Fiesta 1.25 extremely slow

[DDDM]

Hi,

I’m finding with my mk7.5 fiesta that up to 35/40 it’s quite quick around the town and for a lot of my journeys which is brilliant. Gets about 40mpg so it does it’s job well.

 

However When it gets past 50 I can’t seem to find any acceleration, I know it’s not got a lot of power (82hp I believe) so I’m not expecting miracles. But I can have my foot to the floor on a slight incline and I’m actually losing speed, overtaking it’s quite hard, especially on dual carriageways because it takes so long to pick up speed. If I lift up off the accelerator a bit, sometimes it gives a little bit of extra power but it’s a bit unpredictable. I’ve done the usual dropping gears but then it sounds like it’s dying and still doesn’t give me much extra pickup.
 

Had it over a year and it’s just been something that’s not gotten worse but more noticeable as I now drive it more often.
 

Apart from that I like the car, ticks the boxes I need with insurance and running etc but I just want to know if anyone else has this with the 1.25. 
 

thanks.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

We had an 82ps 1.25 for a few years (technically the Mrs's, but I drove it more than she did).

Pretty nippy around town, but as you say, seemed to die on the open road, particularly on long hills. Changing down as it started to slow didn't seem to help. Eventually I found that the trick was to change down much sooner than you might expect and get the engine singing (as in 70 in 3rd for example). I found it good fun to drive once I got my head round it. Still used to get mid-high 40's mpg.

I think the issue is partly that (like all of us!😃) the Fiesta put on weight over the years and by the Mk 7/Mk 7.5 was a good bit heavier than the first versions to use this engine.

[Blatto]

I had a MK 8 (1.1 Litre Normally Aspirated) car for the day as a courtesy car while my 140 ecoboost was in for a service. I think they are quoted at about 75 BHP.

Initially as I drove it home from the garage I was quite impressed with the performance up to about 50 but later when i had to go up the motorway it was dire, had to thrash the nuts off of it to get a decent move on. I would only have one of these if I was doing mainly town driving.

 

 

[bmtj]

I have the MK4 Fiesta with 1.25 Zetec S engine. That thing is actually quite nippy for a small engine. Is the mk 7.5 a 16 valve or just 8, as 8 valves tend to struggle at higher speeds whereas 16v find It a bit easier because it's more free flowing. Or it could be that the newer fiestas are a bit heavier? 🤷‍♂️

[Eric Bloodaxe]

2 hours ago, bmtj said:

I have the MK4 Fiesta with 1.25 Zetec S engine. That thing is actually quite nippy for a small engine. Is the mk 7.5 a 16 valve or just 8, as 8 valves tend to struggle at higher speeds whereas 16v find It a bit easier because it's more free flowing. Or it could be that the newer fiestas are a bit heavier? 🤷‍♂️

Hi Brandon, 

This thread has been inactive for over 2 years but pretty much answered the OPs point.

The Mk 7.5 1.25 is 16v and heavier than earlier versions, as mentioned in the thread.

[59bhp]

For what it's worth, I recently had an oil change service and spark plugs. I removed and cleaned the throttle body, removed and cleaned T-MAP sensor, replaced the throttle body gasket(£8 from Ford dealer), replaced the air filter and oil separator filter (inside the air filter box, mine was almost disintegrated). Overall, driveability has improved massively especially on motorways.

 

When removing the T-MAP sensor to clean you need to disconnect the battery as the basic values are reset and need to be relearned. Same goes for the throttle body.

 

After 2000 miles I'm averaging 400 miles per tank(Esso Synergy Supreeme99+)

 

Hope that helps