hi, firstly i am not mechanical, so forgive me if descriptionn are wrong / off, please ask for further info if needed.
i am driving a 2001 leon, 120k miles.
recently i was behind a slow vehicle doing 20mph, i was in 3rd gear just plodding along smoothly, the car in front turned off, i went to put my foot down a bit and speed up and the car just stuttered, it didnt cut out or stall, it just didnt pull away as expected, it accelerated very slowly, and the engine light started to flash. i released the gas pedal, and dropped to 2nd gear thinking it just had a blockage and a bit of power would clear it, but it didnt.
i carried on driving home, noticing there was quite some vibration / shaking from the engine and through the gear stick. (when i popped the hood the whole engine was shaking, a passer by commented that it was "missing quite a bit"... is that misfiring?)
after a while of driving the engine light stayed on solid - the error then got weirder, sometimes i would drive and the car would feel nippier, like it was getting more power...?? (only slightly, but you notice these things i guess when driving a certain car for some time) but sometimes the car would struggle again and sort of lurch slightly, and then the loss of power would be back - i could get to 60mph ok, then it didnt really accelerate past that, (it crept up slowly, with toe right down to floor)
i notice the loss of power much more if going up an incline or going too slow in a higher gear (i can understand a car struggling, and the driver dropping down a gear, but this is ridiculous), so i avoid this as much as possible.
i want to get this fixed asap, but dont have a lot of funds. i cant be messing around with dealerships or garages gueesing, charging me and not fixing anything.
has anyone experienced this problem? does anyone know a fix? or anythign i can try that is cheap / free and then pay for the repairs when i know the problem?
i am driving a 2001 leon, 120k miles.
recently i was behind a slow vehicle doing 20mph, i was in 3rd gear just plodding along smoothly, the car in front turned off, i went to put my foot down a bit and speed up and the car just stuttered, it didnt cut out or stall, it just didnt pull away as expected, it accelerated very slowly, and the engine light started to flash. i released the gas pedal, and dropped to 2nd gear thinking it just had a blockage and a bit of power would clear it, but it didnt.
i carried on driving home, noticing there was quite some vibration / shaking from the engine and through the gear stick. (when i popped the hood the whole engine was shaking, a passer by commented that it was "missing quite a bit"... is that misfiring?)
after a while of driving the engine light stayed on solid - the error then got weirder, sometimes i would drive and the car would feel nippier, like it was getting more power...?? (only slightly, but you notice these things i guess when driving a certain car for some time) but sometimes the car would struggle again and sort of lurch slightly, and then the loss of power would be back - i could get to 60mph ok, then it didnt really accelerate past that, (it crept up slowly, with toe right down to floor)
i notice the loss of power much more if going up an incline or going too slow in a higher gear (i can understand a car struggling, and the driver dropping down a gear, but this is ridiculous), so i avoid this as much as possible.
i want to get this fixed asap, but dont have a lot of funds. i cant be messing around with dealerships or garages gueesing, charging me and not fixing anything.
has anyone experienced this problem? does anyone know a fix? or anythign i can try that is cheap / free and then pay for the repairs when i know the problem?
