Martsford

Hi guys,
I'm going to try and explain this problem as best I can, I know nothing about cars so don't know the terminology so please bare with me. Just recently when out in the car I've noticed that when driving at approx 20 mph in 2nd gear the car seems to lose power, unless I put my foot down on the accelerator it regains speed, similiar problem at 30mph in 3rd gear. It's never done anything like this until recently. I've been running on fumes between fill ups recently, is this likely to be the cause and maybe some crap from the tank has gone through to the fuel filter or Carburettor. Or is the car dying a slow death considering its done 160k miles.

Thanks guys in advance for any help

Cossie Sean

change the obvious first, fuel filter!
they suffer terribly with pumps also

very early 1.4/1.6 had air flow meters,

but take some live readings and report back

martysmartie

iTrader: (1)

It could be many things tbh, there is no carburetor though (No car has within the last 20 years or so) they have computerized fuel injections, i.e. EFI.

As said start with the fuel filter, when was it last serviced?

Martin

Cosnada

iTrader: (2)

Speed sensor, fuel pump / filter, clogged MAF or ISCV. Might be a process of elimination.

Did it do it suddenly or after a service?

Is the engine revving - eg is your clutch slipping?

Brake binding?

Need I go on - a bit more detail as I have covered fuel, engine, clutch and brakes - need to narrow it down a bit.

HTH

Martsford

I'll pick up a new filter and see if it rectifies it, if not I'll try the process of elimination as a few of you have mentions. Thank you.

Cossie Sean

if fuel filter doesnt fix it please dont do process of elimination,

fuckin hell lol

save yourself some money and take it to someone with PROPPER diagnostic gear, not a £50 handheld jobbie.

its your cash and your car, but never do process of elimination as its costly and silly IMO

MikeyRobbo

No lights on the dash? Might be worth seeing if you local garage will scan it for fault codes for you, i'd take it anyway just incase some fuckers took the EML bulb out! Shouldnt charge you no more than £20 quid for a scan! Saves buying a load of parts to just eliminate them from the fault.

ETA Beaten to it by Cossie Sean! Take it to a garage!

Cosnada

iTrader: (2)

maybe i didnt make my post too clear. i meant that before getting into diagnostics check the obvious eg brake bind & clutch slip - process of elimination.

if deffo engine / ecu related from my experience of diagnostics are sometimes apita too. a fault that bad should manifest itself tho.

whitenoise

throttle position sensor?

foreigneRS

if it does it at the same revs then it helps you narrow it down.

blocked fuel filters show up when you need more fuel from them than they are supplying, that usually means high gears, high load and high rpm, not 1st and 2nd gear.

binding brakes would affect everywhere. clutch slip is entirely different as engine revs rise without road speed increase. i wish people would engage their brains before spouting nonsense like that.

you sure it's not just misfiring as coilpacks can give that trouble?

best advice though is to get it diagnosed properly before spending on replacing parts, especially if you don't know much about these things.

Martsford

Hi
Thanks all for your advice, it seems like when driving the car doesn't seem to be getting enough fuel, and seems like it loses power for a split second or 2, which makes me think it is in fact the fuel filter and wouldn't really suprise me if it was as like I said in an earlier post, in recent weeks the car has been running on fumes in between fill ups. It does occasionally happen at steady driving speeds, not just when reaching 20,30mph in respective gears. I've had a look in a haynes manual at the replacement procedure and looks relatively simple.

Martsford

I drove the car this evening at a steady 30mph in 3rd gear and it seemed like it was shuddering then a sudden very very slight boost in momentum/power, personally seems like it's a fuel filter blockage. but as I said I'm no expert. One has been ordered and I'm awaiting its arrival, even if it's not the filter itself, it wont hurt to put a new one on there, as I'm unsure when the last time one was put on

Will pick up some sparks and pop them in and see if it makes any improvements.