I was cruising down a 2 lane highway at 50 this morning, when I decided to pass the car in front of me. I pressed the pedal down and it shifted into 2nd, climbed up to 60, and when I let off the gas it kept accelerating. I had the brake pedal pressed to the floor approaching a red light, and the car would not stop. Thankfully the light turned green, or I would’ve been sandwhiched in an intersection. Could it be the throttle body, or throttle position sensor? Please let me know i’m scared to drive it again. 1996 Camaro 3.8 v6

 

Your 96 is completely mechanical so it is not an electronic issue unless its coming from the cruise control. The chances of that with the cruise off is almost nill. Most likely something got stuck and the return spring was not strong enough to return the throttle plate to close.. The 3800 did not get drive by wire until 99. Use choke cleaner to clean and lube everything around the throttle body. Make sure its all working smoothly and nothing is binding, When in doubt a small "helper" spring will not hurt.

I you are really worried about it happening again practice shutting the engine down without locking the steering wheel. If you practice a little it will become second nature.

 

Thank you so much. I put my project on the road untill I can get this sorted, I’ll be diving into the camaro asap and i’ll be sure to update. Again thank you, very much appreciated

 

yes, let us know!

i had almost the same issue some 20 years ago. i swapped an L82 motor in a 86 monte from the 229 v6, The air cleaner on top of the carb would not fit with the hood closed. So i bought a low profile air cleaner. Put it on and and out the garage i went. A few miles down the road i decided to open up the secondaries and when i let go...the car kept going. Sanding on the brakes and loosing traction i shut the car off and came to a stop on the side of the road. i got out opened the hood and saw the throttle linkage rubbing on the air cleaner. i took the air filter off and drove home really slow.

 

Check the throttle cable at the throttle body, with someone else working the gas pedal with engine off. It's a braided cable, and if even one strand breaks free in the right place, it can hang down and prevent the cable from being able to retract back into the outer casing.