Throttle cable adjustment
 

Hey guys. When the service manual says that the "free play" in the throttle cable should be within 4-6mm, are they talking about the deflection of the cable (up and down movement or sagging of the cable) or the play that is present if you hold the cable and move it side to side? Thanks guys!

yes.

the S2000 cable seems to get mis-adjusted pretty often. all the S2000s I had came to me with a cable with aweful free play...like 20mm and I'm not joking.

Wait, so is it a YES to the horizontal play or a YES to the vertical play, deflection of the cable? Thanks.

when i adjusted mine the car would die everytime i came to a light. any idea why???

Maybe you adjusted it too tight. If you tighten it too much then the throttle valve will remain open even when you are not depressing the accelerator pedal. I dunno that's just a guess. Someone with more experience will answer both our questions :D

IMO its a YES on deflection = up & down movement.
Make sure not to change idle when adjusting it.
:)

Be certain not to over-tighten the throttle cable. Some freeplay is necessary, and if you can achieve WOT at the bottom of the accelerator pedal stroke then making the adjustment any tighter will place unnecessary tension on the throttle cable. This can lead to breakage and stress on intake manifold components.

Ok so the popular (correct) consensus is that the free play that should be within 4-6mm is the up and down free play of the cable? Thanks a lot :thumbup:

:D bump for popular (correct) consensus :D

Woh woh woh...
I can make it deflect more than 4-6 mm whether it's in spec or out. You are forgetting one parameter. If they were talking about deflection, you would have a "force" specification as well. It would read 4-6 mm with, say, 5 lbs. of pressure. To do this you'd hook a fish scale to the cable and pull until it reads the specified weight limit, then measure deflection of the cable.

By putting a clothespin on the cable, there will be little to no deflection. On the other hand, if you'd rest your body's weight on it, there will be great deflection.

Now what do you guys think?

It could still be vertical play that Honda is referencing, but I'd look for the key word "deflection" if this were the case.