You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
So, the wife's car (2006 Fabia estate, in beige, with the 1.9 TDi engine) has started doing something odd.
When trying to accelerate reasonably hard in a high gear, driving along at 50-70 mph (I've tried fourth and fifth) the car seems to be loosing power to the wheels and juddering until I back off on the acceleration. I suspect this might be the clutch slipping but I can't get it to misbehave at lower speeds or in lower gears. All the past experience I have with failing clutches has had obvious issues just setting off so though I might check the general pool of STW wisdom before heading off to the garage.
Do we think it's the clutch or could it be something else?
Don't think it is the clutch. You'd normally hear the revs rise without any gain in speed if it was slipping.
Poss blocked fuel filter???
Any smoke at the back?
You can get some truely grim behaviour if you turbo hose is popping off under pressure. Have you tried going up the revs in a lower gear?
Not the clutch(as Selkirkbear says), but could be a few other things. Most likely related to fuel and air. Ie air leak, sensor failure, fuel block etc.
trying to accelerate reasonably hard in a high gear, driving along at 50-70 mph
That's the classic point at which a worn clutch first shows. Do you have a rev counter to compare against the speedo?
The way to check for a slipping clutch is to put it into 3rd or 4th gear and drive at 3000 revs or so with the throttle to the floor, then bounce the clutch pedal in and out as quickly as you can. If the clutch is ok, the engine will immediately return to normal revs as soon as the clutch reengages. If the clutch is worn, it will flare up to higher revs.
Don’t think it is the clutch. You’d normally hear the revs rise without any gain in speed if it was slipping.
This is one of those things that should have been obvious to check while driving along but it never crossed my mind. I'm about 90% sure that the revs weren't spiking when the power was dropping (which I guess would be what should happen if this was the clutch) but I'd have to go out for another drive to be 100% sure of this.
The fuel filter is a good shout as I don't think that has been changed in quite a while now. Same goes for giving the MAF sensor a bit of a clean. Might see if I can find the time to have a look at those myself before taking it up with a garage.
Are the air blower vents getting red hot? Mine did this when the head gasket went (Golf 1.9 tdi). Also the coolant kept getting low because the engine gas would get in there and it would bubble out the overflow.
Clutch tends to be rather pungent, next time it does it stop and sniff.
Manual or DSG?
DSG clutch wear feels different to normal manual clutch wear. I had a judder a particular revs. Started doing when cold, then all the time.
Clutch slip would be noticed first in 5th and 6th, as suggested, give the clutch a stab whilst accelerating and the revs should immediately drop back down after releasing it. I'm not sure you will get much smell when it's worn out either as there is a lack of pressure on the clutch plates.
the easiest way to test a clutch health is to floor the accerator in a high gear whilst rolling at a gentle speed (30ish, clutch dipped), and with the engine at the redline drop the clutch. if the revs are still high after 2 seconds, let off the accelerator and let it settle down, your clutch is on its way out (might last a while, but its going). this will show up before revs rising independantly of road speed.
I recon fuel filter.
Fuel pump ? low pressure in high demand causing bad spray pattern or not popping the injectors open
DPF blocked ? Italiano tune up , hold onto all the gears till 4000rpm , once warm.
Fuel filter blocked
possible egr fault .- eml will stay on
possible cat converter blockage but v v unlikely
Air filter blocked / wet maybe , worth a 30 sec check
Clutch , well top gear 2000rpm then floor it , if the rvs pick up then its fried
Not really alot else it could be that would throw an eml up
It’s been a while but I finally got round to looking properly at the car this weekend.
@selkirkbear wins, as a new fuel (and air) filter seems to have sorted it out nicely. All back to running smoothly without any of the juddering that was going on before, it even feels better in the lower gears too.