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Technical 1.3 Multijet 90 Turbo Lag

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Technical 1.3 Multijet 90 Turbo Lag

allanhelen

allanhelen

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Just a general question for people running a GP with this engine, are you suffering from noticable turbo lag?

I jumped in mine the other day straight from driving the Cinq and I thought it was broken, absolutly noting until about 2500 revs then whoooo. I thought the whole idea of the variable geometry turbo was to stop this lag?

As don't drive the GP very often, My wife :worship:uses it most of the time I was wondering if I was just sensitive to it and its a fact of life or if mine actually does have a problem.
 
I didnt notice Turbo lag either but saying that I was test driving it after owning a Fabia vRS for 3 months. As with all diesels you need to drive differently to get what you can out of them. Techincally it should be laggy below 1750rpm which is where it peak torque is. I'd mention it at your convenience next time your at the dealer and maybe get a mechanic to go out with you / drive it.
 
The turbo lag is noticable on the 90 multijet.

Basically its down to having a small engine with a big turbo to create the power. I drove the 90 multijet when i had a Peugeot 2.0 HDI 90, and whilst they both produce 90 horsepower and about the same peak torque, because the Pug has a larger capacity there is always more torque and power at lower revs before the turbo kicks in properly.

As mentioned in a previous thread, its a bit annoying round town, but once on the open road you shouldn't really notice the lag too much.

You'll just have to remember to keep the revs up a bit and don't let it bog down, especially when pulling away sharply from roundabouts with traffic coming round! Can be a bit hairy :D
 
not on a regular basis, but test drove this and just felt i couldn't live with the lag. it may be because the only diesels i've driven have been vans, so i've probably got some to learn in terms of getting the best out of them - and doing so smoothly, but i found it to be unresponsive for a few seconds adn then woosh... for a little bit, till it hit the rev limit and then needed to be changed up - unresponsive, then woosh...

having said that, my wife really enjoyed the ride in that one - partly because of the lack of acceleration...

have gone for the 1.4 16v eleganza in the end.
 
I own a 90BHP 1.3, have had it since June and have clocked up 5,000 odd miles in it.

Yes it does have a bit of turbo "lag". i went from a 200BHP + Nissan 200SX to the Punto, and when first driving it i found that it was often slow to pull out of junctions roundabouts etc, compared to the 200sx which didnt have much lag at all. I dont know if it is because i have got used to it, or if after 5,000 miles the engine has loosened up a bit (most people say they need running in, despite the fact that the dealer at my fiat garage stated the engine was already run in) but it seems to accelerate better these days.

As already stated you have to keep the revs lower if you want to pull away quicklyb but at the end of the day it is still quite a remarkable engine, considering the size of the thing, it is still quite a nippy car, dont know what mileage yours is, but clock up a few more miles and you may find that the engine picks up a bit, that and the fact that you will adapt your driving style to it.

regards

Neil
 
Gunny Bedford said:
I own a 90BHP 1.3, have had it since June and have clocked up 5,000 odd miles in it.

Yes it does have a bit of turbo "lag". i went from a 200BHP + Nissan 200SX to the Punto, and when first driving it i found that it was often slow to pull out of junctions roundabouts etc, compared to the 200sx which didnt have much lag at all. I dont know if it is because i have got used to it, or if after 5,000 miles the engine has loosened up a bit (most people say they need running in, despite the fact that the dealer at my fiat garage stated the engine was already run in) but it seems to accelerate better these days.

As already stated you have to keep the revs lower if you want to pull away quicklyb but at the end of the day it is still quite a remarkable engine, considering the size of the thing, it is still quite a nippy car, dont know what mileage yours is, but clock up a few more miles and you may find that the engine picks up a bit, that and the fact that you will adapt your driving style to it.

regards

Neil
Click to expand...


6500 miles now,

I agree on boost its a great engine, but you can't drive like an italian all the time on uk roads

I'll put it down for now to the fact that I don't drive it that often and am used to petrol power, but I'll still have a moan when it goes in to be fixed next time.

plus where the hell did fiat get 72mpg from! I've tried driving like a nun on the motorway and get mid to high 50's at best
 
Diesels are weird, if you try driving carefully you won't get better consumption. Just drive normally, and 'surf' the torque, keep the engine in the torque band so it doesn't have to labour from low revs.
 
Hi everyone.

I had read than an Italy is now available a new update the centralina:)confused:, i don't know if is the name called in Britain), but i assure you that the motor after than improve very much in low rotations.

I'am waiting the same proceed were, in Portugal.
How about in Britain? Do you know anything about this?

RTC
 
I have found the turbo lag really bad, so much so that I'm now looking to chop the GP in for something else.:( I drive on a fair few country roads and have to cross a few major A roads quite frequently, and I find I am dicing with death if I don't give it a bootful away from the junction, get it a bit little wrong and it could be game over:eek: I know it is a small capacity diesel so sholdnt be expecting much torque low down, but it doesnt have enough ooommph to pull the skin off custard below 2000rpm!:D

The fuel economy isnt good either, my 60 mile trip to work half motorway, half A road returns about 50 mpg, whereas the same journey driving at around the same speeds in the missus' 1.5 dci megane returns about 65mpg........:confused:

I do love my GP, but the engine is its flaw.
 
Well, it's a tiny engine and doesn't begin to behave like a bigger one til it's got some boost.
What would you expect to happen then? Would you want the EMU to slug the performance just to make it smoother?
No, you'd want it to do its best to respond to your request.
The answer is just to learn a slightly different right foot technique.
Also, the 2nd gear 'whoosh', once you're in 4th or 5th, turns into a respectable shove on the motorway.
I traded in my Alfa 156 (1.8 TS) for the GP and the GP actually has more useful passing power on the motorway.
Overall I'm very pleased with the GP. It doesn't have the absolute mastery of handling of the 156 but it's agile and corners well up to its (lower) limit.
 
I am from Portugal and I have purchase a new GP 1.3 MJ 90 Turbo Lag and I love the car, but it is very complicate to run at low rmp, the car is too slow, my brother have an 1.5D citroeen saxo with 58 HP ( no turbo), and the car is much more faster at low rpm that GP MJ 90hp, I think that there is an update for centralina (ECU) to resolve that problem! Have you Know anythink about this?

Thanks

Corsamania
 
The turbo lag on our 90 multijet is very bad news, nothing below 2000 rpm. That plus the low 1st gear makes roundabouts very difficlut, no power then boost- then roun out of revs!. I also drive a Clio 182 and a clio turbo diesel and there is no turbo lag at all on the Clio, and gives me much better mpg too, 68 on the clio, 55 on the GP.

Honest John in the telegraph suggested a new chip but I cant see that solving the problem, just too small an engine and a big turbo. Our car has done 3000 miles so far, I hope it loosens up a little.

Other than the turbo lag i thing the car is very good indeed, its a Dynamic and the build quality is real good
 
Hello every one,

I have decided, I will put my car in one of preparation garage in Portugal and was told me that the GP will be much better :) and I hope so!. They will work in the ECU.

A curiosity is that if you put rearward gear and accelerate you will be pleased with the power at very low rpm, so why the car have no power when you use the 1st and 2nd gear at low rpm? I ask!
 
Have heared from a well connected friend that there is a solution to this!

the problem is that the remap required makes the MJ 90 faster in every respect than the 1.4 petrol sporting so Fiat will not officially put it on general release:mad: as it would be faster than there performance models :eek:

this apparently is one of the reasons behind the model / engine /transmission changes as the "lag cured" 1.3 mj 90 in 6 speed form has a faster 0-60 than the 1.9 sporting

so the 1.3 90MJ is now no longer available in 5 door 6 speed form as with the remap because of the lighter engine etc and lack of goodies it would be the fastest car in the current model range

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh so i did buy the right car :slayer: 3 guesses to the next steps and a horses head in the bed of the Fiat management :mad: bloody marketeers
 
"as the "lag cured" 1.3 mj 90 in 6 speed form has a faster 0-60 than the 1.9 sporting"

Very, very interesting post.....but would it make it faster than the 1.4 16 valve petrol or 1.9 multi-jet diesel engine??
 
I highly doubt it would be anywhere near as quick as the 1.9 as it is still carrying a similar amount of weight with less power and torque.

I am interested to see if it can be fixed though, I've read many times that it is a great engine but is let down by the turbo lag.
 
Superboy said:
"as the "lag cured" 1.3 mj 90 in 6 speed form has a faster 0-60 than the 1.9 sporting"

Very, very interesting post.....but would it make it faster than the 1.4 16 valve petrol or 1.9 multi-jet diesel engine??
Click to expand...

There is not much to choose betwee the mj90 and the 1.4 sporting as it is so wouldn't take much to make it quicker. The aftermarket remap guys can get 120 bhp and 265nm torque easily out of the mj 90 as it is
 
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