Technical Twinair 4x4 niggles

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Technical Twinair 4x4 niggles

eshroom

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I bought a second hand one of these yesterday for my mum.

Inspection, test drive, paperwork all good.

I have zero experience with this kind of engine and so hope people on this forum can identify some of the niggles I have found during my 1000km drive (purchased in Germany for my mum in Greece).

1. Slight chafing/rubbing sound in engine baby when engine is warm (less pronounced with AC off, but still there)

2. Only noticed today, in eco mode when accelerating in 2nd and 3rs there is a slight knocking, feels similar to driving over small cats eyes or bumps in the road. With eco mode off I get more of a jolt (or bigger knock) on acceleration from low revs in 2nd but then the knocking doesn't continue through the range.

Other than this the car drives absolutely perfect. Really impressed with the power and ride. I haven't gone wild but it feels very capable on the gravel and grass hills I've been on. But fuel economy is poor, 45mpg on 80% motorways yesterday (in eco mode) and under 30mpg on twisty mountain roads today (spirited with eco mode off). This sound about right? My 330d does better mpg than this...
 
yes i have a TA 2013 4x4. Fuel ecconomy is about 35-42mpg driven light footed but always eco mode off.
Worth checking the prop shaft centre bearing cage to make sure all is ok.
I experienced a pulsing of the ABS and poor acceleration intermittently, which turned out to be the throttle switch on the accelerator. Showed up on error
code onthe EDBO reader.
Otherwise fun car and exceptional performance off road in the mud and snow
 
1. Slight chafing/rubbing sound in engine baby when engine is warm (less pronounced with AC off, but still there)
Possibly the alternator - if 'dry' from use in dusty place? Putting aircon on adds to the 'load' on the belt

2. Only noticed today, in eco mode when accelerating in 2nd and 3rs there is a slight knocking, feels similar to driving over small cats eyes or bumps in the road. With eco mode off I get more of a jolt (or bigger knock) on acceleration from low revs in 2nd but then the knocking doesn't continue through the range.
I wonder if that is related to the dual mass flyweheel issues that others have here have mentioned in other threads? A dual mass flywheel is used to 'balance' the uneven running of the 2 cylinder engine. These do not take kindly to being asked to suddenly deliver power at very low revs - and can lead to a 'snatch' when taking up the drive? (I have a diesel so cannot offer first hand experience of this)
 
Thanks for the replies! So it seems it could be any of several things - DMF starting to go, propshaft, engine mounts. Will get it to a mechanic asap and try to figure it out. Hope it's not something big.
 
One other thing I noticed on steep off road, clutch needs feathering to get the power needed to go up the hill. Car not struggling, no wheel spin, but gnarly enough incline that it's hard to walk up. Is this normal? I've read low rev torque is supposed to be good in 1st and that feathering kills the DMF?
 
Car not particular linear in any gear until after about 40mph, and first two super short. As nice as it sounds that car would roll on biting point in 1st, not enough torque for that. My Panda been on a farm, and clutch and DMF still going, so pretty tough would have thought.
 
Hmmm.....I’d be a little wary here. The rubbing/chafing could be a multitude of things, but the a/c on/off comment might point to a weak bearing in the drive pulleys somewhere. If that’s the case it’ll continue to become worse until it’s obvious where it is coming from.
The knocking sounds odd, could be DMF related, or indeed a worn engine mount bush allowing a bit of movement. I guess it depends whether you hear it or feel it and where abouts it comes from. What I would say is that it certainly doesn’t seem ‘normal’, or at least our ~25k Miles TA 4x4 has not displayed any of these knocks.
I’ve yet to find a hill that would need feathering if already rolling in 1st gear, it is LOW. A hill start on the other hand, is always going to require a bit of juggling of throttle and clutch, particularly if heavily loaded. Anything over a crawl and the clutch is up and left alone for me.
Glad you’re enjoying your new car - that are great little motors!
 
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Just saw Herts Hillhopper’s post - tend to agree on all points. Just throw in the additional possibility of engine mount wear - if you feel a ‘bump’ under take up of load that feels like something hitting the body, I’d err toward that possibility (memories of a heavily abused BL Mini that used to knock the exhaust under the floor when jumping on the throttle, until I fitted a ‘head steady’ kit! ;) )
 
One other thing I noticed on steep off road, clutch needs feathering to get the power needed to go up the hill. Car not struggling, no wheel spin, but gnarly enough incline that it's hard to walk up. Is this normal? I've read low rev torque is supposed to be good in 1st and that feathering kills the DMF?
Check that the Eco button is 'off'... (I believe it defaults back to 'on' when car is started?)
 
Thanks for the replies! Car looks very well looked after so with 50k miles, I hope none of these issues turn out to be too serious.

The knocking sounds odd, could be DMF related, or indeed a worn engine mount bush allowing a bit of movement. I guess it depends whether you hear it or feel it and where abouts it comes from.

Barely audible but I can feel it. Initially I thought it was road surface but then realised it was tapping away at a constant speed and just in 2nd and 3rd when accelerating from.low recs. It feels pretty much exactly like going over a series of cats eyes.
 
BTW - 45mpg on motorways/30mpg giving it some welly around the back roads sounds ‘normal’. These engines can be very economical, but you have to coax it out of them with really careful footwork and gear selection. I had an amazing 60mpg on a VERY carefully driven A-road trip (these roads tend to be best for mpg) to visit a friend on Sunday, but only averaged 45mpg on the same route on the return leg, with no real effort put in to drive economically. (Only indicated figures)
 
Got a service and all has seemingly been resolved. It's a very sensitive engine.
 
The car hadn't been serviced for 20,000km. He put it down to the state of the oil coupled with the comparitively high demands placed on the engine. He told me to bring it to him every 7.5k km or 12 months.
 
New issue. Knocking manifests noticeable in 3rd gear and keeps knocking even when taken out of gear. Knocking seems to be coming from underneath. Knocking speed is consistent with travelling speed rather than RPM. Faster I go faster it knocks. Any ideas?

I've read the 85ps doesn't have a DMF so hopefully not that!
 
We had all the tyres changed a few days ago, so I thought I'd stop by the tyre shop on the way to the mechanic just in case the wheels weren't on quite tight enough. Turns out that was the issue. I would have tried tightening them myself had the car come with a spare wheel instead of a bloody puncture repair kit!
 
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