Throttle stuck open last night

[mp66226]

2001 QX4, owned for about 4 weeks, almost 3000 miles. It has 129K on it now. Driving home on I-70 last night and get off the gas pedal to slow down for my exit. Noticed didn't slow down much at all and RPM's remained higher than I would expect. Started braking into the cloverleaf exit and noticed the engine laboring as I go around the corner. Kick it into neutral for about a second and RPM's shoot to about 4K. Kick it back down into drive and just brake around the corner. Coming onto the new straight road without much traffic (thankfully), I get off the brake and sure enough it starts accelerating (I was having a "Toyota" moment) but wasn't panicked as I knew I could if needed just shut off the key in a worse case scenario. I tapped the gas pedal a couple of times and after doing so the RPM's dropped back down as it should if getting off the throttle. Took it easy the rest of the way home and put it in the garage. Played around with the pedal a bit before I got home and noticed a "catch" when releasing the pedal right before full released. If throttle was open any material amount and you just drop the pedal it would snap closed However, if I gently released the pedal it would occasionally "catch" in that spot.

Got home, looked under the hood. Throttle cable looked good but sprayed some MAF cleaner just to get off a bit of dirt. Didn't seem to help. Discovered that if I just used my thumb to activate the throttle "pully" there is no such "catching" or resistance in the throttle boday at all. In fact, if I pulled the throttle pully to full open, to put slack in the throttle cable and then pulled on the cable itself, very rough sounding and the definite "catch" right before closing all the way. So, I don't think it is a throttle body issue at all. I sprayed a bit of of PB Blaster on the cable and pushed it in and out a few times but that didn't help. So, it would appear to be either the cable or the gas pedal itself. I will crawl under the dash tonight to inspect the gas pedal assembly but thought I would check with you all to see if anyone has had a similar experience and what the most likely culprit might be. I suspect the cable but at $85 `for a new cable I want to make sure.

BTW, we have been pretty warm until this week when, as many across the country have experienced, it has droved down to 15-20 degrees F. out there.

[Towncivilian]

Check the accelerator pedal's return spring. It may have dislodged. Also adjust the accelerator and cruise wires following the steps on page FE-3 of the factory service manual and EL-240, respectively.

[Slumpert]

From what you just described I would replace the throttle cable. From my experiences a cables sticking in one spot is beyond what lubricants will help. best case senario it wont get any worse but do you really want to risk the cable possibly getting worse and at a bad time.
Not many people complian about that cable so you might consider checking the junkyards for a replacement.