Having Engine Problems

[mr beads]

i have a 1.0 iq2 that i got in September 2010 it has done about 6500 miles and the engine is intermittently down on power to the point where it struggles to pull off i have tried super an normal unleaded and it makes no difference there are no warning lights on the dash to suggest a fault with the engine but when its down on power you can have you foot to the board from 20 mph in second gear and it will take around 10 seconds if not more to get to 40 and it feels like the engine is juddering when you accelerate and because it is intermittent it conveniently never happens when its in the garage which is really annoying.

dose anybody have any ideas ?

[thewildblue]

20 in 2nd gear will equate to about 2,000 rpm, not exactly in the torque sweet spot. 1st gear is good for nearly an indicated 40 so if you in a hurry use the revs to the limiter, thats what its there for.. ;-) . From what I saw on a dyno chart the little "putt putt" doesnt really start making any sort of useful torque until about 3k. This is fine once your on the move as 3rd,4th and 5th are quite close-ish ratios, but 1st to 2nd gear is a massive gap, even if you rape it to the limiter in 1st its still drops you back to just under 4k. Peak torque on these cars is at 5k IIRC.

Also do you have the climate control/air con running as this will pillage the power available as well.

[mr beads]

i know the engine has very little power as it is but its almost asif the engine is in limp mode ...... its alot more significant that the power loss from having the aircon on .......

[Grumpy Cabbie]

I've found from my girlfriends IQ that power is reduced when the green 'cool' light is on. Perhaps this is a way to stop you overloading the engine when it's cold? or maybe keeping emissions down?

Does yours suffer reduced power at all times or just when the engine is cold?

[Heathie]

Hi, thwildblue talks alot of sense.

But I have had the problem my self when rolling up to a roundabout in second then seeing a gap and booting it only to find their is nothing their, not enough power.

The revs are way to low to get the car up and going and your traveling to fast to drop it into first (which is something i havent been tought to do and wouldnt do any way).

[thewildblue]

@ Mr Beads, does the car pull to the redline/limiter in the first 3 gears as it should do no problem...though 3rd gear can take a while. Maybe you have a sticking hand brake/caliper or even a dodgy MAF sensor thats buggering up the mixture. Whats your fuel economy like...it could even be a collapsed CAT.

@grumpy caddy, Wont do the engine any good at all giving it "stick" when its cold it will just cause it to wear out quicker....best to warm up an engine properly before engaging "thrape it" mode. More modern cars are having a cold limiter, my old RX8 used to apparently not rev beyond 5k rpm(9500rpm limiter) when cold, I never tested this, as especially with a rotary they need to be warmed up properly.

@ heathie, just slam it(using clutch of course) into 1st gear, it wont do it any harm as 1st will take you over the 30 limit easily....the gearbox is pretty good on the IQ with the exception of 2nd gear being a bit notchy from time to time. If youre alreadly doing 30mph then 2nd should pull fine as the torque curve is just starting to kick in at 3k rpm(30mph in 2nd gear, but 1st is still available as it will be about 1k shy of redline, so its useable but not for long.

[s44gtw]

A small point & probably not related to the OP problem,

but the Traction Control can/does cut power to stop wheel spin.

(as explained in the owners manual)

Try switching the Traction Control totally off along with the Stability control off by holding in the button for more than 3 seconds, (while stationary)

then see if there is any change in things.

(there may be a problem here that you are going to need to get the car plugged in to find out if there are any fault codes.)

I have just gone back to using normal un-leaded 95 octane petrol after using Super un-leaded 99 octane for 1000 miles.

Getting 65 mpg easily now over longer runs on 60 mph roads,

& never below 55 however hard its driven.

(no advantage now for me in using the Super Un-leaded as its giving no better mileage & the engines great on 95 ron.)

Thats with TC always off at the start of a journey..

(its a multidrive box tho)

george

[thewildblue]

Ive actually had the traction/stability control cut the power well after the incident and can recreate easily enough. If you attack roundabouts hard enough in the dry to get the light flashing, alarm beeping, a load of tyre noise and a dab of oppo, when you exit the roundabout either onto a straight or take a left turn it will completely cut the power, taking anything upto 2 or 3 seconds after the slide. Its actually quite dangerous and intrusive as is the over active ABS when you hit bumps in the road.