N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills

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Thu 4 Apr 2013 10:16
N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills - xPatx

I’m new here, so first of all hello! I have a problem with my N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta. It has started having trouble getting up hills. An incline I could do at 30mph in second last week I can barely get up to 20mph now. It’s fine on a flat road and I got it up to 70mph on the dual carriageway without major issues, it did take a bit longer than normal to get there though. It makes an unusual noise in second, third and fourth when I get to the point where I need to change gear, like it’s straining, kind of a ‘race car’ noise. It settles in the higher gear, but then does it again as speed increases. No problems pulling away etc. The garage reckoned it was the idle air valve. I have replaced that with a second hand one, this hasn’t improved the uphill or noise issue, but it has stopped the stuttering it was doing. I’m reluctant to take it back to the garage just yet as they had quoted me one and a half hours labour for the above job, when it took me less than half an hour… Any ideas would be much appreciated!

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Thu 4 Apr 2013 14:28
N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills - swtech999
Have you checked if the exhaust is blocked? Had a similar problem once and it was due to the exhaust pipe being old and collapsing in on its self causing blockage,
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Thu 4 Apr 2013 15:42
N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills - sb10

As a matter of interest is your oil level normal,have come across a couple of fords with low oil level causing loss of compression. just a thought

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Thu 4 Apr 2013 15:54
N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills - xPatx

The exhaust should be ok, it was done fairly recently due to a blockage and it behaved totally different then, I also assume the garage checked that when it was in. It passed its MOT last week with nothing wrong, appart from the above mentioned issue of course. Oil level is normal. I might just have to take it back to the garage, it's just that I've lost a little faith in them due to the high labour quote and hate paing for stuff that I could be doing myself.

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Thu 4 Apr 2013 15:56
N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills - xPatx

Is it possible that the idle valve is still faulty, could that be consistent with my problem or would there be other issues too?

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Thu 4 Apr 2013 21:35
N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills - Cyd

The exhaust should be ok, it was done [1] fairly recently due to a blockage and it behaved totally different then, I also assume [2] the garage checked that when it was in. It passed its MOT last week [3] with nothing wrong, appart from the above mentioned issue of course. Oil level is normal. I might just have to take it back to the garage, it's just that I've lost a little faith in them due to the high labour quote and hate paing for stuff that I could be doing myself.

1 what was done?

2 never assume

3 no bearing on this fault (probably)

certainly sounds like a blocked exhaust

also check intake and ignition system integrity.

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Thu 4 Apr 2013 22:14
N reg MK3 1.3 Fiesta - My MK3 Fiesta has trouble getting up hills - xPatx

Thanks for the replies! It's going back to the garage. It turns out that the mechanic who diagnosed the faulty valve wasn't told about the power issue by the boss, just about high revs....after I spoke to him earlier he thinks exhaust too. Got to be impressed by the communications there... I'll report back on the outcome.

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