Car trouble! Please help!?

Question

My car will all of the sudden start accelrating all by itself. I have to park and turn it off or I'm afraid it'll burn out. I'll be driving around and everything will be okay... and then all of the sudden it starts accelarating. If I'm on a highway or a street with no traffic I can put it into 5th gear and after a little while it will regulate itself and stop doing it... but if not... then I have to turn the car off, wait a little while and then it'll be okay. What couldbe causing this? and how can I fix it? should I take it to a mechanic? It usually happens if I'm in 1st or 2nd gear for too long or accelerate too much in 1st or 2nd. THANKS!!

I have a 1998 Fiat Punto XS

Answer 1

From your question, you have a standard and that's all I can tell. Your Idle Air Control (IAC) valve could be stuck or defective or an intermittent vacuum problem. Get it checked out before you hit someone.

Answer 2

If you have cruise control it may be getting a signal to turn on. Make sure the switch is in the off position. If you don't have cruise control your idle speed sensor could be bad or picking up a wrong signal or you could have a vaccum leak causing the idle speed sensor to increase the speed. The throttle speed sensor will act the same way.You can disconnect them and your engine will still run. By eliminating one at a time you will beable to start tracking down the problem. Also disconnect your criuse contrrol if you have one.

Fred M. Hunter
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Answer 3

Ok now punto is a funny car and a lot of them have a lot funny funny problem i think it sounds like a TPS sensor Throttle position sensor is heating up and gettin too hott what i would do is call your local autozone and find the component location pull it off have somebody drive you too autozone and have one of the fellows test it. get a new and install it and you will be smooth as silk and 9 out of 10 you wont have anymore problems

Answer 4

Get narrower shoes. You are inadvertently stepping on the accelerator sometimes when your foot is on the brake.

I drove a Daewoo for a couple of days and had this problem. Just before going insane, I figured this out in a parking lot. My shoes were too wide for the Korean spaced foot pedals.

Answer 5

depending on what the year is and if it has a carb or fuel injector, that info would help!!! If it is a fuel injected engine then it sounds like a throttle position sensor, about 15 to 45 dollars depending on the application. Some cars need to have the new one calibrated with a computer, so it may need to be taken to a shop. That would be my suggestion. more info and I might be able to help more!!! try e-mailing me

Answer 6

You need to take this in very soon. Have it towed. This is how accidents happen. I've heard of too many instances of this resulting in injury, death or property damage. One lady that had this happen drove at top speed at 140 m.p.h. across two states before she crashed into other cars and injured several other people. Lucky no one was killed.

Answer 7

There is an air leak somewhere, giving it air when you don't want to(giving it more air=adding more fuel) Fastest way is let a mechanic take a look. Probably a cracked rubber hose.

Answer 8

You have a computer problem or a module problem, both relatively inexpensive. You car problemis dangerous and will get you hurt eventually. Get to a mechanic asap.

Answer 9

Sounds like a Throttle position sensor. Pretty cheap to fix. You said it, it isn't safe so you need to take it in.

Answer 10

THE PROBLEM THAT YOU HAVE IS EITHER A BINDING THROTTLE LINKAGE , STICKING THROTTLE PLATE OR A BAD IDLE AIR CONTROL VALVE , THE T.P.S. IS A SENSOR THAT ONLY TELLS THE COMPUTER THE POSITION OF THE THROTTLE PLATE , IT DOES NOT INCREASE OR DECREASE IDLE , AND YES I AGREE THAT YOU SHOULD TAKE IT TO A GOOD REPAIR SHOP , AND HAVE IT CHECKED RIGHT AWAY !!!!!!!!!!