Technical Stiff manual gearbox and sudden turbo boost

[Bazm]

Hi folks, just bought a 150 diesel eleganza. Been driving it for a couple of days and getting used to it. All good but a couple of issues that I'm not sure are normal:

1- gear box seems too stiff. Gear changes have to be made quite slowly and deliberately.

2- the car picks up speed well and seems fine, but there is a definite and sudden turbo boost which is very noticeable. Is it normal for the boost to be so pronounced? Boost kicks in between 2 and 3k revs.

If anyone has any inputs it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

 

[tarquin1867]

Hi folks, just bought a 150 diesel eleganza. Been driving it for a couple of days and getting used to it. All good but a couple of issues that I'm not sure are normal:

1- gear box seems too stiff. Gear changes have to be made quite slowly and deliberately.

2- the car picks up speed well and seems fine, but there is a definite and sudden turbo boost which is very noticeable. Is it normal for the boost to be so pronounced? Boost kicks in between 2 and 3k revs.

If anyone has any inputs it would be much appreciated. Thanks.

To answer them in reverse--
The turbo does kick in around the 2000 rpm mark this is "normal" with the car .
The gearchange being "deliberate " is not.
A couple of things to think about are -
Does the clutch dis- engage and re-engage in about the same place on the pedal travel? If it die-engages at the bottom of the travel and bites early on in the opposite direction it could mean there is air in the hydraulics or an internal leak in one of the pistons.
If there are no obvious noises when you change gear but it is just slow I would check that the gearbox lube is ok or change it to one of the right spec . I think it is supposed to be a "sealed for life " type of box but as I didnt have to mess with it when I had my Croma i`m not really sure on this one.
Good luck with your car , it will make you smile / frown in almost equal measure but you will find , like the News of the World, "all Croma life" is here, in this forum.

 

[Radlet6]

Re the turbo boost issue. That could be the egr valve sticking. Sticking egrs give mediocre performance up to 1800 rpm. Then everything comes back together again.

Although performance is better above 2k rpm it should not be that noticeable.

 

[Doofer]

This engine should be pretty lively at all revs, and the turbo lag isn't normally that noticeable. Mine runs similar to yours at the moment, as I know it's not very well. The EGR valve is a good place to start, also check the inlet pressure while running using some diagnosis software.

I suspect that your problem is not specifically lag, but that it's running badly at low revs. Mine is bad up to 2-2.5k rpm. It wasn't like this in the past. It's also the 150 16v, and there are lots of similar reports here too. You should realise you actually have a pretty fast car when you do sort it.

I thought the gear box change was horrible when we first got ours. It's OK, but certainly not a slick action, it's pretty stiff compared to other cars we've had before. In fact I think it's got the stiffest gear change of any car I've had. I think this is just a characteristic.

 

[Bazm]

I really appreciate the input folks. EGR will be removed and cleaned. Swirl gasket fitted if it doesn't have one.

I feel better (bizzarly) knowing that the gear change is not so slick anyway. Probably means mine is relatively normal. Will still change the oil though and check it out.

Will report back after the work has been done.

 

[s130]

I've replied to your private PMs...

You have to remember the Croma is an "old lads/boys" car

Everything should be slow and gentle. The Croma inherited this from the General Motors Executive/numb skull drivers pools.

 

[Bazm]

I suppose you're right. When I drive an American car, especially a v8 I have no desire to drive fast. It must be that delay between pressing the accelerator, noise happening, wheels turning and the body lazily catching up a while later.

An Italian car though...

 

[s130]

An Italian car though...

Well the Engine (Italian) is willing but the drive chain & suspension which is GM is far from willing.

If I tried to drive my Croma for over 6000k miles on race circuits like I did in my UnoSX and my wife in her Strada Abarth then we wouldn't get to the first service. Engine would be OK but the rest would be shot

Modern Fiats have lost the "Buzz", the passion to be driven with
"gusto" and ability to take abuse.

I'm not picking on Fiats. All modern makes seem to be ailed with the same corporate "just enough engineering to meet 80% of the population requirements"!.

 

[Bazm]

The only other Italian car I ever had was a Lancia HPE from 1982. Fantastic!