I bought a SportKa - minor issue

[GeordieInExile]

450 quid's worth of Dagenham's finest SOHC propelled sort-of-warm hatch fun.

Sorry for the rubbish photo, I'll get a proper one later.



One minor issue it has - it seems to rev a lot when I press down on the accelerator without actually accelerating. It will accelerate but there's a delay of a second or two.

Please tell me this is a quick fix and/or a minor issue which isn't going to destroy my shiny little SportKa.

It's not revving by itself, which a quick search online tells me would be a very bad thing. So that's good.

Edited by GeordieInExile on Tuesday 26th July 09:04

[steveo3002]

revs going up without the speed increasing sounds like a slipping clutch

is it more obvious with aggresive driving vs creeping along like grandad?

[GeordieInExile]

steveo3002 said:

revs going up without the speed increasing sounds like a slipping clutch

is it more obvious with aggresive driving vs creeping along like grandad?

Yeah, it is. If I'm on the motorway and I put my foot down I just get 5k worth of revs and a lot of noise but little immediate acceleration.

The clutch feels fine, the bite isn't high and it's not heavy.

[steveo3002]

only way revs can go up without the speed increasing is clutch slip or wheel spin but i doubt its spinning the wheels

[GeordieInExile]

Well, that minor issue quickly became needing to get a lift home off a recovery firm (at the cost of £150) because the clutch is completely done.

It's now at a garage and it'll set me back £300+ in parts and labour for a new one.

They'll take a look at everything else and let me know if there's anything else nasty lurking in there.

If it needs nowt else I'll get it a clutch and keep it. If it needs more I'll get the clutch then sell it on - with a new clutch and 10 months' MOT I'll hopefully get a little bit more back than the £350 purchase price.

Caveat emptor, folks.

[GeordieInExile]

Well, it's had a new clutch. Under 300 quid including labour, that's not bad at all. The clutch they took off though, bloody Hell. They showed me it, it was appalling. Shame on the dodgy bloke who bodged that to get it through its MOT. I might well shop the garage actually, since the guy who sold me the car works where it was MOT'd.

Ah well, it drives OK now and I have the radio back as the code was written on the underside of the sun visor.

Now I just need to fix the driver's door handle, as that snapped having been previously poorly bodged, and reset the steering wheel so it's dead centre - how easy is that to do at home?

[kev b]

Clutch is not checked in mot as long as it drives enough to move around workshop, steering wheel needs recentering using tracking gauges but check the bottom arm bushes are not u/s first.

[GeordieInExile]

I believe they (along with the arms) were replaced by the previous owner, not that I have a receipt to prove it!