Unintended acceleration of sorts

[zach7685]

A few months ago I was driving and someone cut me off long story short I floored it and continued home. I came to a stop light and realized that the car was harder to stop. I figured that it was because i had just gotten off a mountain and the brakes had overheated. As i pulled in my driveway I noticed the car was still hard to stop but i thought nothing of it. As soon as I put the car in park the engine revved to 2000 RPM and stayed there. I was in no mood for such games. I floored it few times to see if it was stuck... nothing I checked the mats... nothing. Furious now I throw it in reverse and it chirps the tires from the high revs. it goes down now its under load but once i get it out of the carport and put it in neutral/park it revs up to 2000 RPM again. mad and confused i open the hood and check the throttle plate. Fully closed. I checked the links and wires and all looked fine both the cruise and the other one were fine. I turn off the car and turn it back on and it idles normally ( If memory serves) I debated posting that day but it stopped and I thought nothing more of it. Now looking back I want to know what it could have been.

[Towncivilian]

Which year Pathfinder did this happen on?

Check the spring at the gas pedal.

[zach7685]

2001.1 The pedal functioned normally the whole time. It was bizarre

[Towncivilian]

R50s are not drive by wire until 2003, so something most likely jammed somewhere. I would clean the throttle body and throttle cables thoroughly. Was the cruise control on at all when this issue occurred?

[zach7685]

At one point yes but i turned it off. And nothing was jammed that i could see throttle plate was clean on both sides and i physically pushed down on the whole throttle thing and it was not stuck I'm almost sure it was electrical but its drive by cable and all was fine. But turning off the car and turning it back on fixed it.

[Towncivilian]

Did you disengage the cruise system completely (i.e. press the "on/off" button), or just the "cancel" button? I suppose it's possible for the cruise system to have acted up.

[zach7685]

No it was off. Completely off both lights were out

[Buzzman]

Don't have the answer for you, but earlier this week, I had to do something similar: floored it, (it downshifted into second and revved high), to get past some idiot who was about to drive into me.
It did it no problem, and sounded good in the process.
Right after that, my check engine light came on. First time that has ever happened.
I drove it like that for the rest of the day with no apparent problems.
The next day I was driving to one of my client locations (normal driving this time), and the check engine light went out.
I have no idea what happened.
Just wondering: Does anyone know if the engine fault code is stored after it goes out, and for how long?

[Towncivilian]

It should be stored, get the codes pulled somewhere.

[Buzzman]

It should be stored, get the codes pulled somewhere.

Ok, thanks.
I have a code reader, but wasn't sure if the code would be stored after the light went out.
I'll check this weekend.

[Pathfinder3.5]

No it was off. Completely off both lights were out

I had a very similar situation happen to me. After long periods of driving I would have to fight to stop the car and when I would put it in neutral or park it would rev up to about 2000-2500rpm and bounce. If I revved it a few times it would come back down. Turned out to be my TPS(Throttle Position Sensor). Somewhat easy/cheap to replace but I let my mechanic do it as you have to 'set' it.

Good luck!