Temporary Power Loss.
Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2023 8:01 am
Okay, this is an oddity.
Two days ago I aproached a "T" intersection and the lights went amber when I was around 20 metres off the line, I was doing around 70 kph in an 80 kph zone. I noticed out of the corner of my eye a car approaching, at speed, from my right so I braked hard pulling up about a metre over the line, the other car never stopped and drove through, had I not stopped we could have well been involved in a "T" bone accident with him striking the drivers side on my Wildtrak.
So, when the the lights turned green we took off and the Wildtrak was suddenly sluggish with almost zero acceleration. Some 2 kilometres down the road I was able to pull over and I noticed the following:_
1.) The windscreen washer alarm light had come on indicating low water in the washer tank.
2.) The coolant header bottle was full to the cap.
3.) The ATF temperature, normally around 50 *C with the new (trial) air radiator cooler installed was up to close to 80*C as read on the Ultragauge.
As I had just done a full oil and filter change I assumed that the cause of the poor take-off and acceleration was fuel starvation as the only filter that I hadn't changed was the Fuelmaster 30 micron pre-filter as this is supposed to be good for close to 100,000 kms given the fuel consumption of a 3.2 litre engine with a fuel economy of around 15l/100k.
As it was close to 80,000 since it was last changed I payed out the $80.00 for a new filter canister and replaced it and the following day the woes have gone and the Wildtrak is back to its normal performance.
I have noticed since then however that the windscreen washer bottle must have a leak as the water simply flows/pours out of above the inner guard. It seems to be a real bitch to get to as the drivers wheel and plastic inner guard has to be removed just to get to the bottle and the pump.
On reflection the braking must have caused this leak.
Okay so here is the crunch. Could the action of hard severe braking and surging engine fluids have been the real cause of the loss of acceleration and that the fuel filter was okay and my initial diagnosis of fuel starvation has been obviously wrong ??
Incidentally there were no fault codes or engine warning lights.
Two days ago I aproached a "T" intersection and the lights went amber when I was around 20 metres off the line, I was doing around 70 kph in an 80 kph zone. I noticed out of the corner of my eye a car approaching, at speed, from my right so I braked hard pulling up about a metre over the line, the other car never stopped and drove through, had I not stopped we could have well been involved in a "T" bone accident with him striking the drivers side on my Wildtrak.
So, when the the lights turned green we took off and the Wildtrak was suddenly sluggish with almost zero acceleration. Some 2 kilometres down the road I was able to pull over and I noticed the following:_
1.) The windscreen washer alarm light had come on indicating low water in the washer tank.
2.) The coolant header bottle was full to the cap.
3.) The ATF temperature, normally around 50 *C with the new (trial) air radiator cooler installed was up to close to 80*C as read on the Ultragauge.
As I had just done a full oil and filter change I assumed that the cause of the poor take-off and acceleration was fuel starvation as the only filter that I hadn't changed was the Fuelmaster 30 micron pre-filter as this is supposed to be good for close to 100,000 kms given the fuel consumption of a 3.2 litre engine with a fuel economy of around 15l/100k.
As it was close to 80,000 since it was last changed I payed out the $80.00 for a new filter canister and replaced it and the following day the woes have gone and the Wildtrak is back to its normal performance.
I have noticed since then however that the windscreen washer bottle must have a leak as the water simply flows/pours out of above the inner guard. It seems to be a real bitch to get to as the drivers wheel and plastic inner guard has to be removed just to get to the bottle and the pump.
On reflection the braking must have caused this leak.
Okay so here is the crunch. Could the action of hard severe braking and surging engine fluids have been the real cause of the loss of acceleration and that the fuel filter was okay and my initial diagnosis of fuel starvation has been obviously wrong ??
Incidentally there were no fault codes or engine warning lights.