the accelerator cable housing connector but not sure where to look for this? Can anyone point it out on a picture for me please? Oh it's a RHD car if that changes this too Really need to get this srted so i can move it into a new house cheers Loz

Hopefully you can get to the sheath and lube inside and force it down into the cable. Is the throttle body butterfly moving? If it�s the cable that�s frayed or corroded, it may be a good idea to replace it. If it gets stuck at any throttle position it�s going to be a problem.

I would look at the accelerator pedal cable union located on the side of the transmission, disconnect the front and rear cables there and ensure each one moves when you depress the accelerator pedal and open the throttle body butterfly respectively. One of those two cable is hung up and this will identify it for you.

I got the mental image of someone posting this as they were hurtling down the highway at an uncontrolled speed. Way to channel your inner Gen-Z.

Quotes source posts: 18014302, 18014359

I will check this out when i get home today, hopefully i can get the car jacked up enough to get under it (currently live on a hill with a gravel drive so will probably have to drive it onto some blocks) Great excuse for a speeding ticket "sorry officer my accelerator cable was stuck down I had to do 120!!"

Whatever you do, make sure the car is FULLY supported with jackstands, and a jack, and maybe even a spare tire for good measure. You don't want to be wearing a 996, they are not part of the spring fashion collection! Once you get under there look for the cable union, should have a rubber cover, on the side of your transmission. Mine was on the side opposite the shift linkage, but my car is a left hand drive. Anyway, slide back the rubber cover to uncover the union and disconnect one cable at a time and make sure it moves freely in it's sheath. Good time to throw some lube into the cable sheath while your are in there. Best of luck and BE SAFE!!!

Thanks for all the advice i managed to get the car up on a few large stone tiles by creeping back n forth just using the idle movement and scraping some of the gravel away underneath to allow me to craw underneath Found the junction and found that it was the cable from here to the throttle body that was stuck and a few good pulls from each end has freed it up, enough to drive it but I guess I should replace it with a new one to avoid this happening again. Is it easy enough to replace this cable? I guess unclipped from the throttle body and the junction box and pull our?? Cheers

Yes, once you have the cable disconnected from the throttle body and union, should just pull out from either direction, however, I would make sure to snake the new one in through the same path as the old one, maybe even snake the new one in beside the old one before removing the old one to make sure the path is correct.

When I undo the throttle cable from the throttle body, I undo the cable end and shoot some cable lube done the cable. I do that at least 4 or 5 times. Has worked for 23 years.

Now I an really happy my MY 2000 Carrera has Drive by E-Gas - rather than Drive by Cable... Sorry, just could not pass up this little poke at the MY 99 is Best club.

Check where the end of the cable enters into the throttle pedel box. It sometimes slips outside of the plastic female end of the throttle pedal box when reinstalling, which makes the cable seize.