Update(small) 2/19/2021

So Wed. I went out between downpours and tinkered a little, borrowed the spring that was missing(green & yellow on previous picture) off my mom's 3.9L and put it on mine. Granted it did get a little stretched, as it decided to get stuck and then suddenly pop free, but ordered 2 new ones anyway :P Then I popped the linkage off and noticed something that made me swear quite a bit and leave a nice stinging on my forehead from smacking it. The return spring (red on picture) was wonky because someone decided to bend it to a nasty position and put it through the hole where the other spring was supposed to connect( yellow). So after swearing I took the spring and did my best to get it back to where it should have been(also ordered a new one), and put it back in place, along with the borrowed spring. Well it seemed to be working better, after I ran out the adjust for the cruise control vacuum piece as it was adjusted to have a constant tension on the linkage to the point of pulling it back slightly, and re-adjust the cable. I figured I had got it to a almost correct spot as under hood testing while running got it to idle round 700 or so, and not sticking open. Fast forward to tonight, went to give it a test drive, and well it could be I have the cable a bit too tight, but it still sticks slightly, and pedal is still dead, a little throttle, and then tons, and sticking a bit still. Looked and something looked odd, as the rubber boot on the accelerator cable is resting on the return spring right under it.

Tomorrow if weather holds, going to go up and attempt to readjust the cable and cruise control part by having the big hose to intake off so I can see the butterfly. The cruise control I'm not too worried about as it hasn't worked since I got the car :P. Going to start with full pedal = full open on butterfly then back it off a tiny little bit and see what happens. Honestly I am rather running out of any ideas, but if I can't get it down going to pull the intake cover and give it another full cleaning(cleaned it when I did valve cover gaskets about 2 months ago), and give the IACV another cleaning, and test resistances on IACV and TPS. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas it would be greatly appreciated. Will keep updating as I progress, or at least try different things :P.

 

Remove the Cruise Control linkage, and vacuum bladder completely. Then just deal with the Throttle Body stuff first, and then add the Cruise Control stuff back after you have the Throttle Cable working properly.

 

Thanks for the suggestion Best, wasn't totally sure if it was really needed or not for cable adjustment, should make it a bit easier. Now hopefully the weather will do what it is supposed to tomorrow, which is rain early am and then cloudy. Though this is Oregon and the saying goes if you don't like the weather wait 5 minutes, it will change :P

 

Update for 2/20/21

Was able to get out and dink round today and went about adjusting the cable with the CC off. Got it to where it had a decent tension, and wasn't sticking at idle, and warm. So then proceeded to adjust the CC to where it would match and still no sticking at idle, and thought ok test drive time. Went about 800 feet or so and it decided to start sticking again, so I backed it off a little bit and would move forward and back off if sticking. Got to the point where it was no longer sticking, but then it was back to no pedal pressure till over half way down, and no response from engine till same point, and then it was just a little response then a lot if I pressed any further on the pedal. Shut it off and put a brick on the pedal to where it was fully open, and backed it off a little bit(about 1/4 a turn) and started it back up. This time it didn't want to stay running, and then finally decided to stay running and it was idling a little below the mark below 1k(not sure if that's the 750 mark or what). Went to take off on a very slight incline(I live on a hill), and there still was the massive dead pedal, then almost nothing and car staling out a couple times. With each time it not wanting to start right after, but got it going and then pressed a little harder and no stalling, but more like I almost floored it. Got it up to the top of the hill and parked it. Should add that I did adjust the pedal tension via the cable(still getting used to that being a thing) so pedal wasn't heavy but wasn't feather light either, didn't seem to make a difference other than how much effort I had to use to press it down.

At this point I am completely out of ideas, probably Monday or Tues. I am going to go up and try it with the IACV unplugged to see how it behaves, but don't know how it could cause these issues. The only other thing I can think of is either a defective brand new cable, or the TPS is going bad/is bad.

 

So the weather was dry enough to go out and tinker some with the Disco. Got up there and decided to do a little test before reinstalling the IACV and TPS, after pulling both to clean the IACV, and check contacts on both, and replace the botch job of mismatched screws/bolts that someone had put on there. Anyway the test was to see if the throttle stuck at all with the TPS off, and guess what, it did. Put both back on and then took the cable off the linkage and as before not once did it stick. So I go to thinking ok so am missing that small spring, but it shouldn't be doing this with a new cable, or maybe I messed up when installing it. So I pulled it off the pedal, and the linkage, had it running straight as it goes through the firewall, then put it back on the pedal. Got it back on, but alas had lost the clamp/clip that holds the pin from falling out, so looks like that is a trip to town tomorrow. Ran the cable through the routing as best as I could, and attached back to linkage. Gave it a test and same ol same ol, the pedal has tension(thanks to pedal adjust part of cable), but still about half or so of dead travel, then very little, then massive acceleration/throttle. Was starting to get beyond frustrated so called it a day, and sadly next few days are rain rain rain. On next able day am going to pull new cable, and try putting the old one back on and seeing if there is any difference, and at this point am thinking it's probably a cable issue as with the cable off it is fine, but with it attached it is pretty much dead travel, then suddenly works enough to shoot it to 3k rpm. Either that or the pedal spring/etc is bad. I do have a new spring, and did test the pedal with the cable off. It went down easily(as it would), and then not instantly but not slowly either popped back up, so I dunno. As always any ideas of any kind, or suggestions are greatly appreciated. And thanks for reading.

 

Well after much fighting, experimenting and searching online I finally figured out why the thing was sticking open. Part of the reason was down to the return spring(large) being anchored in the wrong spot, and the other part of the issue. Well the brand new cable was about 2"-2 1/2" too short. I am not sure if I perhaps ordered the wrong one, or they sent the wrong one as I had purchased the new cable round 3-4 years ago. Put the old cable back on, and no sticking at all, and no dead pedal travel. So now I have a cable that is for I dunno what, probably a Range Rover, that is still in almost brand new shape that I get to sell, well once I find the bag it came in to get the pn off of it :P. I would like to thank you all for your input, suggestions, and ideas. And now I need to re-evaluate my shade tree mechanic card, as I didn't even bother to do the most basic and essential thing I always do with new cables. Make sure that they are both the same length before installing, or trying to install.