[06ToplessGT]

Ok, bear with me here as these are going to be some pretty rough analogies.

I've noticed that when I first depress the gas pedal I feel just a little bit of a dead spot at the very top of the action. It's probably only about a 1/4 inch or so of play, but it's just enough that I can tell the pedal is moving down a bit but there is no throttle response. After I pass that first 1/4 inch the car reacts as if I've jumped right to that spot in the action and the RPMs start climbing.

If we were to use percentages I would say it's almost like the first 5% of the pedal action has no input, and then 6% onward is working normally. But because of this there is no gently acceleration from 0% to 6%. Does that even make sense? You can probably get an idea of what I'm talking about if you sit in your car and lightly rest your foot on the gas pedal. When I first got my car I would feel a throttle response with just the weight of my foot resting against the pedal, but now it takes a deliberate press of the pedal to get some response.

Is this something anyone else has noticed? Or maybe this is just the way it is meant to behave? I've made some changes to my car lately and I didn't know if it was possible that any of these could affect something like the throttle response.

It kind of reminds me when I used to work on paintball markers and I would swap from one that had the sensetivity tuned all the way up to one the was stock. On the tuned one just resting your finger on the trigger could result in a shot, while the stock one you would have to make a deliberate pull to fire.

Am I crazy here, or has anyone else ever noticed this?

[Dana W]

Originally Posted by 06ToplessGT

Ok, bear with me here as these are going to be some pretty rough analogies.

It kind of reminds me when I used to work on paintball markers and I would swap from one that had the sensetivity tuned all the way up to one the was stock. On the tuned one just resting your finger on the trigger could result in a shot, while the stock one you would have to make a deliberate pull to fire.

Am I crazy here, or has anyone else ever noticed this?

A light trigger pull is cool but with my Colt 45 1911, I had it modified so I at least have to think "shoot" before it will fire. At least you can still walk after capping yourself with a paintball.

You have a CAI, do you have a tune to go with it? Also, when it was installed, the throttle position/drive motor assy may have gotten bumped around.

My '07 automatic GT seems to have a little bit, like 0.5 sec, of a computer processing delay in the throttle response from a standing start unless I turn the traction control off.

Ain't modern technology wunnerful. I think my next car is going to be more than 40 years old. I miss trying to get 3 dueces to run without making black smoke. At least I could do that without a Microsoft certification.

[klrblue04]

my car is the same way. go pick yourself up an aftermarket throttle body and upper intake plenum and you will never doubt your throttle response again

[smokeshow]

At one point, I read about a mod where you could adjust the drive-by-wire sensitivity:

DIY: Free and Easy 2005+ Mustang Throttle Response Modification

I ended up just putting a shim at the top of the gas pedal for a similar effect. It just pre-depresses the gas pedal so there's not as much travel to get to where it registers.

[06ToplessGT]

Thanks Smokeshow, that is definitly the issue i am talking about.

Looking at the instructions this seems pretty straight forward, but what if you have the brush touching the sensor too early? Does the ECU automatically understand that wherever it is "at rest" is where the "0 throttle" spot should be? That would make sense, but just want to be sure.

I'm glad I wasn't imagining this and that others have noticed the same thing.

[Mr. Ugly]

Yes there can be a dead spot as described in that DIY thread.

Mine had that problem too.

I preferred not to bend the contacts, so I shifted the cover instead as described somewhere buried in that thread.

I think shifting the cover or shimming the pedal is less prone to causing problems.

The pedal mechanism really should have been designed with an adjustable stop like an idle screw on a carb.

[06ToplessGT]

I also saw some posts about an aftermarket pedal that has already taken these changes into effect. Has anyone seen those? Or any ideas where I might pick one up?

[cjb7804]

One more thing to check is see if your throttle body in clean. I have an 06' that had the exact same problem, and ended up cleaning the TB (had a good amount of carbon built up and was closing the air gap between the body and the butterfly valve) and it took care of all my problems. Smooth accleration, great throttle response, no problems at all. Try that before you mod your pedal, and make sure you use throttle body or air intake cleaner and not carb cleaner.

[jefftheboxman]

We have 2 S-197 mustangs. the 05 gt convert w/auto had the same problem. after brow beating the dealer, they installed a new tb and the problem was fixed. it turned out to be a bad sensor in the drive-by-wire on the side of the tb. fortunately, it was covered under warranty.

if yours isn't covered under warrantly...go to a used take off site and see if they have any tb's for cheap. ,,or go the aftermarket route...but understand not all after market units come with the drive-by-wire sensor.....also, a new tb requires a calibration to the ECM......

good luck.