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Easy "Flexing" Gas Pedal Fix
Badge767 posted a topic in 2014-2018 Silverado & Sierra Troubleshooting
Hey everybody...I just now joined the forum just to pass along a decent, easy fix for the "flexing" gas pedal in the 2014-2018 Sierras and Silverados. I stumbled across this board researching this issue that I discovered on my new (to me) 2017 Silverado Z71 5.3 that I just bought about 4 weeks ago with 788 miles (yeah, seven hundred eighty-eight!) on her. Upon starting from a stopped position (such as coming off a stop bar at a traffic signal), I was a bit bothered by what I can only describe as a "hesitation" of movement of the truck, where pressure on my right foot on the accelerator that wasn't immediately (and proportionally) resulting in matching acceleration of the vehicle. This is the same issue described in other posts on this board that has been remedied with (among other things) by placing cut pieces of paint stirring sticks behind the plastic "anchor plate" that is affixed to the firewall, and where the accelerator sensor is bolted on to. I had plenty of flex in mine, on the order of probably 1/2" to 5/8" at least where the mounting plate would flex and finally "bottom out" against the firewall before the accelerator would begin to respond to input. The fix I came up with was a pretty simple one, and I wanted to pass it along: On the black plastic mounting plate (Those of you who have researched this issue probably already are familiar with this piece I'm referring to), near the bottom where the gas pedal mounting bracket is affixed, there is an unused hole to the lower left of the pedal bracket. I used a 1/4" x 20 bolt (about 1.75" in length) with a nut and washer pre-threaded onto the bolt, and slipped another 1/4" nut on the backside of the black plastic mounting bracket (using 90 degree needle nose pliers to hold nut in place while finger-tightening bolt...this was the most tricky part). This required trimming just a little bit of the floorboard insulation (see photo below) to make it easier inserting the nut behind the plastic piece. Then I simply tightened the bolt into the nut on the back side, which results in approximately 1/2" or so of the bolt protruding through the backside of the black plastic plate and bottoming out on the firewall. The result is MUCH less flex in the lower portion of that plastic mounting plate when pushing on the accelerator. I really was skeptical of how much difference this would make, but WOW...after driving it, the difference is NIGHT and DAY! That "dead zone" where I was having to push unnaturally hard on the accelerator pedal before seeing any response from the engine is GONE! Now I can lightly push on the pedal and the response is IMMEDIATE and smooth! Attached is a picture showing the finished product (sort of helps what I've tried to describe above). I should have taken a few more pics during the procedure, but I was sort of on a roll and didn't think about taking any until I was finished. Hopefully this fix comes in handy for others of you having this same issue related to the "spongy" accelerator mounting plate. Kind of disheartening to have to fix my ~$36K truck with a $0.50 nut and bolt, but at least it fixed my issue!
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