Installed the new gas pedal and position sensor yesterday. The car seemed to accelerate smoother when I took it for a test drive. It was ~+32°F, I ran several errands with multiple drive/heat soak cycles (most recent failure scenario) and it was fine. Mary took it to Plymouth, ~50 miles of mixed highway and city driving. Still fine. She also noted that acceleration seemed smoother.

Mechanical Musings:
Destructive disassembly of the old pedal assembly/sensor revealed an intricate pick up and a moving 'actuator' attached to the pedal shaft. The sensor is a multi layer circuit board with 2.5 cm diameter spider web of traces. One side has 80 'spokes' laid out in an even, radial pattern, the other has 80 radial traces laid out in 40 pairs. The paired leads are close together with pie shaped blank spaces between them. On an interior layer are 10 concentric rings of traces. The ends of spokes feed through the circuit board.

The actuator has 24 radial traces with connections across both ends making 2 closed cell. The new traces are connected at the top or the bottom, making 2 open ended cells. The pattern repeats all the way around the circle.

I have not idea what that gives for angular resolution. The circuit board does not show any burnt traces or obviously charred components.

The pedal assembly had noticeable play before disassembly. The pivot shaft on the pedal measured .472" and appeared to be very cylindrical. The pivot bushing in the housing measured .4765" - .4775" on the outside and .479" on the inside.

There is a big, stiff pedal return spring inside the housing.

I don't know if that level of wear in the bushing would be enough to cause the sensor to loose track of the pedal position. If it is, replacing the bushing should restore function. There are several issues that may prevent repair. 1) the pedal is very difficult to remove from the pivot shaft 2) the plastic latches that hold the case together are fragile 3) the bushing would have to be made or found 4) a new pedal assembly is $150.

If there aren't anymore problems, I'll let you know how it goes in a few months.

Greg