Cant get over 60mph unless im rolling down a hill...

[Cornish_Mafia]

OK, car in question is my saxo furio, only engine upgrade that im aware of is a K&N air filter, apart from that it looks pretty standard to me. I aint 100% savvy with cars so please be gentle...


To get to the point my car feels like its been castrated! i have just come back from doing my first "long trip" in it to Exeter and back which i spose is about 100miles each way and on the way up it wasnt too bad, i could quite happily overtake and in my mind it felt pretty normal, untill now i would say that my car had a fair amount of guts to it and if i wanted to overtake i know i could.

On the way back lets just say that going up a hill (which wasnt all that steep) i couldnt get my car above 45mph and got overtaken by a caravan and everyone else was looking at me as if i was intentionally being a pain in the ass. It was just really sluggish and as the title says unlesss i was actually going down hill best i could get was 60, downhill maybe up to 80 if it was really steep.

Now im thinking that its either gong to be an issue with my air intake, fuel pump or exhaust from what i can see on other topics which kinda look the same but are there other signs i should be looking out for if its any of these? I know people are going to say that it just needs a kick up the arse and a service but i would like to try a few things first so i can learn for myself.

Thanks in advance btw

[Tringaling]

I am not being rude but what is your gearing like?

[Cornish_Mafia]

No offence taken :) Change up at around 3k revs usually though when you got your foot to the floor in 5th and doing 60mph it just takes the piss a little bit! As i said before this is going on a flat surface as well :(

To add insult to injury i just locked my keys in the car! Just gave the K&N filter a good old clean, put it back on, turned the engine on then went round the front to have a listen and i forgot that the central locking kicks in after a minute or so....joys of joys!!

thankfully the bonnet was still up so just disconnected the ICV to save my petrol, at least i have learnt something i spose :y:

[Cornish_Mafia]

merciless bumpage!

[666saxo666]

sounds like the ecu has gone into 'limp' mode, i think its called. Its like a safe mode if the ecu detects a problem. Often there isnt a problem though. The french are just a wee bit retarded, as anyone who owns a french car will tell you.

anyway can be a number of things. Can be fixed by resetting the ecu. Disconnect your battery. Just unscrew the terminals on the battery and leave for 30 secs. Then screw them back on and go for a drive. The car might behave a little wierd as the fuel adjusts from the reset. This might be a free fix. have a go...

[Tringaling]

Does it feel like its sluggish

[saxova]

Change at 6000, problem fixed.

[stevo67]

Mine did this with no EML light on at all,it turned out in the end to be a burnt out valve so lost quite a bit of compression on 1 cylinder.

[Cornish_Mafia]

sounds like the ecu has gone into 'limp' mode, i think its called. Its like a safe mode if the ecu detects a problem. Often there isnt a problem though. The french are just a wee bit retarded, as anyone who owns a french car will tell you.

anyway can be a number of things. Can be fixed by resetting the ecu. Disconnect your battery. Just unscrew the terminals on the battery and leave for 30 secs. Then screw them back on and go for a drive. The car might behave a little wierd as the fuel adjusts from the reset. This might be a free fix. have a go...

Sounds interesting! I need to go and top up my fuel anyway so ill give this a go in a minute :)

Does it feel like its sluggish

Yes, i would say so. mainly when in 3rd/4th/5th gear though

Change at 6000, problem fixed.

lol, rather not

Mine did this with no EML light on at all,it turned out in the end to be a burnt out valve so lost quite a bit of compression on 1 cylinder.

Sounds serious, if its this the issue is it going to burn a hole in my pocket to get fixed?

cheers for the input so far guys :y:

[boony]

Blocked cat ?

[opee]

Blocked cat ?

my first thought.

does it drink fuel?

[stevo67]

Signs of the CAT breaking up would be popping & banging & a sound like gravel in a tin can when you push the loud pedal.

[boony]

not always , sometimes they break up and block the exhaust

[stevo67]

not always , sometimes they break up and block the exhaust

True which is why I had my complete exhaust replaced as I had bits of cat in it.:drink:

[christurner291]

My CAT broke and yeah you will know if its done it its SO nosiy and rattly

[saxova]

It's a 1400, and your driving everywhere under 3k it's going to be slow.

Power's after 3k..

[Manu]

not always , sometimes they break up and block the exhaust

Had it once, the ceramic fell apart and I had bits loose in the top part of the cat. It was covered by guarantee but I still had to cough up 20 quid to have a printed proof of computer reading (bottom lambda sensor kicked in of course) and indicating a cat fault.


My CAT broke and yeah you will know if its done it its SO nosiy and rattly

+1, sounds like having gravel inside your exhaust

[Cornish_Mafia]

Thanks for all the replies peeps, been really helpful though admittedly most of it was stuff which i wasnt really comfortable checking myself so its in the garage being looked at.....they have had it since wednesday and they seem to think that its some sort of electrical issue :wacko:

admittedly it might be that the car has an electrical issue anyway and they want to sort it before trying anything else or whatever - they know more about it all then i do! Only thing is i need it back at least by tomorrow so i can drive back to Soton for uni :fcuk:

I wouldnt say that theres been any popping/banging going on and i aint really noticed any rattly noise when i use it :-/


Hopefully the garage gets it sorted but i shall let you all know what it was once he sorts it, if he does!!! To me having the car for 4+days to sort out an electrical issue seems a bit excessive but then its not like i could do any better lol

[tomw1123]

Have you checked the throttle cable? When i bought my furio i drove it all the way home thinking wow this is shit.. Then i found the throttle cable adjuster wasnt there so i could only get like 1/2 throttle, couple of paper clips later, problem solved ;)