Lazy Car

[Dino]

Hey, guys, it's been a while, in the meantime I enjoyed German highways a lot :)

I have a question for you all..I drive my car mostly in the city (VTS, 2.0, 180hp) and I have noticed that the car has gotten "lazy". When I step on a gas pedal for instance after stopping at a red light, it doesn't seem to respond well and it is not as "explosive" as it used to be, it sort of "coughs" like an old car

Could the city use be the reason for this and what can I do to solve this problem? Restart the ECU?

I just want it to be as responsive as it was when it was new..

thanks in advance for your help!

[Mike5483]

Hey, guys, it's been a while, in the meantime I enjoyed German highways a lot :)

I have a question for you all..I drive my car mostly in the city (VTS, 2.0, 180hp) and I have noticed that the car has gotten "lazy". When I step on a gas pedal for instance after stopping at a red light, it doesn't seem to respond well and it is not as "explosive" as it used to be, it sort of "coughs" like an old car

Could the city use be the reason for this and what can I do to solve this problem? Restart the ECU?

I just want it to be as responsive as it was when it was new..

thanks in advance for your help!

 

Get it on a motorway and give it some revs.

 

Keep it in 4th or even third for a few miles (at high revs) this should help clear the engine.

 

See what its like after that.

 

It probably is down to the high percentage of city driving.

[ham's c4vts]

i agree with mike, dont spare the horses! :)

[Welshguy]

i agree with mike, dont spare the horses! :unsure:

 

Sorry to hijack this thread but I'm interested in this subject -

 

My VT is driven quite carefully, as my wallet doesn't like Petrol Stations...and with a 1.4

I'm not exactly going to be driving like a rally car. However...I do give it the odd right foot action, but not pushing it (I.E taking each gear to the redline), as Im concerned my engine is bearing on the fragile side. Am I doing the right thing, or should I really give the engine some stick...as from what I've read it's good for it? :)

[wozza]

Its good for the engine to occasionally be taken up to the redline though the gears. So dont be worried about it. Your also not gonna break the engine doing it. These engines are put through a hell of a lot more torture in development and testing than you will do on the road.

[Welshguy]

Its good for the engine to occasionally be taken up to the redline though the gears. So dont be worried about it. Your also not gonna break the engine doing it. These engines are put through a hell of a lot more torture in development and testing than you will do on the road.

 

I think it's my mindset due to the Head Gasket change on my VT after 10,000 miles - I drove the car quite carefully upto that point (and still do), so I think I'm of the opinion that if the head gasket went with me driving sensibly, imagine what could go wrong if I spanked it!!! :)

[wozza]

Dont worry about it honestly If it goes there is something else wrong with the engine there designed to be able to utilize the full rev range afterall other wise your rev limit would be lower.

[Stuey]

I was told this yesterday by one of the techs at the garage, if a car just fails an emmisions test on the MOT they will take it outside and redline fir a minute or two, that clears all the crap off the cylinders...back on the machine and bish bosh passed.

[wozza]

There you go do your part to help prevent global warming...floor your car everywhere.

[Dino]

I was told this yesterday by one of the techs at the garage, if a car just fails an emmisions test on the MOT they will take it outside and redline fir a minute or two, that clears all the crap off the cylinders...back on the machine and bish bosh passed.

well guys, I've made 4000 km in the last 3 weeks...and I pushed it real hard, driving more than 200 km/h in Germany for 10 minutes, then going down to 180-190, and then again to 200 etc...this didn't solve the problem

Mind you, I didn't try going all the way up in lower gears, but I will try that next week when I'll be driving in Germany again

thanks for the advice!

[Welshguy]

well guys, I've made 4000 km in the last 3 weeks...and I pushed it real hard, driving more than 200 km/h in Germany for 10 minutes, then going down to 180-190, and then again to 200 etc...this didn't solve the problem

Mind you, I didn't try going all the way up in lower gears, but I will try that next week when I'll be driving in Germany again

thanks for the advice!

 

God bless the Autobahn :)

[Guest GarthyB]

There you go do your part to help prevent global warming...floor your car everywhere.

 

:) I do hope you're being sarcy!!!! :lol:

 

It's a conspiracy man, global warming. Why has it only become an issue now?? The government only tells you what it wants to...so they can tax everthing in the name of Green!! Didn't Bono sing about that..... ;)

 

If car's are so bad...why are you driving one??? Dare I say the 'H' word.

 

Back to the original post...

 

You give that car some stick and see if it loosens anything up. If not you are looking at a chemical De-coke. There used to be a product called 10K Boost, I think there is an alternative now...can't think of it's name.

You spray the stuff into the intake whilst revving around 2000rpm, and you see a cloud of smoke if there's anything to burn off.

I say if there's anything to burn off(carbon build up), well the reason...

I used this stuff once on my mates old Golf GTi, it used to have two cans in the pack so it was 4 lots of 1/2 a can with a 3-5min idle between treatments. By the last 1/2 can there was no smoke at all!! The first 1/2 was a thick white cloud that floated down the road. His car idled better, accelerated better and his MPG was up.....miracle in a can?? Yes, I thought so.

Some garages provide chemical de-coke services........time to remortgage.....better to DIY.

[wozza]

Stick around and you will see a lot of my comments are sarcy lol.

 

Why do i drive a car....as i dont care about global warming hence me wanting a big American V8 powered thing.

 

The UK is already a rather green country compared to other who are doing sod all to combat anything. And to be honest were not doing that much to the bloody planet anyway. It has a habit of changing its climate somewhat.

[Guest GarthyB]

The UK is already a rather green country compared to other who are doing sod all to combat anything. And to be honest were not doing that much to the bloody planet anyway. It has a habit of changing its climate somewhat.

 

Ah, a kindred spirit.

 

Nice one...other countries doing sod all...you'd loved to have seen the cloud of smog that was over Cairo last year when I was on holiday. Gordon Brown could make a fortune if he tried to turn them green. But then flying to Egypt must have generated a load of Co2!! Never mind, eh.

The world will evolve, the seas will rise, millions will die....and with millions dead the Co2 levels will drop and the climate will settle down again.......this whole process taking just several thousand years.

 

The third world countries don't care about the environment they just want to eat and pay for health care...hence the destruction of rain forests (causing massive landslides, and the eradication of countless species of animals), burning of coal for power stations, etc. If asked them to reduce their carbon footprint they'd probably tell you to, 'Go home and make sex with the bodies of your dead ancestors' or another local insult that doesn't translate too well. :)

[Dino]

:blink: I do hope you're being sarcy!!!! <_<

 

It's a conspiracy man, global warming. Why has it only become an issue now?? The government only tells you what it wants to...so they can tax everthing in the name of Green!! Didn't Bono sing about that..... :lol:

 

If car's are so bad...why are you driving one??? Dare I say the 'H' word.

 

Back to the original post...

 

You give that car some stick and see if it loosens anything up. If not you are looking at a chemical De-coke. There used to be a product called 10K Boost, I think there is an alternative now...can't think of it's name.

You spray the stuff into the intake whilst revving around 2000rpm, and you see a cloud of smoke if there's anything to burn off.

I say if there's anything to burn off(carbon build up), well the reason...

I used this stuff once on my mates old Golf GTi, it used to have two cans in the pack so it was 4 lots of 1/2 a can with a 3-5min idle between treatments. By the last 1/2 can there was no smoke at all!! The first 1/2 was a thick white cloud that floated down the road. His car idled better, accelerated better and his MPG was up.....miracle in a can?? Yes, I thought so.

Some garages provide chemical de-coke services........time to remortgage.....better to DIY.

 

thanks mate, I will look it up, in the meantime I will try without any chemicals

@Welshguy: yes, long live the A3 ! (Cologne-Frankfurt-Nurnberg etc...) :)

[Dino]

So, months later, I still have the same problem

The car has lost its power

I haven't used any chemicals as I was advised not to do it. After all, it's a brand new car and it shouldn't be suffering from anything like this..

Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be?

I have also noticed that the fuel consumption has increased dramatically..

I took it to the dealer who did all the computer tests and apparently all seems to be working fine, but it's not. I can feel the difference

I thought it was the spark plugs. They checked them too and they said that even though I should replace them after 45,000 km they looked alright

I am having them replaced tomorrow (they didn't have any in stock) and we will see. This is really annoying. I just got back from another 3,500 km trip and this car is not behaving the way it should be and the way it behaved before this problem started..

anyway, thanks for listening :(