Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

Hey all, i'm looking at replacing my Throttle cable for two reasons, 1. it's pretty badly stripped at the threaded part where it get's tightened with the lock-nuts on top of the Inject Pump and 2. the actual wire inside the cable does not retract back into the cable jacket when the throttle is opened up. It looks to me like this could be a problem if the cable got caught or tangled up on a piece of metal while I was driving it. It seems to drive okay, and the cable is not cheap so if this is an acceptable condition for the cable i'll leave it for a bit because shocks and tires are my next big thing.
I've had a good look around the cable itself and it does not look that hard but as we all know, looks can be deceiving and just wanted to ask the advice of the experts.

I've removed and reinstalled my cable, it's a pain to do with a million attachment points but not particularly difficult.

I don't quite understand the not retracting bit. You mean that at idle the cable is really loose at the injection pump with too much free play? I would think that would cause your accelerator pedal to be all floppy. Of course the way to adjust the free play is to use those stripped locknuts... (Mine were also in pretty bad shape, I replaced the locknuts with full size nuts to grip more of the thread, and then used thread lock compound.)

Or is the inner cable not moving freely? It might be frayed internally, in which case definitely replace it, but I'd think you'd feel that at the pedal.

Growlerbearnz wrote:I've removed and reinstalled my cable, it's a pain to do with a million attachment points but not particularly difficult.

I don't quite understand the not retracting bit. You mean that at idle the cable is really loose at the injection pump with too much free play? I would think that would cause your accelerator pedal to be all floppy. Of course the way to adjust the free play is to use those stripped locknuts... (Mine were also in pretty bad shape, I replaced the locknuts with full size nuts to grip more of the thread, and then used thread lock compound.)

Or is the inner cable not moving freely? It might be frayed internally, in which case definitely replace it, but I'd think you'd feel that at the pedal.

Hey GB, look at this photo See how the braided metal line bunches instead of retracting into the sleeve? Is this normal? it also looks torn sideways through the rubber boot/cap at the tip of the outer cable. I don't seem to feel it at the pedal, but because of the stripped threads at the adjustment area of the cable I'm wary of it. Am I making it a bigger problem than it is?

Yup. What Mr. Shoe says. The cable bunches like that because it's connected to the accelerator pedal at the other end, and the pedal isn't moving. It won't retract into the sleeve because it has nowhere to go.

As long as it doesn't do that when you push the pedal, and the pedal doesn't feel like it's binding or stiff, you're fine.

TieMyShoe wrote:The throttle cable is designed to be under tension not compression. Cracking the throttle like that won't really tell you much of anything. If the you can feel stiffness in the throttle, of it seems to hang then you have an issue.. otherwise I wouldn't worry to much about it unless the stripped threads are causing the throttle cable to face the wrong angle.

side note, I see no stripped threads?

Thanks Tiemyshoe, I was sitting here trying to remember if I had seen it do it when I was running the engine with the engine open. I concluded that I had not seen it bunch, which fits your answer. The part where the threads are worn out is on the other side of that nut in the photo.

Thanks GB, I think i'll give some thread locker a try. It beats buying a new cable. I have 10 weeks to get the Deli ready for a trip down to Florida for my sister in-laws wedding. Breaking down with my wife and kids and all my wife's family watching is not on my list of things to do on this trip.
That was the last trip