accelerate! Or maybe not.

[markthe45king]

i think i may be getting paranoid - but roughly speaking at say 20 - 30 mph on a flat road - how long would you expect your car to keep a constant speed without touching the accelerator? i have just driven home across kingston at a steady speed without barely touching the accelerator, at times it was a bit like driving a bumper car. Obviously i need to accelerate to gather speed but in third gear and maintaining a steady 20 i was doing full streets!

When i pulled in home i have to stop and go into first to park and the revs seemed to go up when i put the clutch down to put her into gear (without me touching the throttle). She was fine yesterday. So am i just imagining things or should i be looking for a sticking throttle cable or something?

[bmcecosse]

Check the return spring urgently - it may be failing - which happened to me once in the outside lane of a motorway - passing a line of trucks with cars behind me..... No option but to keep going - the speedo was well round into the fuel gauge by the time I was past the trucks and able to pull onto the hard shoulder and switch off! But it could have happened somewhere much less convenient - and is the reason in motorsport that 2 return springs are required. Most likely it is a sticking cable - get a new one asap. As mentioned elsewhere, bicycle cable works well.........