With the recent cold snap, the single digit temperatures are causing my throttle cable to stick.
I press the gas and it doesn't release back until the engine warms up the lubricant in the cable.

Is this going to just have to be replaced or do I have any other options?

 

We don't have frozen temps here in SD and I can assure you the sticking gas pedal is not because of the throttle cable.

You may have Carbon build up in your Throttle Body!! It sticks your throttle body until it warms up. A good clean with carb cleaner and the problem is solved.

 

to elaborate: remove the intake tube from air filter box to TB
use carb cleaner to get black crud off the round air plate inside TB opening
get both sides and the edges really good- wipe up excess runoff as able

now see the throttle return springs on rear side of TB? Probably a bunch of crud buildup on them, carb cleaner and relube the springs with Deep Creep or Silicone Lube or wd40

You can lube the throttle and cruise cables by noting amount of freeplay in cable= so you put it together correctly,
then remove lock nut and cable assembly from TB
Spray silicone lube or deep creep thru the cables- note: place rag under gas pedal inside car or floor will get wet from fluid runoff

Next ck and lube the gas pedal return springs at pedal pivot inside car

 

Take off your intake piping and with some carb cleaner and a tooth brush, clean the butterfly. Excess carbon buildup around it will cause it to stick. Also spray the cable where it comes out of the plastic with silicone or wd40 and operate the tb manually opening and closing it while spraying the cable.

 

Supposed to use throttle body specific spray no?

 

no = any carb cleaner or TB cleaner or Deep Creep work fine

the issue on some makes of car is the tb heater wire- or has a different type throttle body than our TL

I like Deep Creep (seafoam in aerosol form) as it cleans, then leaves behind a layer of special lubricating oil on the pivot arm- the air plate rotates on this arm

Remember the PCV while doing some maintenance cleaning- on top of rear valve cover- disconnect and spray inside till ball moves freely, or buy a new one- 20 at dealer

 

Carb cleaner can mess up sensors and the throttle body has a coating from the factory that carb cleaner can remove which is not good

 

^ Unless he soaks the carb in carb cleaner and inmediately install it and put electricity through the carb sensors the carb cleaner won't damage anything. Also factory coating? What? You mean the Zinc Plating in the butterfly?
The only way to clean the carbon crud in the carb is to clean it thoroughly with the carb cleaner, it doesn't exist other way to clean the carb without chemicals. Also a brush doesn't reach the small areas of the carb.

 

I'm not positive on Honda throttle bodies but I know some throttle bodies are coated inside for better air flow. They make throttle body cleaner as opposed to carb cleaner for a reason. It may not matter on these cars, but I'll stck to using throttle body cleaner.

 

Both aren't that different in their chemistry but sometimes a "throttle body" cleaner is somewhat mild requiring more bottles than the "Carb Cleaner" which does the job in 1 can.
I have cleaned my TB about 3 times with carb cleaner with good results always allowing the cleaner to evaporate completely before re-installing.

Also there is no coating in Honda TBs. The butterfly is zinc coated but the carb cleaner won't damage it.

 

good thing we don't have carbs to worry about~
now if only we could cure the car of high cholesterol

as for sensors etc- deep creep can be safely be run thru the entire system- even using the TB inlet side as the input for DC with engine running
Do the air plate first- wipe up runoff, then engine running (works better engine warm)

If it were an issue using plain ol carb cleaner- between the thousands of ziners on this forum who followed the suggestions/directions = no reports of damage on TB cleaning

Note it is possible to over apply seafoam in vac port at idle speed, more than 50% to fuel available in the intake manifold = stalling and blowback can occur

 

Yeah, even if there were some kinda special coating on the effected parts......after over 10 years and well over 100k of real life, the carbonized build-up has defeated the intended purpose of any special coatings, if any.

So, with that being said, just clean things up however ya wish at this point.
What does it really matter if it's clean and running good ?

Cleaning will ensure that things are functioning properly without the carbon crud. Just clean the stuff !!!