Car questions: gas pedal and suspension

[wherzwaldo]

I drive a '97 Pathfinder and I have two questions:

1. My gas pedal has a tendency to stick when I'm stopped. I'm forced to punch it with my foot to release it, causing my car to jerk forward and probably not doing my gas mileage (such as it is) any favors. For the longest time, it only happened right after I started the car, but now it's averaging 3-4 times each trip and seems to be increasing. Is the fix as simple as some WD-40 down around the pedal or somewhere under the hood? It never sticks while I'm pressing on it.

2. My car's ride has gotten really rough lately. Not that it was really smooth to begin with, but it has gotten worse. My tires are less than a year old and look to be in good shape, so I doubt it's them. Do they need to be rotated? Do I need new shocks/struts/whatever? How much might that cost?

 

[phage]

New shocks would do a world of good unless you replaced them very recently. You can get all 4 from autozone/o'reilly for 80-100 bucks and those have a lifetime warranty so you'll never have to pay for them again.

 

[wherzwaldo]

In reply to:

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[accuratehorn]

The most likely cause of the sticking accelerator pedal (unless you have your floormat up where the pedal actually catches on it) is the throttle body. There is a flap in there which gets carboned up over time. You can try to do it yourself with a product from a parts house, or get a fuel injector cleaning service. The service, if done with BG products (which many independent shops have, and many dealers as well-I have seen them at the Saturn dealership and one of the Toyota dealers, among others) consists of three products: a can of throttle body spray, and you are supposed to use the whole can, spraying it into the bore of the throttle body-cleans carbon off the back of valves, intake manifold, and throttle body plate; a can of fuel injector cleaner, which is hooked up to the fuel rail of the car, and the motor runs on this stuff for a few minutes instead of gasoline, until it quits; and a can of gas tank additive. This usually runs about $110 or so at a shop.
Rough ride could be caused by a lot of things, and struts are just one of them. You probably have four struts, not inexpensive shock absorbers. AutoZone might not be the best choice to replace yours with-most shops use KYB gas filled struts. The originals might not really be bad-could be swaybar bushings, or some other front end part.
Tires getting a bubble on them would cause a very rough ride. Tires should be rotated about every 7500 miles, and if you move the front ones to the back, and the ride is much different, you know the front tires had a problem.