1.8 petrol engine - Slightly hesitant acceleration in 3rd gear?

[pistolpete1]

Anyone help?

During hard acceleration in 3rd gear the progression is not smooth, and strained. It's not as obvious in other gears, but might be there to a lesser degree.

I'm using tesco momentum, which has always been smooth during acceleration until recently, but the car is coming up to its 9th birthday service, so wondered if new spark plugs may solve this issue? 

In the meantime, could it be something else?

[FatHead1979]

11 hours ago, pistolpete1 said:

Anyone help?

During hard acceleration in 3rd gear the progression is not smooth, and strained. It's not as obvious in other gears, but might be there to a lesser degree.

I'm using tesco momentum, which has always been smooth during acceleration until recently, but the car is coming up to its 9th birthday service, so wondered if new spark plugs may solve this issue? 

In the meantime, could it be something else?

I'd be surprised if if was spark plugs as the root cause if it's genuinely only affecting 3rd gear.  If the sparks haven't been changed in the last 3 years then they're past the scheduled replacement interval.

 

My wife's MK2.5 1.8 petrol was lumpy as s&*t at low revs/low throttle input so I recently replaced the sparks with NGK iridium (upgraded plugs) for less than £30.  Also regapped them down from 1.3mm to 1.1mm (Ford released TSBs years ago changing the spark plug gaps from 1.3mm to 1,0mm as it put the coil packs under too much strain), it runs so much better and fuel economy has also increased so I'm well happy for £30!

[pistolpete1]

Spark plugs are part of the next service schedule  (every 3 years, and it's coming up to its 9th), so I'm assuming this is from them nearing the end of their life, as it's only been noticeable recently.

It's like the ac is permanently  on (but isn't ). Hard aceleration can be a little jerky with that on too.

My fuel economy hasn't changed with this.....still getting 37.9mpg according to car.

[pistolpete1]

Spark plugs changed in the last service, and acceleration is noticeably smoother throughout thr revs. 

Drives so much nicer now 😂

[wilto]

On 8/1/2018 at 8:28 AM, 1979Damian said:

I'd be surprised if if was spark plugs as the root cause if it's genuinely only affecting 3rd gear.  If the sparks haven't been changed in the last 3 years then they're past the scheduled replacement interval.

 

My wife's MK2.5 1.8 petrol was lumpy as s&*t at low revs/low throttle input so I recently replaced the sparks with NGK Iridium (upgraded plugs) for less than £30.  Also regapped them down from 1.3mm to 1.1mm (Ford released TSBs years ago changing the spark plug gaps from 1.3mm to 1,0mm as it put the coil packs under too much strain), it runs so much better and fuel economy has also increased so I'm well happy for £30!

Hi Damien, I'm looking to change my plugs for these NGK iridium plugs for my car, where did you get yours from mate? 

I've got two listings on my eBay watch list ATM, but have been reluctant to get them in case they are fake Chinese copies.

Glass always half empty, that's me 🤔

[FatHead1979]

1 hour ago, wilto said:

Hi Damien, I'm looking to change my plugs for these NGK iridium plugs for my car, where did you get yours from mate? 

I've got two listings on my eBay watch list ATM, but have been reluctant to get them in case they are fake Chinese copies.

Glass always half empty, that's me 🤔

I got them from Opie Oils, here 

 

Their listing only lists a Transit engine but I confirmed with the them and NGK that they were definitely the right plugs and they work perfectly once fitted.

 

I re-gapped them down to nearer 1mm to give the coil pack an easier life.

[wilto]

Thanks buddy 😉👍

[oilman]

On 12/14/2018 at 6:38 AM, wilto said:

Hi Damien, I'm looking to change my plugs for these NGK iridium plugs for my car, where did you get yours from mate? 

I've got two listings on my eBay watch list ATM, but have been reluctant to get them in case they are fake Chinese copies.

Glass always half empty, that's me 🤔

All our NGK plugs, in fact all brands we do are the genuine stuff. 🙂

Cheers,

Guy

[FatHead1979]

On 12/17/2018 at 3:56 PM, oilman said:

All our NGK plugs, in fact all brands we do are the genuine stuff. 🙂

Cheers,

Guy

Hi Guy, although I mentioned it earlier in the year when I placed my order I can see your web site still doesn't have correct/full compatibility information for a lot of the spark plugs you stock.  Not many people will bother emailing you to query are these right etc, they'll just go to the next seller because the information they need to purchase there and then is there for them to see.

 

I've ordered a few bits (multiple orders) from you guys (including your eBay store) without any major problems and at really competitive prices but I'm sure this issue will have cost you sales which seems like a bit of a shame to me.

[wilto]

On 12/17/2018 at 3:56 PM, oilman said:

All our NGK plugs, in fact all brands we do are the genuine stuff. 🙂

Cheers,

Guy

Order placed and received thanks Guy.

On a side note, a hell of a lot of packaging for 4 plugs though. Still they got to me in one piece, thanks 👍

[oilman]

Thanks for letting me know they arrived safely.

It's tricky with plugs, they are pretty resilient things, but even with a fair bit of packaging the couriers have destroyed them in the past, so we package them as best we can.

Cheers
Tim