my friend found a slipper back there once.

check along the throttle cable and see if the outer sheath has a crimp that came undone. it has happened on a dsm i've seen.

 

hmm ok, i will have a look

 

on the intake manifold, there is a braket to which the throttle cable is attached. See if the bolts are tight. If the bolts are not tight, the braket will move back and forth as you press/release the throttle, creating that "lag" you talk about. That's also the braket you use to tighten your throttle cable btw.

Lube the cable.
Check the throttle body and make sure there is nothing stuck on the side of the throttle plate.
Look at every single moving part of the mechanism and make sure everything is properly greased and properly moving.

Parts to check + the ones I'll forget:
Gas pedal assembly
Throttle body assembly
Throttle cable mechanism

Old tranny fluid won't make your gas pedal harder, neither will old belts.

 

ok, i will give it all a once over. thanks for the help.

 

Years go with a carburated engine we demanded gas, we were in control. With todays engine ( Fuel Injected) we request gas, it is not the same. The computer controls the amount of fuel into the engine. Now with that said, check the TPS throttle postition switch. it is the signal to to the ecu as to what you are looking to do, Also the hinge on the gas pedal may have debris around it. Try vacuuming the area and floorboard, and spray the UNDERSIDE of the pedal with wd40 use the tubestick thing that comes with the can to get into exact areas. HTH

 

I'm having a similar problem, though I think my throttle cable has too much slack. I plan to tighten the cable slightly, and use some throttle body cleaner around the butterfly valve.

What grease do you recommend?

 

I fixed the problem a while back. My car just needed some lovin.
eg.

Cleaned throttle cable with some WD-40
New accessory belts
New spark plugs
Oil change to Synthetic
Cleaned out TB and filter.

now the only lag i have is the standard lack of fuel lag. Once i go turbo i will be upgrading the fuel setup eg. fuel rail, injectors etc. So this will no longer be a problem

 

What cleaner did you use for your TB?

 

erm, i don't really know. I just went to wal-mart and bought throttle body cleaner. It was in a red and white canister.

Be careful when your cleaning your tb, there is a small square hole just inside the tb before the butterfly, you're not supposed to get cleaner in there, it can damage something or other, so i've heard.
The best way I've found to clean it, is to put a rag at the bottom of the opening of the tb to soak up residue. Take another rag and tie it round the end of a screwdriver, then spray cleaner in the tb/im and scrub the inside with the screwdriver/rag, while opening up the throttle. You may have to use several rags. I have to clean real good because i got a crappy filter, if you got a good filter you shouldn't have to do much cleaning.