Today’s Obscure Maintenance Requirement – Throttle Pedal Lubrication!

Today’s Obscure Maintenance Requirement – Throttle Pedal Lubrication!

One of the reasons why I continue to visit this website over the years is that it seems like there’s always some new small quirk to learn from our fellow owners about our cars.

For a number of years I’ve noted that my throttle pedal has a minor “squeak” noise when depressed to a certain point, near its mid-travel. Nothing too serious, I simply chalked it up to one of those random quirks associated with a 30+ year old car and did not dwell upon it.

Then, a month or so ago I happened to note this thread: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=338038

The pictures which accompanied this thread showed a series of roller bearings associated with the throttle pedal mechanism. Who knew these bearings were there?

Over the past weekend I unfastened the under chassis access panel plate and then removed the throttle pedal mechanism. Disassembly of the mechanism on the work bench showed it to be filled with dirt (understandable, given its location). However, the most important observation was that each of the four (4) roller bearings was bone dry.

A thorough cleaning, fresh lubrication, and reassembly have set this one to right, and as expected, no more squeaks. Sorry, no pictures to post of my R&R work, but the pics in the aforementioned thread already show the tale quite well. And, most important, the pedal mechanism now moves MUCH easier than ever before.

Several overall comments:

a) I’d be willing to bet that very few owners have actually done this easy maintenance project. And I’d also bet that almost all of you have throttle mechanisms which are dry, binding, and are well overdue to be lubricated like mine was.

b) Major credit due to Ferrari for designing this mechanism to accept roller bearings in the first place. I was –very- surprised when I first saw the pictures in the old thread noted above, as I certainly would have anticipated that some simple sleeve bearings would have been used here, rather than the more expensive (relatively speaking) roller bearings.

c) Thanks to the easy access from the underside via the removable access plate, this is an easy one-hour job, start to finish, and one which is quite self-satisfying to put right.

So, if you are reading this and you’ve never done any throttle pedal maintenance work ( … a pretty fair bet, I’d suppose), be certain to add this small project to your winter “To Do” list!

Thanks and Cheers - DM