Engine Revving Really High In Neutral On 2002 Yaris

[JamesFB]

Hi, I've got a 2002 Yaris GS 1.0, which I've had for about 18 months. It has been a very reliable little car up until now, but the other day I started the engine in neutral and it was ticking over at about 900 revs like normal, and then without me touching the throttle it revved up to about 5000 and just wouldn't stop at all. I restarted the engine several times and it started and went straight up to 5000 revs, so I left it for a couple of minutes and tried again and it was fine. Just wondered if anyone else has heard of this or had it happen and knows what could have caused it, cheers.

[eyemdee]

Carpet mat pushed on to accelerator pedal when you got in to the car? Sounds silly but it has been known!

[JamesFB]

Carpet mat pushed on to accelerator pedal when you got in to the car? Sounds silly but it has been known!

No, definitely not this, not got a carpet mat in there. I'm pretty certain nothing was touching throttle pedal. It also happened again today, while in neutral at traffic lights. I restarted engine and it went straight to 5000 revs, I was able to change to first and turn off the main road, but it was still on max revs. I then changed up to 2nd and the revs went back down to normal. Think I'm going to take it to a garage to get checked out though.

[eyemdee]

I think you're wise to do that. If it is not a mechanical issue with the pedal it could be a faiing sensor sending the wrong information to the ECU or all manner of other things which should show up on a diagnostic check.

[Cyker]

Does it respond to the accelerator? Could be the idle needs adjusting, an issue with the MAF sensor or something's gotten blocked, but tbh if it's easily to reproduce it's easier to show a mechanic and let them figure it out.

[JamesFB]

Does it respond to the accelerator? Could be the idle needs adjusting, an issue with the MAF sensor or something's gotten blocked, but tbh if it's easily to reproduce it's easier to show a mechanic and let them figure it out.

It doesn't seem to respond to accelerator when it does it in neutral and first, but did when I got it up to second and the revs went right back down. It has only happened on these two occasions and I haven't been able to make it repeat when I have tried to show people. Either way will be getting it to the garage some time this week

[Cyker]

Weird. Keep us posted! I'm also curious as to what the cause is!

[PappaSmurf Pro]

This is a problem many Toyota owner's are facing. Toyota Corp. Already had to settle 2 big class action law suits, but for the wrong reasons. One was a b.s. blame it in floor mats, I took those right out, the other one also not the cause. I drive a manual stick shift so it's not as dangerous for me to just deal with it. A mechanic friend gave me a suggestion that cleared up the problem for about 40,000 miles, but it just started up again. I changed out the PCV Valve, and Cleaned out the Mass Air Flow Sensor. Had to hard disconnect the Battery and drive about a hundred miles afterwards before the problem went away. But it did so for the last 40,000 miles (about a year's worth of driving). Just started having issues again after this last oil change. Mine is a 2009 Yaris Sedan with 301,000 miles on it.

https://youtu.be/047xItGmNH8

https://youtu.be/YnckaCCJEEk

https://youtu.be/2pCqmw3yWng

https://youtu.be/7f2WX8AeJfI

[stantheman1]

Wow, 301k!

[stantheman1]

Worn out accelerator cable causing it to stick in its outer covering (frayed/broken steel strands) would be my guess.

[pra]

Yaris automatic hybrid --

Same happened to me once a few years ago. It- made me shoot back in a car park, caused a lot of damage, and cost a lot of money. I got the same floor mat story from Toyota. Even now years later, I automatically listen before transferring my foot from brake to accelerator. But it never happened again.

[PappaSmurf Pro]

Heck I have it on video revving to 5,000 rpms for 10 seconds all on it's own. It has started doing it again.

 

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10217099350014035&id=1177361886

[pra]

That was scary. Especially when you see almost like in slow motion - i.e. your commentary lead us to expect what happens..

When it happens out of the blue, for a short time your brain is trying to assimilate what is going on. In the meantime the car is already moving and you are not in control.

Thanks for that