thirda
9th August 2006, 17:25
Hi folks,
I was wondering if someone might be able to give some advice about my partner's J reg. 1.3 Maestro Clubman. We've been having problems recently with the engine failing to start and cutting out at low speeds and gears, coupled, it seems, with overheating. Basically, the symptoms are:
1. When cold or the car's been standing for a while, it seems to start OK.
2. After it's been running for a short while, or it's particularly hot, at low speeds or gears, the engine note changes and the accelerator either provides no power at all, or causes the car to jerk and jump about. When it's in this state, it tends to stall if we stop moving, and often will fail to start again.
3. After a very short time of driving in apparently any conditions, the temperature very quickly rises to around the halfway mark on the dashboard scale.
The starter motor, ignition, coil and battery all seem OK. We've had various opinions from different people. One garage claimed that the throttle had been sticking, and as a result of that, he said the carb needs to be rebuilt. He also found two coolant leaks - one on or near the water pump or thermostat housing, and one from the bottom of the core plug or leaking somewhere around the bottom of the inlet manifold. A roadside recovery bloke pointed out a split in the main vacuum line connector, at the end where it connects to other pipes (not the end plugged into the banjo union).
We've tried taping up the split in the vacuum pipe, and sure enough, doing so nearly always makes the acceleration/starting problems go away briefly, until it splits open again or falls off. We haven't been able to find a replacement pipe or rubber elbows for it at anywhere we've phoned, and the overheating problem's still there.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we might try next? Is there likely to be anything in the suggestion of a carb rebuild, or is the vacuum pipe weakness most likely to be causing the starting problems? Is the high temperature likely to be a cause or a symptom of something else, and could the overheating be exacerbating pressures on the vacuum pipe? The obvious thing to do about the temperature is to get the coolant leaks fixed, but we're reluctant to spend on that without being sure that the other problems can be sorted too. (Especially after just getting a new exhaust section, new tyres and an oil and filter change!) Finally, does anyone know where we could get hold of a replacement vacuum pipe, particularly the rubber elbows, either from an old Maestro or from another make of car whose spares are a bit easier to find?
Sorry if that all seems a bit tangled, I'm a bit confused about it myself!
Thanks for your time,
Allan
I was wondering if someone might be able to give some advice about my partner's J reg. 1.3 Maestro Clubman. We've been having problems recently with the engine failing to start and cutting out at low speeds and gears, coupled, it seems, with overheating. Basically, the symptoms are:
1. When cold or the car's been standing for a while, it seems to start OK.
2. After it's been running for a short while, or it's particularly hot, at low speeds or gears, the engine note changes and the accelerator either provides no power at all, or causes the car to jerk and jump about. When it's in this state, it tends to stall if we stop moving, and often will fail to start again.
3. After a very short time of driving in apparently any conditions, the temperature very quickly rises to around the halfway mark on the dashboard scale.
The starter motor, ignition, coil and battery all seem OK. We've had various opinions from different people. One garage claimed that the throttle had been sticking, and as a result of that, he said the carb needs to be rebuilt. He also found two coolant leaks - one on or near the water pump or thermostat housing, and one from the bottom of the core plug or leaking somewhere around the bottom of the inlet manifold. A roadside recovery bloke pointed out a split in the main vacuum line connector, at the end where it connects to other pipes (not the end plugged into the banjo union).
We've tried taping up the split in the vacuum pipe, and sure enough, doing so nearly always makes the acceleration/starting problems go away briefly, until it splits open again or falls off. We haven't been able to find a replacement pipe or rubber elbows for it at anywhere we've phoned, and the overheating problem's still there.
Does anyone have any suggestions as to what we might try next? Is there likely to be anything in the suggestion of a carb rebuild, or is the vacuum pipe weakness most likely to be causing the starting problems? Is the high temperature likely to be a cause or a symptom of something else, and could the overheating be exacerbating pressures on the vacuum pipe? The obvious thing to do about the temperature is to get the coolant leaks fixed, but we're reluctant to spend on that without being sure that the other problems can be sorted too. (Especially after just getting a new exhaust section, new tyres and an oil and filter change!) Finally, does anyone know where we could get hold of a replacement vacuum pipe, particularly the rubber elbows, either from an old Maestro or from another make of car whose spares are a bit easier to find?
Sorry if that all seems a bit tangled, I'm a bit confused about it myself!
Thanks for your time,
Allan