Hi all,

Quite recently obtained a magna wagon, loving it so far! 210,00 km on the clock and up until last week was running like a dream.
About 2 weeks ago I noticed a shift in fuel economy at highway speeds; obtaining between 6.5-7.5 L/100km opposed to the typical 8.5L/100km I was getting before. Over this time the cars performance on acceleration has become poorer: as of last night the car barely responds to acceleration, and it stutters when accelerating. Bascially flooring it has minimal effect for 2-3 seconds, after which it will receive full power but in an inconsistent, jerky manner. Normal driving is next to impossible; being gentle with the accelerator will result in the car struggling to move at all. In addition it seems that engaging the A/C worsens the problem significantly.

Any ideas?

This weekend I have scheduled to change over the spark plugs, fuel and air filters and timing belt if I have the time. Some other threads seem to suggest it is the ECU however?

Cheers!

Fuel filter first.

Sounds like that the O2 sensor has failed.
Gerry

This weekend I have scheduled to change over the spark plugs, fuel and air filters and timing belt if I have the time. Some other threads seem to suggest it is the ECU however?


If this work doesn't do anything to solve the problem, try reading the ECU error codes.

See http://www.aussiemagna.com/forums/showthread.php?t=98401 for details.

If inconclusive, check for coolant leaking onto the ECU, or failing ignition coil.

Without the error code check though, all else is guesswork.

Thanks all, had a bit of a clean up around the spark plug electrical connections yesterday and resetted the ECU, problem isn't fixed but has definitely improved. Best guess is that it's a combination of things; fingers crossed it resolves after this weekend.

I had something similar - in the end for me it was a vacuum leak on the intake causing the same symptoms as what you have described. Give it a check over.

Thanks Nemesis; sounds spot on.
Got worried over the weekend when I changed over the spark plugs; engine ran beautifully for about an hour or so, then straight back to being erratic. I suspect this is because I used a substantial amount of carburator cleaner on the intake manifold; apparantly the solvent smooths out the air/fuel ratio temporarily.