Picture the scene:
Friday 5th August
5:45am Rudely awaken from a dreamless sleep.
5:46am Look out of window to see a couple of gits speeding off in my 14 year old Fiesta (I didn't know the car was capable of such speeds!).
5:47am Phone police to report it.
6:10am Police arrive and take details but don't offer counselling.
Well, I couldn't belive my luck, could I? After 8 years I'd finally seen the back it. I could stop telling myself "I'd like a new car but why spend all that money when my Fiesta's reliable, economical and cheap to run?". I now had an excuse to buy Autotrader!
Alas, my joy was not to last - the police found my car earlier today, and it's in a worse state than it was before.
The locks have been screwdriver'd, the ignition's been bypassed, there's a huge dent in the side, the stereo's gone and the driver's seat has been adjusted into a position I don't find comfortable.
But the worst thing - and this is where I hope you 'Honestjohners' can help - is that the engine seems to be damaged. It revs without any problem when stationary, but for some reason the car's barely driveable. I managed to get it home but there's a real lack of power - the engine just feels 'strangulated' on the move.
Any ideas?
Cheers.
Riggers
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Check the exhaust, it could be blocked or kinked or damaged
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Agree with RF- the thieves may have bounced over some speed bumps way to fast and bashed it.
Ben
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Thanks for the suggestions regarding the exhaust.
I've had a look and there's no obvious damage to the exhaust itself, although one of the the rubber support brackets is split. Mind you, it might have been like that before the car was nicked.
What puzzles me is the way the engine will rev quite happily when the car's stopped, but struggles under any kind of load.
I might try a compression test.
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Warning - Advice from someone who is dangerously unqualified follows.
Surely revving fine in idle but in gear it goes crazy would mean some clutch/gearbox related problem.
Possibly?
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Adam
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Lots of revs but little forward motion when in gear is a clutch/gearbocx problem.
An engine that can rev in neutral but not propel forward when in gear is a pure horse power problem.
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my mates car had a very similar problem...although not nicked before!
It would rev all the way to the limiter in neutral but do no more than 4000 revs when under load, no matter what gear..that did turn out to be the exhaust..some part of the middle section had collapsed due to bottoming out somewhere...
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Just a thought,but have you checked the oil level.Some fords burn a lot when thrashed causing lack of power?
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Steve
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Could also be a head-gasket problem (lack of compression) which would produce the symptoms you've described.
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Have you checked to see if something has been stuffed up the tailpipe? It doesn't seem likely but it would be easy to shine a torch up it to see.
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Would it rev freely though? My old Fiesta (only a 1.25) had a blocked cat and it was very noticable when revving. Having said that, it did rev freely - it just didn't soudn right.
Ignore me.
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Adam
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Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
I think I've now sussed what's wrong.
I've had a look at the spark plugs and a couple of them are distinctly grimy - blackened and with a few deposits of what looks like oil.
My guess is that a couple of piston rings are shot, resulting in loss of compression, hence the poor performance.
I'm clutching at straws but, as it's not worth the expense of fitting new rings, does anyone know of a cheap temporary fix?
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Is it possible to claim on your insurance for this. Is damage to the engine not the same as damage to your door locks etc?
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I was thinking that. You're far worse off than a week ago but probably not as bad had it been burnt out.
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Adam
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Alvin
I probably could claim on my insurance but it's not worth losing my NCB (hmmm, the false economy of not paying to protect it!).
I'll probably end up scrapping it, or hopefully I might manage to persuade a dealer to let me trade it in.
Either way, it looks like I'll be getting a new car after all.
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