Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 1st Gear and only 20 MPH

I noticed this the other day when I was driving, it's winter an d there's been a fair bit of snow up here so I've been driving pretty conservatively and have been shifting from 1st to 2nd when I hit about 2.0 to 2.5 K revs because of this. However, yesterday I was on some pretty good roads, and tried to take off from the stop sign a bit likely. I was in first gear and between 4.0 to 4.5 K revs I was still only at about 20mph !!
Now this worried me a little, especially as the car drove really well before hand, and I was expecting to rocket forwards somewhat.
The car pulled right up to about 20 mph then the engine continued revving, nothing felt out of place, except my speed didn't increase much. I'm pretty damned sure that the gearing isn't that short that she can't handle more than 20 mph in 1st, the wheels didn't feel like they were spinning either and the road was good and well salted too.
I've only had the car since early December, and I know that it was given a full service before I picked it up. Is it possible that somehow the computer was reset and it's learnt my very conservative driving style and no longer wants to hammer it down in first ? Or would this suggest a bigger problem somewhere.
Also as a note, Air Con was off, as I know this causes power drain as it draws power from the engine (although I'm not sure how exactly).

2.5L Duratec - 98 Mystique LS Sport Edition.

Thanks in advance,

Rabbit.

Do you have a manual or automatic?

If it's a manual, it's the clutch slipping.

If it's an ATX, the tranny or the torque converter is slipping.

This observation is due to your report that the engine speed continued to increase with no change in wheel speed.

Steve

It's a manual.

Would the clutch slipping be affected by temperature at all ?? It's been between -16 and -24 recently.

Test the clutch by trying to take off from a stop in third gear.

If the clutch is slipping, the engine will rev up but you won't go anywhere.

If the clutch is not slipping, you will either stall the engine or will manage to take off.

If the cold finished caused the slipping to show up, it was bad anyway.

Steve

Thanks for the tip, I tried the test and stop from 3rd gear works fine. I take off nice and slowly, with no over-revving.

Okay, I've done a little more test driving around while the roads are better today.
The clutch, as far as I can feel, seems normal. It accellerates normally in the gears, except 1st which seems to max at 25 mph at about 4 - 4.5 K revs.
I tested starting from 3rd and shifting from slow in 2nd to 4th then accellerating, it feels fine with no over-revving or play.
The clutch bites when it's supposed to and releases when it should too. There's no slipping feeling that I had before with a slipping clutch, then again it may be because it's only just started.
The thing that gets me the most, is that it does drive perfectly, only it feels more like 2nd gear is what first should be.
I also notived that I can max my revs as quick with my foot between about 1/4 and 1/3 down on the gas, as I am used to with it 1/2 to 3/4 of the way down.
Does this highlight any further problems, or reassure that it's the clutch only just beginning to slip ??

Thanks,

Rabbit.

Okay, been phoning around to get a price for replacing a clutch, so I am well prepared to break it to my wife.
I'm getting some conflicting labour times from the different garages that I'm calling in to. Anywhere from 5 hours through to about 15 hours to replace it. I'm pretty new to the area too, so I don't know which are the places to trust, and have never had this done on a Mystique before.
The last time I had a clutch replaces was on a Peugeot 409 back in Britain, and that took 3 days as they ordered the clutch in.

Any ideas on labour hours ??

Thanks,

Rabbit.

if you are really slipping bad enough you will smell your clutch burning...if you can start from 3rd and you don't notice any odd smells then I think it is safe to assume it isn't your clutch that is the problem.

before you replace the clutch you might want to take it somewhere to get a second opinion.

Okay small update now.

There was a light knocking (more of a rattling) from the engine bay when accellerating that recently appeared. It didn't sound like the engine.
I drove her around, heard the knocking sound while ranging from 2.5 K Revs +. Parked her and threw on the revs in neutral, there was no knocing sound. Drove her around again, knocking as before. Parked her, neutral and threw the revs to 4K and held for a minute, no knocking sounds what-so-ever.

I reset the computer and took her out to re-learn her, the knocking sound disappeared for a while, and comes back only when accellerating quite hard.

It's more of a rattling noise than a knocking noise too.

I'm very tempted to agree with you bozack, as my clutch really does feel fine. It doesn't feel like it's slipping at all, none of that "floaty feeling" I've experienced before. I know I can stall her, as my wife has been learning to drive and has done so in first, second and third, I've also stalled once in first myself too. There has been absolutely no burning clutch smell at all either, and the biting point is still good, and pretty smooth for her age.

All my second opinions have been slipping clutch, but that's from Ford mechanics who haven't even looked at her yet, just quoted to replace the clutch flat-out. She's going in tomorrow (Monday) to my local Nissan dealership who are actually going to take her out for a spin first to see what it feels like.

I'll mention what it is as soon as I know

Rabbit.