I was checking things under the hood today and I noticed the throttle cable was pretty loose. It was so loose I could amost pull it off the throttle wheel.

I adjusted it to where it had probably 2mm deflection. It was close to 10mm earlier.

my car only has 17K. Are the cables supposed to be loose?

 

Should be no tension at closed throttle. Sounds like you've adjusted it correctly. To tight and you'll just stretch it.

 

Speaking of throttle cables, has anyone had one break?

 

I broke one on my old RSX, but that was due to being a moron. Not from regular usage

2mm of deflection is about optimal. They have a ton of slack from the factory to prevent certain types of drivers from ramming into the car in front of them.

 

thanks.

it's adjusted so that there is low deflection and no movement of the wheel so as not to interfere with the idle.

it is more responsive now, too.

 

By the "book", the cable should have 4mm to 6mm of movement up and down at the middle of the exposed part beside the throttle body.

 

it seems miatas are set up the same way from the factory with plenty of play in the cable for the above reasons .first thing i did to both cars was to adjust .also after a period of time it may need to be adjusted again as cable may expand.
very similar to mountain bike cable setups and adjustments .

 

The car does feel much better. It is MUCH more sensitive now. I can understand why there is more play stock as to prevent people from rear-ending someone at a light for example.

BTW, idle is fine, so I'll leave it as is.

question: could this hamper HP as the throttle would not open all the way with a lot of play?

 

The way to find out, is to have someone sit inside the car and press the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor while you look at the throttle linkage and see if it open's all the way.

It should open all the way. Even if it didn't open all the way, it may or may not have a noticable affect on overall horsepower.

 

Hopefully this is helpful to someone, on how to do it the right way: