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Original poster

Car not accelerating

61 replies

Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 17:14

Hello,

I’m posting as I’m hoping for some foresight into how much my car repair is going to cost. It’s booked In for tomorrow.

It’s a Skoda, only 4 years old / 15k miles.

In the past few weeks it hasn’t been accelerating properly. I’ve had to floor it to accelerate. I’ve not noticed any difference between gears with this issue. But 0-70 mph would be slow. Noted that RPM isn’t increasing (much) when flooring accelerator pedal.

My (usually dramatic) family member said it could be the clutch. Whilst I know this could be true, I read online RPM would increase a lot and still fail to accelerate if the clutch. The car is also only on 15k miles and 4 years old.

If anyone has experienced similar, and could tell me what the issue was and how expensive to fix I’d be very grateful. 2K+ for a new clutch is weighing heavily.
Thanks

OP posts:
Original poster
Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 17:45

@gunnersgold
Interesting, I wasn’t aware a manual Skoda citigo could have a limiter? I’ll google

OP posts:
LondonQueen · 03/04/2022 17:46

Do you have any warning lights? Normally when a car is in limp mode it's got the engine management light on. Could be the clutch but normally the revs rise but there is no acceleration.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 03/04/2022 17:46

@Hdkatznahtw125sgh yes, they're pretty good. They fixed something on mine when it was a similar age and second hand.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about this subject:

Driving & parking
Original poster
Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 17:46

@LondonQueen thanks, no warning lights at all

OP posts:
Original poster
Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 17:47

@PastMyBestBeforeDate

Thanks, it’s going to a non Skoda for the diagnostic but will look into this

OP posts:
Ulysses · 03/04/2022 17:54

The clutch when on my 11 year old mini the other week but the RPMs went sky high when accelerated and it deteriorated the couple of times I drove it without realising what it was. It cost £900 to fix.

gunnersgold · 03/04/2022 17:55

Oh I don't have a Skoda but a lot of modern cars so .. they also go into limp mode if broken but you would have lights / errors on your dash if that were the case .

Original poster
Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 18:00

@Ulysses thanks for your reply
@gunnersgold ah interesting

OP posts:
ponkydonkey · 03/04/2022 18:04

Sounds like limp mode to me.. take it into a local garage and get them to run a diagnostic on it

Could just be crap petrol.. not taking it on a long drive, clogged filters, claggy oil, not had a proper service etc etc

Downtherefordancing · 03/04/2022 18:05

I had a Seat that did this (same as a Skoda really) it went into limp mode and no acceleration.

It was an injector that needed replacing. Cost about £500 all in.

mumof3anddog22 · 03/04/2022 18:07

Partner says is there a light on the engine management on the dash board.
He says doesn't sound like a clutch.
Needs plugging in and ecu reading for fault codes

ThackeryBinks · 03/04/2022 18:11

This happened in my new car as it was diesel. I bought it in one of the fuel crisis ran it on fumes to get home and ended up with the sludge in the tank killing the filters. Replacement filters was about £30 and they put loads of diesel additive (non technical term!) through the engine.

c3pu · 03/04/2022 18:17

Is it a turbo? Sounds like a boost leak or gunked up VNT mechanism forcing it into overboost protection maybe.

Sausagis · 03/04/2022 19:34

I had a petrol fabia, something happened that I went to pull away up a hill and car could barely manage - engine screaming but doing all of 1mph, or maybe 0-60 in a couple of years. I went to a garage, who took it for a drive and said nothing wrong. 2nd mechanic took it out, said nothing wrong. Head mechanic took it out for 10 seconds and said I clearly needed a new clutch. I didn't believe him (also nothing wrong with clutch before, breaking point fine etc). I decided to sell it pdq so it was someone else's problem 😳, but I think it was going to be around £1k for clutch a few years ago.

Lisajane47 · 03/04/2022 19:40

Sounds like it's in limp home mode. They will be able to tell you more tomorrow

Original poster
Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 19:44

Thanks everyone,

no warning lights at all @mumof3anddog22

OP posts:
Original poster
Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 19:45

@c3pu it’s not a turbo

OP posts:
MonsterChopz · 03/04/2022 19:46

Could be something really simple like a blocked fuel filter or dodgy fuel pressure sensor.

Hope it's a cheap and easy fix for you.

twoandcooplease · 03/04/2022 19:56

Definitely limp mode as pp's have said. My car does this on every drive and I am skint so having to put up with it

You can jump it while droving (if you are confident enough to do it while driving) by dropping a gear (maybe 2/3) and turning the key. Ping the clutch and it'll shoot the revs up taking the car out of limp mode

RedScarfJamjar · 03/04/2022 19:59

I had this once. Took it over the road to the garage, mechanic came to the house about ten minutes later whilst giggling but trying to keep a straight face.

My floor mat had bunched up under the accelerator pedal so I had to really floor it to pick up speed.

I am obviously an idiot but it was a cheap fix Grin

Original poster
Hdkatznahtw125sgh · 03/04/2022 20:40

@RedScarfJamjar

I’ll be checking for this in the am 😂

OP posts:
RedScarfJamjar · 03/04/2022 21:04

I hope that's it! And if it is you'll not be the only one Smile

LadyHelenaJustina · 04/04/2022 16:02

I once had a similar problem after the garage had done some work and failed to reconnect the turbo properly.

MargaretThursday · 04/04/2022 16:16

At risk of teaching you to suck eggs... you have checked the oil level?

I asked dh to check the oil before a long journey. Then there I was on the M25 with the car getting slower and slower so pulled over.

Just needed more oil. Once I had that it was fine. Apparently dh "thought it would probably be fine". It was so low that it didn't touch the dip stick. I know who I called "dippy".

alwayswrighty · 05/04/2022 08:01

@Hdkatznahtw125sgh has it been in the garage yet? I'm intrigued to know what is wrong. Hopefully simple and inexpensive!

Mine went in for an aux belt change yesterday, came out with 2 new tyres and the tracking too ..