Loss of power and burning smell

Hi everyone!

I was driving home from work today and within 30 seconds of me pulling off the car wouldn't accelerate the exhaust was popping and spluttering and there was no power it was juddering all over the place it almost felt like if I was to take my foot of the accelerator the car would just stop. Then there was quite a bad burning smell but that went after a minute or so. It's only 5-10 minutes for me to get home from work and by the time I got home the car was driving normally.

I have only had the car about a month and I have noticed on start up the car is sort of juddery I don't know how else to explain it. Then after 5 minutes it seems fine but since owning the car it hasn't been as bad as today.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Emma



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Hi everyone!

I was driving home from work today and within 30 seconds of me pulling off the car wouldn't accelerate the exhaust was popping and spluttering and there was no power it was juddering all over the place it almost felt like if I was to take my foot of the accelerator the car would just stop. Then there was quite a bad burning smell but that went after a minute or so. It's only 5-10 minutes for me to get home from work and by the time I got home the car was driving normally.

I have only had the car about a month and I have noticed on start up the car is sort of juddery I don't know how else to explain it. Then after 5 minutes it seems fine but since owning the car it hasn't been as bad as today.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance

Emma



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


These cars are notoriously bad from cold. Everyone has suffered at some time. Although today sounds terrible - spluttering / jerkyness / nearly going through the windscreen is all par-for-the-course from cold :-( Something to do with the cold-map on these cars and undoubtedly alot to do with getting the car through emission laws.

A remap will pretty much get rid of all those horrid standard traits. But letting warm-up properly for 3 or 4 minutes will help hugely.....
 
As above - let your car warm up.

Also discussed that using the 'super' fuels - namely shell vpower and tesco momentum can help to improve this - keep off budget watery fuels!
 
Echo the above. You have a nice car with a pretty tuned engine. Give it some love and let it come to its senses a bit before you ask too much of it. Gentle warm up is key. And definitely put Vpower in. Might seem more expensive but it's better for your engine and mine gets slightly better mileage out of it too so it's much of a muchness.

Remap would help too but that needs some outlay. Better to just give it some love.
 
Thanks for all your help guys!!

I was just worried as since owning the car it has been slightly noticeable on a cold start and then it's fine after a few minutes but yesterday was awful... I really thought the car was going to just stop.

I had read on here that it was common on a cold start but like I say it was really bad yesterday!

Before leaving for work this morning I started the car and let it run for 5 minutes before driving off and had no problems at all.

So if I went for a remap would this completely sort that problem out?

Thanks again for your help

Emma


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So if I went for a remap would this completely sort that problem out?

Emma


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Mine pre-remap was the same as everyone else's i guess. Not good perhaps 5/10 times from cold. Especially when it was really cold outside. Perhaps a bit spluttery / jerky 1 in 25 if i let warm up for a few minutes.

After remap its a little strange from cold like 1 in every 50 or even 100 starts (?). And no-where near as bad when it does. I dont let mine warm up for more than 30 seconds now either.

So not 100% gone. But literally 100 times better. Plus of course smoother / more responsive everyday when warm too :smile:
 
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It's worth saying as well that a (decent) remap can be quite expensive, so it is a big outlay just to cure the cold start issues. Thankfully the jerky behaviour is common, so you're not the only one with it - I always let mine warm up and rarely have any 'awkward' moments, which can be pretty embarrassing if you've got a passenger in :smile:
 
The best way to deal with the power loss or judder is to back off the throttle and then re apply slowly and the car will pick up if you keep your foot down it will get worse and continue to die. It is still a little random how it happens but if it does it's always exactly in the same place along the road leaving home and therefore not the end of the world when your ready for it with a solution but if the car idles for about 10 sec before moving off then the chance if it happening is greatly reduced but because it's random like same tank of fuel but different one day after another it's hard to give a definitive solution. Your pops and bangs along with the smell I don't think is connected you will probably find the exhaust or intake has been modified decat, centre silencer removed or aftermarket one fitted along with the temptation to rev after the judder happens is a side effect on a cause but doing such things can make the judder happen more and with greater effect unless the map is properly modified as well.