In the last couple of weeks, on accelerating, and turning left or right, occasionally the engine hesitates, almost feels like a momentary fuel starvation. Is there a likely cause or is it one of those faults with numerous potential causes?

i would have said fuel filter but as you got a petrol focus the filter cannot be changed. try putting some redex into a full tank and see if that helps 😉

20 minutes ago, andypsp said:

i would have said fuel filter but as you got a petrol focus the filter cannot be changed. try putting some redex into a full tank and see if that helps 😉

LOL, I have put Redex in the last 4 x tankfuls - that was the extent of my mechanical knowledge! (made no difference)

Just don't make any left or right turns and it'll be reight 😉

Hi what is the car?

3 minutes ago, Ian Keys said:

Hi what is the car?

Sshhh... it's a secret! LOL

Have you noticed if it is worse when you have less than quarter of a tank of fuel ?

There is a chance it could be the fuel pump is wearing out and is struggling a little.

1 minute ago, unofix said:

Have you noticed if it is worse when you have less than quarter of a tank of fuel ?

There is a chance it could be the fuel pump is wearing out and is struggling a little.

I'll keep an eye out for that, but to be honest, my OCD rarely allows me to drop that low on fuel!

I'm with you on that, once my fuel drops below the half full I start thinking I must fill up soon. It must be nearly a year since it got below quarter full 🤣

Sad thing happened yesterday, I recently filled up (diesel) £1.67,8 per litre and thought that was an OK price considering everything. Then I happened to be in Stockton, not a place I go very often and very annoyingly Asda were selling diesel at £1.61,7 per litre and my tank was more than 3/4 full 😧

31 minutes ago, unofix said:

I'm with you on that, once my fuel drops below the half full I start thinking I must fill up soon. It must be nearly a year since it got below quarter full 🤣

Probably why neither of us are enamoured with the 'range' ability of EVs LOL

Just wondered, could this be symptomatic of the dreaded 'cluster fault' with the Mk2? This morning, it took a couple of key turns to start the car (very unusual as it always starts first twist), and I noticed the LCD display just showed a row of dots for the first couple of tries!

Doesn’t really sound like the cluster issue but dtcs from the obd would help.

first impressions are the spark plugs could need cleaning/gapping or weak mixture due to excess intake air, possibly leak or egr sticking. Only guesses really without error codes.

Try whacking the top of the dash above the cluster and watch for reactions. Can show up faults in the cluster.

I think Stephen's been around long enough to know about that one.

Er, Um.

(Sorry!)

Hesitation tends to be a matter of injection and air being mismatched. As the redex has been tried and failed (a good first resort IMO) I would be looking for a perished pipe to the inlet manifold, a worn throttle pot, a dirty airflow/map sensor  or a fault that would show up on the lambda sensors. There are loads of potential causes and a dozen guesses may fail. Break out the OBD. That is what it is for, after all. A well interpreted DTC can save a lot of time and money.

I would be checking the fuel pump pick up, though,  based on the symptoms as it seems to be movement related. A SAAB of my acquaintance had a rubber foot on the fuel pump that fell off. Below 1/4 tank it kept inexplicably cutting out but once it was logged over a month, it had to be a problem in the tank.

3 hours ago, mjt said:

I think Stephen's been around long enough to know about that one.

Would think he's been on here long enough to start with Forscan before asking for random guesses.

 

Hardly random. The point made was to break out the OBD because guesses wouldn't work, Tom.

Took it to my guy this morning, and explained fault. He said he would bet the issue derives from the petrol - NI only converted to E10 petrol some months ago, way after the rest of the UK and he's seen various 'fuelling' issues caused by it.

So, his advice was, for the next 4 to 5 tankfuls, fill up with BP Ultimate (E5), and once a week, I have to redline the old girl.

If problem still persists, then I can start throwing money at it if I want...

So the old girl got a treat on the way home!

If somebody can explain to me how a change of fuel grade to E10 affects the car when turning left or right, I would very much like to know!

6 minutes ago, anon said:

If somebody can explain to me how a change of fuel grade to E10 affects the car when turning left or right, I would very much like to know!

When the car used E5, it drove perfectly, the last few months on E10 it has developed this characteristic. I'm prepared to experiment back to E5, and also 'redline' it to see if that will burn off any untoward deposits in the fuel system. If it makes no difference, well, what harm has it caused. Also, the enjoyment of revving her up to annoy all those 'greens' is supremely satisfying... 

1 minute ago, StephenFord said:

Also, the enjoyment of revving her up to annoy all those 'greens' is supremely satisfying

Expect a stern letter of disapproval in the post from Gretta 🤣

I don't buy into all the anecdotal stuff about E10. It is the replacement of 5% of the fuel with 5% of something else that has about 60% of the energy content so the overall difference is no more than 2%. A car that has been regularly treated with an injector cleaner is unlikely to be noticeably affected.

As for "untoward deposits in the fuel system;" no, sorry. There aren't any. Unless there is something a bit more scientific than random guesswork based on nothing at all, then your experiment is doomed to failure.

4 minutes ago, unofix said:

Expect a stern letter of disapproval in the post from Gretta 🤣

Hope she writes it on recycled paper LOL

I'm sure I've seen somewhere that cars which have had their battery regularly charged with a Maypole can develop mysterious hesitation?😀

It's gone quiet on the E10 problems theme for a while, so hopefully this hasn't triggered off another wave.

I have seen comments attributed to "experts" rather than anecdote, that in older cars that have done considerable mileage, the ethanol in E10 could have a cleaning effect and dislodge some deposits that may have built up over a considerable time. Might be plausible?

We have not noticed any difference in running or economy with our two cars, however both have done low mileage so probably not much deposit to dislodge anyway!

Older members will recall Cleveland Discol which iirc was sold here for about 40 years from the late 1920s. Not sure what the actual ethanol content was - the consensus seems to be about 10% but I have seen up to 20% mentioned.