Hey yall,

I'm new here. Well I am having an issue. My gas pedal recently started sticking and accelerating on its own. Is it even worth it to take it to the dealership or an authorized Audi mechanic to take a look at it?

Thanks,

Miss Toni

 

Hello Miss Toni -- this is a Mr. Tony with the same car -- 06 a8l.

When my gas pedal is sticking I've found it to be 2 things - do both:

1. the floor mat has slid up to the pedal and somehow is binding up the pedal. To help prevent the mat moving I rolled up some gorilla duct tape into 10" strips and put it under the matt.
2. Cleaning Service is needed inside the throttle body -- I doubt the dealership actually performed the service they charge the first/prior owner AND it's an act of Congress to get the octopus of a tube assembly removed -- so I ordered this system: LiquiMoly Proline Throttle Valve Cleaner Part number 20210. available on ebaeBay amazon. (ONLY USE IF YOU HAVE gas 4.2L -- this cleaner will harm TDI diesel engines) It's a 400ml spraypaint sized can specially formulated butterfly valve cleaner that comes with a 20" nylon plastic hose with sprayer tip. Loosen the intake hose where you typically disconnect the airbox and slide the hose tip so its about near the back of the engine inside the air plenum, downstream... simple directions on the can. You will throw a code idling the engine with the duct disconnected -- but it goes away when reassembled and everything is reconnected.

Another thing to do/check -- pop off that Front-top cover and look at the front of the engine. Make sure BOTH linkages on the vacuum pots there are intact and not broken. A central Florida dood makes $45 DELRIN replacement links with a lifetime warranty on eBay for them. One of mine broke at 67K -- they are cheap ABS plastic and designed to fail so the dealer makes bank off a 10-minute repair (they will sell you 2 $400+ vacuum assemblies plus labor -- when it's just the linkage). be DARN careful not to tear the vacuum pot rubber when prying off the old links. Personally, if you haven't changed these yet -- just buy the replacement ones from the Kissimmee, FL eBay shop and change them our early -- they WILL break. One is probably partially cracked right now. you will notice the car engine runs unevenly and MPG drops and performance is down a bit when broken -- but no idiot light. I would probably just swap out the factory links when you get the Delrin-machined-plastic ones so it's upgraded and save your engine the grief. Build up of carbon in the intake can cause a hard pull -- not performing step #2 above.

Enjoy,
Tony
BTW - Thank you Lord that the fuel injectors are upstream of the intake valves in 2006 and we don't need to remove the heads to shell-blast the intake port of these 40 valve heads. Starting in 2007 or maybe 2010 you do. My son's 2008 Passat had 1/4" thick (PCV-oil recirculation) carbon buildup in his 2.0T intake that took an hour of scraping and compressed air to blow out. Our 5-valve per cylinder engines should be clean. I RELIGIOUSLY run fuel injection cleaner EVERY TANK to keep the intake valves clean on mine. Mistery Oil ($3 a quart) from Walmart is the smartest thing we should be running every tank. It keeps the dual fuel pumps lubed, the upper cylinders clean and lubed, compression up.

 

There is another thing -- I found my battery was low on voltage and I think that also contributed to many "ODD" things and gremlins - like ABS seat belt lights on dash, the cruise control getting stuck & flooring the car throttle, etc.. The factory battery was low on amps and volts JUST enough. It didnt respond as needing a battery, battery was over 5 years old, but getting a new AGM spec battery was the total answer. Need to at least have the mechanic plug in a battery backup into cigarette lighter to retain radio memory and ECM settings in the car when swapping battery.. They other thing i'm not 100% sure is needed is the "adaptation" from the dealer. supposedly this tells the ECM to "condition" the battery and so forth, but I didnt do mine -- it's been 4 months and 4000mi -- and mine is better than fine. I saved $250 from the dealer fees. Audi couldnt explain to me exactly how their adaptation was doing anything and when pressed, one service person said off-mic that it was a gimic for 2006. That said -- the dealership battery is the best battery choice for the car because the amps/volts are bigger than most. My AGM battery made ALL the gremlins go away -- especially the bogus ABS warning light -- I think it was actually due to low voltage.