I seem to be having a intermitent problem when accelerating. Occassionally when I am traveling at say 30 MPH in fourth gear and I put my foot down my RPM will raise up to about 3500RPM and then drop back down as if the car is fighting for grip and then found it. My first though was that it maybe my clutch going but it is very difficult to replicate when trying to show my mechanic. It does not seem to matter if the car is hot or cold and the weather does not seem to have any effect. I would say it happens about every 3 days or so. The only things that has changed since the problem started is I put K seal in the water tank as I was losing water fast and steam was coming from under the bonnet. It sorted it out and I am now leak free. I also filled up at my local petrol station and put a bit of red-hex in afterwards (Not sure if this can effect it) Any suggestions to what may be the problem or if eithier of these products can have adverse effects?

2 tests:

From 0 mph, raise the engine speed to 6000 RPM. Then engage 1st and let your foot off the clutch. ASR off ofcourse. Do you get acceleration, traction and grip immediately (or even some wheelspin perhaps)? Or will the revs drop slowly until about 3000 RPM before the clutch grips?

Drive slowly in 20 mph. Engage 5th (or 6th gear if you have). Do as the above, rev it up to 6500 or so and let the clutch out. Check if it grips immediately at a given RPM or drops slowy until it bites.

M.

Is that to test the clutch?

Yes.

Is it a 1.6 engine?

Deckchair5 said:

Is it a 1.6 engine?

Click to expand...

Good question. Don't rev the diesel to 6500 RPM...

Ha! The reason I ask is that 1.6 clutches seem to be made of ripened banana skins. No real problem, in fact quite nice and easy, until they get slightly hot with a fairly normal uphill start or similar and then it was like cottage cheese, forget any real grip until it cooled back down again. Then it was absolutely fine, you could do all the normal checks like move off in 2nd gear, make it stall, sudden full throttle in 4th and it was all fine but once it got hot, forget it.
It was the same all the way through its life and lasted for 75k miles until I finally got fed with it and reckoned it probably wouldn't be much longer before it went anyway and decided to have it changed.

Well, after that what a difference, never slipped since on a bog standard replacement clutch. So it's a poor clutch material or weak springs on the original clutch that means poor friction and "only just hanging in there" type of grip

You are right about that my friend. Mine has also behaved like this for 4 years. It measures your stress and chooses to slip when you want to jump into a roundabout...

Driving around with a trailer with 800 kg of gravel (1100 kg in total) didn't actually make it better either. (Was doing some gardening work). Try reversing uphill with a trailer on the OEM clutch. That's smelly business.

Can't afford a clutch right now, but it sweats a bit oil here and there, so it might be time though...

Right. First of all it is a 1.6 petrol on the MW. I have just tried 30MPH in 5th revving up to 6500rpm and then release clutch. It dropped back down to about 2000rpm and then picked up steady as would be expected.

Regarding to the other issue of the cottage cheese clutch material. I have had the car for over 12 months and never noticed this issue before but I never travel very far, around 50 miles per week. I am a little bit nervous because I have just got a second job that is going to put some serious mileage on the car. Is there a diffinitve way to tell if it is the clutch?

I wouldn't worry about it. Microscopic chances it will self destruct. If the problem persists and it annoys you, like happens every day, just get it changed. I don't think it is too much work (a couple of hours at a garage perhaps), its pretty easy to get access under there.

I don't think the clutch was a problem. The dash board froxe this morning during the checks. I still have lights & indicators but no speedo or RPM. I have just removed the battery cable to see if I can reset it manually. Is there any connections that I should check to make sure they are ok? If so where? A quick eply would be very helpful

Good news. The battery reset seems to have worked. I am to the point where I think I might tade it in to get something a lot more reliable. Perhaps someone on here could answer me a question. When I first bought the car I asked the dealer to provide me with the drinks tray for the back passengerside seat. I have asked several times but he has not provided this. It is wrote on the reciept. Is there some kind of law that states it is a incomplete order and would I be entitled to my money back? BTW it was bought Jan 09.

Anybody?

No way you'd be entitled to a full refund after this length of time. Best you could hope for would be to get the drinks tray fitted elsewhere and bill your supplying dealer for the cost (and take him to the Small Claims Court if he fails to pay).

Thanks for that. Been and seen the dealer and the price he offered me was shocking. So lloks like a repair until I get more money. Any suggestions on where to check for the dashboard connection?