87 300d turbo, 603 eng, 244k, #14 head, 90 deg with what felt like 300% humidity (hottest day of the year so far). I was pumping gas today and when i got back inside I tapped the accelerator pedal and the eng when strait to well over 5000 rpm and climbing- with the a/c on-, I was quick enough to turn off the ignition after a couple of seconds and when it turned off and I was back in my senses (after realizing I could've lost the engine or worse it could've happened in traffic) I saw it was the carpet that had moved over the accelerator some how. I placed it back where it goes and started the car again and guess what, it did it again, all the way to 6000 rpm or so and quicker this time since I didn't have the a/c on now, I can't believe how quick it got there. After shutting it off, a million thoughs went through my head, timing chain, vaccum pump (not the updated one), rods, valves ect, ect ect. I opened the hood and notice the cause, it was the accelerator linkage that had gotten stuck, I checked the acelerator cable and it had paly on it so I realized that wasn't the problem but I couldn't really see where it was binding so I worried that something internal in the pump or one of the other devices that the linkage moves was sticking. I had somebody pump the accelerator reapeately but couldn't duplicate the problem. The only thing I could attribute it to is the white lithium grease I sprayed on the joints in the linkage about 2 or 3 months ago. I noticed the other day that the grease kind of dries off I guess from the heat and maybe that was making something stick from too much friction so I sprayed some wd40 on all the joints and tested it again and carefully went home with my hand just inches from the key. Has anyone experienced this problem? is there something common that fails or is it just the grease? sorry for the long post folks but I'll really like to describe the problem and hear if others have had this problem and what the cause was, as you'll probably know I'm afraid every time I press the accelerator now.

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

Been there... done that on a gasser with my brother..

we were in traffic .... I call it the "magic carpet ride"

really scary, What turned out to be your problem?

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

So the problem didn't start with the carpet wedged against the gas pedal?

There is quite a bit of pedal return resistance on mine, and doubt a carpet, even a heavy rubber mat could hold mine.

Did I understand you to say the cable is not binding, that it is the mechanical linkage? I know it connects to the cruise with a couple of short rods with ball sockets before connecting the IP, and I could see those rods possibly getting fouled up. Hope you find out fast, so this doesn't happen again and thanks for the heads up.

No it wasn't the carpet, I think it's most likely that little roller that slides on a sort of cam in the linkage but am not sure.

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )

Could you feel a difference in the feeling of the pedal when you pushed it, before starting?

No not at all, it felt the same, even the second time it did it.

__________________
87 300d Turbo 241K with original #14 head (blue)
87 300d Turbo 198K will run great again someday (silver)
84 300sd sold ( buyer drove it to Paraguay )