Car juddering in 5th on dual carrige way

FatFishMonster

FatFishMonster

FatFishMonster

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hi all.
just a quick one.
so yesterday and today, on my way home, the car appeared to slow down/kind of judder, well not violently, in 5th gear on the dual carriageway, and it would stop accelerating but stay at 60-65mph and then would kick in again and continue to accelerate. then it did again on the way to work today and think it did it twice, not sure, its only done this on the dualy in 5th, not done it in any of the lower gears.

could this just be because its a cold engine? my drive to work is only 10-15mins

its a 2000 w reg ford fiesta 1.4i, only recently brought the car!
 
Can you tell whether the juddering is coming from the engine, gearbox or wheels?

Does the juddering effect your steering wheel or do you feel it in inside the whole cabin?

If you get an engine check light, could be the crank position sensor or one of the other myriad of sensors you get in cars might be worth having a friend do an engine check for you free if you are getting a yellow light.

I'd do the simplest things first - wheel balance (in-case a weight has got lost) and tracking (if there are signs of uneven tyre wear).

Then depending on mileage, you could look at components such as the engine and gearbox mounts. Hopefully it's not more serious than that since it was only purchased recently.
 
think its the engine, could be gearbox.
its not the wheels, it pulls fine after a bit a juddering, its not a violent juddering, i.e my passengers dont notice it, but as im the driver i can tell, the steering it perfectly fine while juddering, just the less power from the engine it feels.
theres no engine check light come on.

when it happened yesterday, i assumed it could be just the cold weather.
 
Might be the clutch?

I had something similar happen with a classic mini I owned years ago. 1st, 2nd and 3rd all fine but 4th would not allow the car to go over 55mph and it would judder slightly since the clutch pressure/contact wasn't sufficient to propel the car any faster.
 
gt_junkie said:
Might be the clutch?

I had something similar happen with a classic mini I owned years ago. 1st, 2nd and 3rd all fine but 4th would not allow the car to go over 55mph and it would judder slightly since the clutch pressure/contact wasn't sufficient to propel the car any faster.
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the service history said it had a new clutch maybe a year or two ago (cant know for sure as im at work)

but surely if it was the clutch then it would just flat our judder? not just start then be fine again 30 seconds later
 
When my old 1.25 Zetec fiesta did this it was a HT lead that was breaking down. Replaced spark plugs and leads and all was good.

Sound like similar symptoms. It felt fine under full acceleration / load but when cruising it would occasionally feel sluggish like it was holding back. What is the service history like?
 
BlastRadius said:
When my old 1.25 Zetec fiesta did this it was a HT lead that was breaking down. Replaced spark plugs and leads and all was good.

Sound like similar symptoms. It felt fine under full acceleration / load but when cruising it would occasionally feel sluggish like it was holding back. What is the service history like?
Click to expand...

I had a similar thing in a puma, was lambda sensor on exhaust.
 
BlastRadius said:
When my old 1.25 Zetec fiesta did this it was a HT lead that was breaking down. Replaced spark plugs and leads and all was good.

Sound like similar symptoms. It felt fine under full acceleration / load but when cruising it would occasionally feel sluggish like it was holding back. What is the service history like?
Click to expand...
yeah, it seemed to be when i was cruising at 70 and put my footdown again is when it started to hold back then sort itself out after it had dropped to about 65 and would then start pulling properly again.
limited service history (was a cheap bargain for a run around)
my friend was planning to service it, as long as i brought the filters etc... im just waiting for pay day till I buy the filters, oil etc..

will have to see if it does it again on the way home.
i may give it a few more revs in each gear before changing aswell.
 
If it was the clutch as mentioned previously then the revs would rise but the speed wouldn't. Were the revs rising?

When my fiesta did this the revs did not rise. Almost felt like I leant forward as I was expecting acceleration but got none, odd sensation.
 
FatFishMonster said:
the service history said it had a new clutch maybe a year or two ago (cant know for sure as im at work)

but surely if it was the clutch then it would just flat our judder? not just start then be fine again 30 seconds later
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Yeah, good point, especially with it being that new.

BlastRadius said:
When my old 1.25 Zetec fiesta did this it was a HT lead that was breaking down. Replaced spark plugs and leads and all was good.

Sound like similar symptoms. It felt fine under full acceleration / load but when cruising it would occasionally feel sluggish like it was holding back. What is the service history like?
Click to expand...
This is a very good shout... reminded me that I had a moon mileage Mazda 323f do this. Motorway driving with no issues and then 2-5 minutes of slight judder and power loss and then fine again - was the HT leads. Swapped them out and all was fine again.

besides cables also consider the coil - my current focus just plain failed over 5 minutes (initially a judder accompanied by a loss of power and then total death) but I suppose it could manifest itself in a similar way by failing more gradually over a long period of time.
 
slightly Poor description there, If its petrol and only in high gears high load it holds back with more throttle (missfires) but can be gently nursed its just fine,it is generally the ignition system.
High cylinder loads require a stronger spark, the spark builds until it's powerful enough to jump the gap at the plug, if the voltage gets very high it does not take much for it jump through old and damp leads/plug caps etc.

Try not to let it do it until you can try some new plugs as I've known the problem actually burn a carbon path in the plug caps and then you will require a second set of plugs and leads.
 
wasnt high revs, around 3k, just felt like a slight loss a power, the car was still pulling, but was loosing speed faster than it was gaining.

Jakus said:
slightly Poor description there, If its petrol and only in high gears high load it holds back with more throttle (missfires) but can be gently nursed its just fine,it is generally the ignition system.
High cylinder loads require a stronger spark, the spark builds until it's powerful enough to jump the gap at the plug, if the voltage gets very high it does not take much for it jump through old and damp leads/plug caps etc.

Try not to let it do it until you can try some new plugs as I've known the problem actually burn a carbon path in the plug caps and then you will require a second set of plugs and leads.
Click to expand...

when i service it, im just going to change the plugs and the leads (leads are relatively cheap as are spark plugs so cant hurt to do both) along with all the filters and oil.
 
FatFishMonster said:
when i service it, im just going to change the plugs and the leads (leads are relatively cheap as are spark plugs so cant hurt to do both) along with all the filters and oil.
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I agree with Jakus, the symptoms do suggest an ignition related misfire. Failure of the coil pack is relatively common, so if plugs and HT leads don't fix the problem, this should be your next port of call.
 
BlastRadius said:
When my old 1.25 Zetec fiesta did this it was a HT lead that was breaking down. Replaced spark plugs and leads and all was good.

Sound like similar symptoms. It felt fine under full acceleration / load but when cruising it would occasionally feel sluggish like it was holding back. What is the service history like?
Click to expand...

antoher vote for checking the HT leads. had this on my 1.6 escort. would drive fine but if in a higher gear and lowish revs, foot goes down... nothing... a bit of juddering and hesitation...then it kinda wallowed back into life xD

took to the garage, they whacked some new leads on and off zooming I went :)
 
FatFishMonster said:
is it worth unplugging one end of the HT leads and clearing any gunk out? (if there is any)
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No, pull the plugs and close down the gap 25%, they all run silly big gaps nowadays and this increases with use also.

* Spray some WD40 around the leads also, will help in these damp conditions quite allot.
 
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FatFishMonster said:
ok, payday isnt till the 25th so it needs to hold on! haha
are coil packs expensive?
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When my focus' coil pack failed I think I spent around £80-£90 on coil pack/ht leads and plugs. Think the OEM coil pack was around £35 or so... not all that expensive really.

Jakus said:
* Spray some WD40 around the leads also, will help in these damp conditions quite allot.
Click to expand...
That was the main part of my start regime every time I used my old mini. :D Works a treat... good advice!
 
Jakus said:
No, pull the plugs and close down the gap 25%, they all run silly big gaps nowadays and this increases with use also.

* Spray some WD40 around the leads also, will help in these damp conditions quite allot.
Click to expand...
sorry what do you mean close the gap 25%?

ive just brought some WD the other day so will give them a squirt
 
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