Itinerant Air-Cooled

The accelerator pedal on my '78 Westy had gotten quite stiff and sticky again. I had fully greased the cable not too long ago so I was surprised by this development. I was planning to pull out the cable and grease it again when the thought struck me that maybe the spring mechanism on the throttle shaft might be a contributor. I gave it a WD40 "bath" and was surprised by the amount of dirt and grit that rinsed off. Either that dirt was impeding the winding and unwinding of the spring on the throttle shaft or some of the WD40 got down into the shaft bushing, but the end result is a light and easy-to-press accelerator. We'll see how long it lasts, but I thought I'd pass it along.

wd40 makes a good general purpose cleaner but not a long acting lubricant. Blasting that area with compressed air (protect your eyes) then a WD40 bath again, and maybe a little grease rubbed into the pivot points will help it. There are also some pivot points under the floor where the cable goes that need a little grease. As you go thru your bus and you do small jobs like this, you'll find that it goes a long way to a pleasant running bus.

Very true, what sgkent said. "WD" stands for "water displacement", which is what it is really good for. It is a rather inferior lubricant, but they don't tell you that, as they are quite happy with selling tons of the stuff to folks who think it lubricates. Grease or a real spray "lubricant".

It does lubricate, perhaps not well or for very long as you stated. According to the product information on their web site: "WD-40®'s lubricating ingredients are widely dispersed and hold firmly to all moving parts." In this application, I prefer a light lubricant that will not attract and retain airborne dust and debris as grease or even light oil would.

Has anyone tried the "Dry Lubricant" spray for places like this? I know Liquid Wrench makes a version; it's usually on the shelf next to the spray-on white lithium grease.

Robbie

asiab3 wrote:Has anyone tried the "Dry Lubricant" spray for places like this? I know Liquid Wrench makes a version; it's usually on the shelf next to the spray-on white lithium grease.

Robbie

I have sticky late bus throttle syndrome. I have optimized accelerator cable, pedal, etc, but first press of the morning is always sticky. I have seen some throttle plates actually bind against the wall of the throttle body. I don't think there is an actual stop for these things.
Will get back to you after I go in to polish things a bit.
Colin

I have had success by adding an extra spring underneath the floor of the pedal...a well-directed/angled spring and trimmed to the right tension....this helps return the pedal to full and upright position with the right amount of snap.
Also in the past i have added a spring to the throttle plate mechanism...once again, the angle of the dangle and just the right amount of spring tension will relieve stickyness

I cannot believe how much more pleasurable the Bus is to drive with smooth, light accelerator action. And i never would have guessed it was so easy to fix!

Colin, spray down and lube the clockspring and mechanism on the top of the throttle shaft!

vwlover77 wrote:
Colin, spray down and lube the clockspring and mechanism on the top of the throttle shaft!

I did:
October 12, 2015
November 22, 2015
February 6, 2016
April 17, 2016
May 4, 2016
June 30, 2016
July 13, 2016
August 9, 2016
August 21, 2016
September 12, 2016
October 5, 2016

. . . still have that sticky feeling first press in the morning.
Colin