I have a 2005 ES with a sticky throttle/accelerator pedal. It's consistent in that it's not related to the engine being cold nor hot. It's happens nearly all the time but there 'appears' to be some times when it's not as sticky as others.

I've tried the gas additives (no luck), even took the car to a Lexus dealership ($100+ of nothing) and I sprayed WD-40 just around the accelerator pedal (made me feel productive one day! ;-) )

Any ideas on what the issue might be? It's a real annoyance especially to my wife!

It's not 'real' bad but it's not as smooth of a take off as my 97s and 98s. The pedal sticks momentarily and then we're basically fine until the next full stop or, maybe, keeping the car above 20 mph or something like that.
Thanks!!

 

Floor mat?

 

I don't think I understand what you mean by sticky; can you be a little more descriptive? Do you remove your foot from the gas pedal and the car maintains speed or you mean there is a lag in response time from when you apply pressure on the pedal and when you actually have an increase in rpms.
Also something to note is that these cars are drive-by-wire, so when applying pressure on the pedal there is some lag in throttle response while the computer processes the signal and relay commands compared to the mechanical cable to throttle used in most other cars.

 

Lag in pedal response is normal.....that is the expected behavior on a 05-06 ES330....

Sometimes, the floor mat is positioned in such a way that the gas pedal is stuck and can't be released.

 

Ok.. great questions!
Sticky: Like molasses is on the pedal restricting movement as I press the pedal from the un-depressed position to a pressed position to go to, say, 30-45 mph (non-jack rabbit takeoffs). It's not that the car maintains a certain speed. The car slows down normally when I take my foot off of the pedal. Once we're above 15/20 mpg we're fine. It's the start that's an issue... like starting from a stop light or stop sign.
Carpet: Since the accelerator pedal comes from the top (above the toe area) this isn't an issue and I've checked it also. So, at this time this isn't a focal point.
Thanks!

 

Clean your throttle body.

 

OK, where is it and how do I clean the throttle body?
Does it get clogged/dirty frequently? Seems like my 97s/98s never needed this.r
Oh, btw, this was a used car (not certified Lexus) before my in-laws purchased it about 5 years ago. < 60K miles now and we've put on about 20K in the past 3+ years.

 

If you search "clean throttle body" and "1mz es300, rx300, camry v6," you'll get a lot of helpful diy's with pics and video, mostly from here or toyota nation. 1mz (1mz-fe) is the engine code and they are all pretty much identical.

 

I'm wondering if the problem lays in the pedal itself where its a electronic lag issue or its a mechanical issue with the throttle body. I guess there's no way to determine, but imo my Dad's 05 ES has a sort of sticky pedal from take off from a stop compared to my 01. I think it may just be how the pedal feels, but I'm no expert.

 

The drive-by-wire throttle in the 4th gen ES has a lot of lag. It makes the car feel very unresponsive. If you're not used to it, you'll think you haven't pressed the pedal far enough and press it harder and the car might jump, giving the imitation that you've got a sticking pedal.

To clean the throttle body, follow this video on the ES330 up to removing the intake tube to get to the throttle body, (then skip to 12:43 for the actual cleaning process):


I also made this video on cleaning the throttle body on a 4 cylinder Camry with a drive-by-wire throttle (same procedure, just the intake tube is setup differently):

 

That's exactly what I was getting at speedkar, I think you just aren't used to the lag of the pedal

 

I also suggest changing your transmission fluid, on takeoff it became a lot smoother in my 2004. Before it shifted really strange, which I thought was just how it was, but after a drain and fill it is similar to my 2001 es300

 

Well inspired by this thread, I cleaned my throttle body today on my ES330. It hadn't been cleaned for over a year since I did spark plugs.

Off the line response is a tiny bit more responsive now, but the transmission downshifts a bit funny when braking to a stop. I guess its still learning my driving style as I reset the battery to clear the codes and have the computer relearn idle with a clean TB.