How can I fix a sticking gas pedal in a 1999 Ranger? Specifically, it seem s to catch before any pedal travel, then gives all at once, causing it to rev like I am stabbing the gas (because that is what happens when the pedal gives).
A friend of mine had an Expedition that did the same thing until he got it fixed at the dealers. No help from him, though, as all he knows about vehicles is how to drive one, and put to gas in every once in a while, so he has no idea what they did to fix it and doesn't have the repair receipt anymore either.
It only does this sticking thing at the beginning of pedal travel and only one way.

 

Try unhooking the throttle cable at the throttle body and moving the lever it's hooked to on the throttle body by hand while the vehicle is in park/neutral. If it sticks, try cleaning it up with carb cleaner; if it doesn't stick, try replacing the throttle cable(or spray the ends of it w/ WD-40 to loosen it up.) Good luck!

 

I had the same thing happen to my '88 Cougar 5.0 and it was the throttle cable itself that was haning up. I removed the cable from the throttle body and force sprayed white lithium grease spray (using the small tube that comes with it) between the cable and the cable shield to attempt to get it down to the pedel. It worked but took a little while for it to make its way down to the pedel.

 

I had this happen on both my 96 Sable and 02 Focus, it may be carbon (sludge) build up on the back side of the throttle plate, because the plate closes tight in the throttle body the sticky buildup causes it to stick closed, it takes extra force to get it to open, then once it does everything else is free so you give it to much gas and everyone gets a jerky ride. try taking the air intake tube off at the throttle body, hold the throttle wide open and clean the plate with a clean rag. There's probably a label under the intake hose that says not to use cleaners on the throttle plate because it has a special coating, but if it's gummed up the coating isn't doing much good any more so I put a little fuel injector cleaner on the rag to help disolve the build up. This worked for me.