1997 Escort - High revs in neutral

[fingres]

Hi,

My Escort has developed a problem where in neutral the revs jump up to about 2500 rpm. When you come to a standstill (at lights for example) it drops off after about 5 seconds.

It's been going on for a while, and I think it might be burning the clutch out. I thought it might be the accelerator cable sticking, but haven't performed much car maintenance, so could do with a second opinion!

If that's the problem, can I buy an accelerator cable from somewhere like Halfords?

Thanks.

 

[fingres]

Just in case anyone stumbles across this whilst Googling the same problem...

It turns out this was an engine management problem in the end. The Garage had to reset the on-board computer.

 

[Spark123]

I had a similar problem with a mondeo - turned out to be a leak on the air intake manifold from one of the butterfly valve pivots to atmosphere.