Car Accelerates On Its Own problems of the 2003 Acura TL
 

Got a 2003 with 130,xxx miles that when stuck in traffic for about 10 to 15 minutes, it will try to take off without warning. I don't know where to start. I did the trains swap and it has ran great for about four years. It is about the time you lift your foot off the brake. In the last case it spun the tires and jumped 10 feet before I could stop it.

Looking for what to look at.

Thanks

Can you elaborate on the “taking off” piece.
Does the car still accelerate slightly when your foot is of the gas or are we talking a wide open throttle scenario ?

Is your coolant level low?

When I take my foot off the brake, sometime it is like I hit the gas but I haven't touch it. Its like a big vacuum that comes and goes only when I take my foot off the brake.

Why would coolant low cause it? Not doubting you but asking. The temp gauge did go nuts today... hot then back to normal.

One of the things I have dealt with over the years with some older imports are a really dirty throttle body. It’s would be like you take the foot off the accelerator and hit the brake but the car is still acting like your foot is on the gas. It’s downright scary and you push those brake last pretty damn hard to stop the vehicle but you can tell the car still thinks you have the foot on the gas every so gently.

I don’t know if the TL is cable driven or computer driven or not but a dirty throttle body looks like this. That black ring will cause your throttle body to stick and continue to
let air into the engine when your trying to slow down/stop. You need to clean that ring with carb cleaner and a rag and really scrub it off there. I would start here and I would even unhook the battery for a bit to reset the ECU. You don’t have too, but it will reset the parameters as an extra layer of precaution.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/acurazi...7ce16af95.jpeg

When the coolant is low on the J-Series engines, the throttle tends to surge.

The only thing I found that was odd is the antifreeze was brown? The next step is to flush the cooling system. My big problem is getting rid of the old. I'll have to cook it off to reduce it. I live in the country and there is not a place that I know of that takes it.

Anyone know who take antifreeze?

I'm sure I'm not the first person who looked to your profile info to see where you live...not being sure of where you are at, most auto parts stores that recycle oil should take it. They have to get rid of it themselves, right? :shrug:

No way, that's wild! Do you mind explaining why that happens?

:google:

Surging idle on Honda vehicles ? Ricks Free Auto Repair Advice Ricks Free Auto Repair Advice | Automotive Repair Tips and How-To

It's been years since I researched this, but if I recall correctly, the issue has to do with how the coolant interacts with the Idle Air Control Valve (aka. IACV).

@whitetiger5 :tomato: I spend all day googling for vendor KBs at work, but then forget that I can google for my hobbies too haha

@horseshoez that is crazy, but makes sense to my level of understanding of our engines. Cool stuff!

Loosen throttle cable? Check to see if it's binding. I adjusted it too tight when i added the oddyssey spacer and it would surge at idle.