A bit over 3 months ago I had made a post about experiencing extremely low idle RPMs (300-400, even less with AC on) and constant stalling until warmed up on my first generation 1uz.

I threw so much money at it, with the mindset of “the car needs it at some point anyway” and I plan on driving it till the wheels fall off. Many things were out of spec and did need replacing, but my dad would still say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

In the process of attempting to diagnose the cause of this problem I replaced the AFM, Idle speed controller, every single vacuum line, TPS, Fuel pressure regulator + dampener, another fuel filter (fuel pump + filter done months prior), re did entire timing belt job also replacing every pulley/tensioner, fan clutch, replaced some sensor pigtails and tested/reset ECU (already rebuilt a year prior by LScowboyLS) countless times. Inevitably the problems persisted. And I sort of threw the towel in and decided to deal with it for now, not being able to use AC without stalling, starting car with accelerator pedal depressed slightly till warm, and lower MPG. The only other thing I thought it could be was an intake manifold gasket leaking, as the previous owner did replace the starter before I purchased the car.

It was until earlier this week when my brother was down for Christmas and we were discussing the issues I’ve been having. He suggested the problem was potentially due to excess slack in my accelerator cable. Now I had adjusted this along with my transmission cable when I first bought the car, but the throttle cable had been tightened as much as it could go, and there was still excess play. On top of that, the bushing which slots into the bracket and holds the throttle cable had a ton of slop and was nearly slipping out of the bracket. Cannot imagine how that bushing behaved under load.

The only way to get a new bushing is to order the whole bracket which is of course, out of stock everywhere. They do still have the bracket for the 98-00 model years available through any Lexus dealership (78024-50020), and just by looking at pictures it appears to be the same bushing just a differently shaped bracket. I could not confirm if it is the same bushing and I was eager to throw it on the new cable that I went with a “temporary” fix. I applied a generous amount of high heat JB Weld all around the seams where the bushing had separated from the metal, allowing to cure 24hrs. I already ordered the new bracket so if it is the same bushing I will try to remove the old one or find a new bracket in a junkyard, but I do think the JB Weld does a great job for this application.




I found the part number (78180-50010) for the accelerator cable and located it on Amayama, but they unfortunately could not supply the part. Unable to find OEM anywhere online and not wanting to take the risk with a junkyard cable, I committed 1UZ sin and went aftermarket, a brand called Pioneer Cables. Got it in 2 days on PartsGeek. The construction is decently high quality and is an exact fit replacement for OEM including a new bracket, we’ll see how it holds up over time.

Given this part does not seem to fail often, it was very difficult to find any writeup on the replacement of this cable, not even in the service manual or AllData, maybe I didn’t look hard enough though. Regardless, this is a serious pain in the ***. The main issue is you have to access 2 10mm brass bolts that connect the cable from the firewall to the underside of the footwell near the steering column. There is absolutely 0 room even with the seat fully pushed back and steering wheel up out of the way.



I couldn’t even turn my ratcheting wrench once it was gripped onto the bolt head, there just isn’t enough room. And to make matters worse to get to the second bolt you have to depress the accelerator pedal so the lever and upper spring mechanism are just barely out of the way. To get that second bolt out there is even less room to wrench, and I could not fit my 1/4 inch ratchet with extension. I could get just the socket (6 point don’t wanna round off brass bolts) and extension on with just enough room to grip the extension with my Robo Grip pliers and remove the bolt that way.

Once the two bolts are out you are mostly done with removal, assuming you have already disconnected the cable from the throttle body, which is simple. Making sure to loosen the 12mm lock nuts on either end of the bushing near the throttle body to fully release the cable. Now all you need to do is pry the upper spring mechanism (circled) off of the lever.




After that you will need to squeeze the plastic tabs underneath the upper pedal bracket that the cable connects to, and rotate 90 degrees to release the cable from the bracket.



Now you can pull the cable assembly through the firewall. You will have to finagle it around the pedal mechanisms, playing around with pressing the pedal, and turning the bracket and cable assembly till you can just barely get it out. I found it more difficult to remove than reinstall.



Installation is reverse of removal. Only thing to be aware of is when you tighten the lock nuts on the throttle cable to the bracket near the throttle body, you will likely need to adjust where the bushing is located to obtain the optimal amount of slack. I temporarily installed a bolt where the cover would go to prevent the bracket from flexing while adjusting the tension. The closer the bushing is to the throttle body, the tighter the tension will be.




I will keep an eye on the tension, since it is a new cable and may slightly stretch as it settles in its new home. That’s another use for the temporary bolt since the cable cover is annoying to remove and reinstall over and over. On initial startup before adjusting the tension, the car idled at 1100 RPM, and when revved would not drop RPMs easily. After some tweaking the car sits at a lovely 650 RPM idle warm with the AC on.

The throttle response is so much tighter and punchier, it actually feels like the car is doing what I am expecting it to do. Which throws me off after driving it with these problems for so long. As YODAONE mentioned in one of his posts about adjusting this cable, I have never experienced the actual WOT on this car until now. Even just creeping forward with my foot off the brake and not touching the throttle is so much faster it’ll take some getting used to. I guess I just thought it was normal for it to creep forward that slowly.

My power steering feels much more assisted and lighter at low speeds now, which makes sense because it does run off the engine power, and I was making none at 300 RPM idle. The AC fan speed and brightness of my headlights used to dim and increase intensity with my RPM speed as well which does not seem like the fluctuations are as prevalent anymore either. Most of all it just feels healthy and lively like this engine should, especially after all the new mostly OEM parts it has received over the last year. It feels like I am driving this car for the first time. I’m wondering how many other people have this problem and don’t know it or I was just unlucky with mine being a rare exception. Either way I hope this helps someone out there and I am so excited to finally have this headache solved.