My Ibiza Lacks Power

[laserman3000]

Hi all,

This is only my second post but I will try my best to give information in a useful way. My problem is with my Ibiza 1.4 cool s and its apparent lack of power (I am sure someone is going to say I should have bought the 1.8T ).

It is particularly noticable when I go uphills on motorways and other fast roads the speed drops off steadily and even shifting down won't help me to keep up. My first thought was that the clutch was slipping but I am not sure how I would check this. One person suggested putting it in 4th with the hand brake on and seeing if I could lift the clutch all the way up. This resulted in the car stalling rather than the clutch slipping. It is also notable that it doesn't seem to rev when accelerating heavily so it doesn't seem that the clutch is slipping under power either. It simply seems slow. Accelerating up to 70 takes ages, much longer than my much loved 1 litre arosa but as mentioned it is most noticable up hills.

The car itself is a 2001 model and has 50k on the clock with a fsh including a recent full service in November.

There is an engine light on the dash which points to engine electrical problems.

So given all these points I was wondering what I am looking at repair bill wise. I only just bought the car and I thought I had got myself a real deal since it was low mileage etc. I am really looking for some confirmation that I am not going to be shelling out for a new clutch and instead that it might be a coil problem or EGR valve or even Lambda sensor issue I can fit myself.

Thank you for reading

 

[mac64]

Get it scanned by someone with VAGCOM to see why the EML is on and then go from there otherwise you could just be throwing money away by replacing components that dont need it

HTH Marc

 

[laserman3000]

Thanks for the response. Would it be worth buying one of those CD + cable off ebay for £9 to check the EML myself or are those things not worth using?

 

[Seatmann]

I doubt they would be much use, try puting out a request on here to see if there's someone in your area with a code reader or vcds/vagcom, helpful bunch of people round here.

 

[cupra-gaz]

Thanks for the response. Would it be worth buying one of those CD + cable off ebay for £9 to check the EML myself or are those things not worth using?

yeah there very handy to have, i bought a cheapy cable from ebay and downloaded the free version of vag-com. once set up it can save you alot of money in the long run on diagnostic charges from garages an such

 

[laserman3000]

Thanks guys I like to do as much myself as possible so I would at some point want to invest in VAG COM but I am not sure how you go about it and where the value lies. Is there some middleground between cheapy ebay and professional tool that you might recommend and where might I buy the equipment?

I presume you only need one that tells you the code and then you can get that translated into english on the net I plan to get an arosa sport at some point so it might be a good investment

 

[Seatmann]

You could try getting the same cable as cupra-gaz if it works and downloading the vcds free version, I got the maxscan vag405 code reader which also works well. I t depends what you want to do, the code reader I got reads the codes and gives you a brief description of the fault and allows you to clear them but I don't know how much the free vcds does.

 

[laserman3000]

Your's sounds pretty sweet how much did that set you back? I suppose the lap top based ones can be used for graph plotting and timing issues.

 

[mac64]

I use the maxscan vag code reader on my golf and partners ibiza ITS useful bit of kit

They cost about £50 on ebay and can clear airbag fault codes as well as engine codes

Ive also got a cheap cable and the free version of VCDS is OK but sometimes its troublesome and wont connect to the ECU

9 times out of 10 ill use the code reader rather than the laptop

Cheers Marc

 

[laserman3000]

I am totally new to the concept of plugging in to the cars ECU. Will it be usable on all SEAT Audi and VW cars or just a selection of specific years? What is this CAN system that I keep hearing about coming out lately? I am happy to invest in one if I know it will be useful on my future cars ----> SEATS

 

[Seatmann]

The can bus thing is on newer cars but not sure which or what it means, my scanner connects to any vag car of the same sort of age as mine anyway but I need to find out more info on it.