Throttle sticks on 2000 mercury villager van

HI- I tried spraying the throttle cable at the pedal end and linkage end with wd-40, and the problem is quite a bit better, but it still sticks at 45mph and occasionally when I first try to apply gas.
Any help, much appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin.

Try cleaning the throttle body with throttle body cleaner.

Tester

As Tester says, the butterfly valve (this is what moves out of the way to let more air through the engine when you step on the gas pedal) is probably gummed up and sticking in its throttle body enclosure. Quite a common problem.

You might still have some sticking remaining in the cable too. Hard to say. Usually the cable is fairly easy to remove and test separately from the rest of the mechanism. Since you know it was at least part of the problem maybe the first thing to do is to simply replace it with a new one. Sometimes – depending on how the ends are configured --it possible to regrease the old cable, but it probably isn’t worth the time.

For a Ford a stuck throttle is considered the standard issue cruise control device.

Technically, it’s a Mazda, not a Ford. The Villager is a rebadged Mazda MPV. I, too, say clean the throttle body.

Thanks guys i appreciate the advice!