Car throttle problem?

Over the past day or so I've noticed my 5 year old Fiesta seems to have a problem with the throttle. I'm driving with my foot down to the floor and it's really slow to pick up speed even so. I've tried changing gears to see if it responds better but I fear some sort of (expensive) problem has developed. Not noticed any other symptoms.

I'll drop into the Ford garage on the way home and seek advice but quite frankly, I'd trust the opinion of the good folk of GC sooner than the average grease monkey on commission, so I thought I'd ask for comments here as well.

I won't be expecting you to actually fix it, though!

 

Hi Madahhlia.

Is it misfiring?

 

Did you move the rubber mat at all in the past few days?

 

Could be loads of things, some expensive, some cheap.

Is it petrol or diesel? Turbo or no?

Any warning lights on the dash or nasty smells from the exhaust?

When you say its slow to pick up speed, do you mean it simply lacks power, or do you mean you put your foot down, nothing happens for a couple of seconds, and then it lumbers into life? (ie it works but it hesitates)?

 

Ooh, good one. Clutch failure. I had that one once on a Ford Escort.

 

Replacement clutch kit + fitting + flywheel skim cost me £290 a few years ago. I'd have got away with much less than that because the flywheel wouldn't have needed skimming as the clutch hadn't shattered.

I was thinking coil packs too. And in this heat, I'd be checking coolant (overheating engines go sluggish), and if that's fine, maybe temperature sensor, and if its got a funny little flappy valve thing in the airbox as some cars have, I'd be checking that its not stuck itself in the cold start position, sucking in air from inside the engine bay, where the oxygen content by volume in this heat will be so low the poor engine will be starving.

 

Yes! I did. Brushed some dust off, unusual for me. Phew, thank goodness, I'll just straighten it and everything will be back to normal.

 

The mat in my Gotilda slipped forward once and jammed right up under the hinge of the throttle. That mat is less than half an inch thick, but because it was under the hinge end and not just the bit you press, it meant that I lost about 2 inches of throttle pedal travel. Enough to turn Gotilda into a milk float until I released what had happened.

 

Have driven home, didn't seem to be playing up too bad so I skipped the Ford garage as I can go tomorrow if needs must.

No other symptoms at all, no unnerving dashboard lights, I thought when I started it at lunchtime that I could smell petrol fumes through the open window, but not sure. The petrol gauge seems to be standing still, maybe even gone up slightly since yesterday, am I imagining that?

The only prob is that when I'm cruising through town and accelerating from 25mph through to 40mph (but only when speed limits allow, natch) it seems sluggish to pick up speed, but not in a jerky or hesitant way, and I realised I'd already pressed the pedal down to the metal, which doesn't seem right, it should be responsive before that with a bit of "play" to spare in it. I've only done town driving since noticing it, not been over 50 mph. No noticeable difference to the revs , it's not over-revving but failing to pick up, just sluggish.

Interested to know that hot weather may have an influence. It's not overheating like my old Escort used to do according to the temp gauge.

It's done about 35,000 miles, petrol engine, serviced about 6 months ago - I think?? But well within interval time, any way.

 

Ah! Zigs was being serious! I had no idea, I just naturally assumed it was a wind-up, not sure why.

 

Moi? Wind anybody up? Never