General Sluggishness

[RussMan]

Hi there,

FTO seems to have seen better days as of late and I’ve a funny feeling it’s going to cost me a few quid to put her right. I'll give you guys a quick low down as to what the issue are and maybe you could make some suggestions on what to replace.

Starting the car in the morning the engine rev's at approx 2K for about 3-4 minutes. I wait as normal and then drive off. Car appears very jumping and you almost need to slip the clutch to reduce the jumpiness of the car. Until the car is fully warm I get these sudden light jolts in the power delivery as if detonation in one of the cylinders is slightly off. Once the car is warm though the engine is 100%, rev's well all the way up the tach, mivec kicks in at two levels around 5 & 7K as normal.

I'm wondering could it be a dirty fuel filter, plugs (replaced these with expensive Iridium plugs at about 100K KM's, now at 128K KM's. Thought these should be fine?) Car has just been serviced also with Oil change. No Air Filter change so was thinking of completely replacing the cone filter if worthwhile?

Other issue I have is with the rubbing of the front end on the arch liners which has been an issue for ages, it’s not affecting the tyres besides a slight scrub on the inside but it makes a rotten noise, funny enough more so in the morning and when reversing. I'm also getting a knocking noise which I think is related. Car is running 17's with a 40m profile, pretty sure its 225,40,17 but need to double check at lunchtime. Also have Apex Lowering springs fitted. I was sure that this spec was safe to go with seeing as allot of members are running this setup without problems.

Anyway I’m falling out of love with the fto fast so need to resolve this in the short term as have a few long trips coming up including a drive to Glasgow which I’d rather do in an X5 which I’m seriously considering buying.

Thanks for any suggestions to aid my dilemma,

Russ

[CJ]

Power issue, my guess is its either plugs, leads or fuel filter, the fact that its fine when warmed up throws me off a bit though. Run a diagnostic to be on the safe side, could be a dodgy sensor at play.

Re scrubbage, stay with a 215 profile on the front, any bigger and you'll get rubbing on lock. If thats not an option, pull the wheels off and use cable ties to pull the arches in a bit - needs to be done from the engine bay in places. Alternative is to do what I did - throw the arch liners in the bin!

Its normal to get p!ssed off with your car at certain stages of owbership. One you get the niggles sorted, you'll start enjoyign it again.

CJ

[Myfeckin FTO]

Rusty - You got a nice car there - Throw 1 - 1.5K into getting it sorted rather than 35K at a secondhand X5. You'd still need to sort it if you were intending selling it in any case. Get a GOOD mechanic to give it the once over and make a list of what you need to change. I'm surprised you are getting rubbing on 225/40 17's even running on lowering springs. There are a few guys running 225/45 17's and even 235/45 17's - I think Dave ran an even bigger diameter 18 and now 19 inch wheel without much rubbing. I ran 215/45 17's which would have a larger diameter than your 225/40's and after I had the wheelarches riveted up higher I had no problems.

The FTO is a fabulous car when its properly sorted and a pain in the ass when its tired. The good news is that its not particularly expensive to sort out a tired FTO -not that yours is tired but there seems to be an ever expanding amount of unloved FTO's on the road - I guess its just age catching up. When I first got my GPX Manual I thought the handling was fine untill I drove CJ's car and I wasn't long putting in a full set of polybushes and upgrading the dampers and springs and sticking on a couple of strut braces - the best mod I ever made on my FTO - that and taking out the crappy and heavy Air Con system.

[soc]

If you want I can give my mate Mark a call - he services the TT - he's good - I'll see if he could take a look - he wouldn't have much experience with FTO's but he might be able to shed some light.

[CJ]

Don't forget Paul Nolan Russ....

CJ

[soc]

Don't forget Paul Nolan Russ....

CJ

Definitely - Paul probably has most experience in FTO's but if you're looking for someone local, i.e. down the road - Mark might have a look or take the car for a spin and give you his opinion on what "might" be wrong.

[steelroe]

I would eliminate a problem with stepper motor first. Wwould be suspicious of it. Seen a guy today running 19" with no probs

[Dave]

i had 19's on the last one and 18's on the one before, i did get a bit of rubbing on full lock, but once i sorted the wheel arch lining it was grand, rarely happened at all!!

do as CJ said and rip the thing out!!

[RussMan]

Thanks for all replies... wrote a big response earlier but my internet connection is up and down all day at home.... Will get a reply soon thanks
.Soc give me a shout re: Mark please?

Thanks
Russ

[monkey]

replace your coolant temp sensor on your cooling pipes.
this sensor is a modern day choke it checks temp of coolant and if cold it will put more fuel in till worm and also alters timing
this is what happens if temp stops working if hard to start or not at all or even bad performance till worm
sensor from camskill is only £15 this is the same on all cars with injection
hope this will help before paying for all sorts of other things like ht leads etc.

[Muad_dib77]

Russ - did you fall back in love yet?

[RussMan]

Almost.....

Nice shiny refurb'd alloys, 4 new tyres and a good wash so i'm slightly in lurv again