MASSIVE jolt when lifting off in 1st/2nd... HELP!

[RaggedLob]

I drive a 3cyl 1.2 12v, which, ever since i bought it, has had a real problem with smoothness in the lower gears...

Lifting off the throttle (even lightly) in 1st or second gear causes a HUGE painful jolt to resonate through the cabin, and the whole car jerks back. this is regardless of revs, it can happen anywhere between 1500RPM up to the redline. My independent mechanic told me it was a characteristic of 3 cylinder engines, which seems odd...

My Dad told me it could possibly be a rubber stop in the engine bay which holds the revs in low gears, and it's worn through/ shot... any ideas?

Cheers, Lawrence

 

[andycupra]

engine or gearbox mounts and check gearbox is bolts securely.

what happens if you simply rev the engine?

 

[RaggedLob]

Revving the Engine seems fine, bit noisy and shaky, especially when cold, but that's to be expected with a 3 cylinder..

i'm reluctant to take it to the Stealers, purely cos i'm a student and can't afford the labour, but ill try and find a cheap independent to have a look

Anyone else have this problem?

 

[m0rk]

When the engine is cold, grapple the engine & rock it back & forth, side to side - does it move (much?)

 

[kidinspace]

Mine jolts too, but not as bad as what you describe, however I have noticed recently that lift off in any gear my steering wheel jolts to the left a bit....


.G.

 

[Disco_Biscuit]

They do suffer with lower gearbox mounts wearing or even the bolts falling out.

 

[seremotors]

Worth checking for a broken front coilspring as well.
Is there any loss in power lately? A failed ignition coil (1 per cylinder) can make it very jumpy and rough.
I jump into our 1.2 Ibiza loan cars occasionally and I do find that they seem very 'sharp' and the revs sometimes seem to have a mind of their own . . . . .

 

[Ibiza125]

When the engine is cold, grapple the engine & rock it back & forth, side to side - does it move (much?)

I would do this as it sounds like some kind of mount to me!

 

[RaggedLob]

When the engine is cold, grapple the engine & rock it back & forth, side to side - does it move (much?)

Just tried this, it moves slightly on the suspended balancer mounts on top, but i'm sure that's normal..

I've driven demo Ibiza's and Polo's with the same engine, none had this

Think it may be what Disco Biscuit said, a Gearbox mount of some sort, might take it to Newbury Seat to see if a mechanic could identify it

cheers for the replies guys

 

[Nath.]

I had a problem on a mk3 1.6 sport that sounds almost the same, you could not hold the revs at 2k. in neutral if you touched the gas even a tiny bit it would jump from tickover to just over 2k. If you set the revs at say 4k and slowly come down, you could go 4k, 3.5k,3k,2.5,2k bang tickover. The potentiometer in the throttle pedal was faulty and a new one fixed it.

In neutral can you go up and down the revs slow and smooth in 500rpm stages without any jumps or skips?

 

[Acksaw]

Mine does this but I just assumed it was me not letting the clutch out smooth enough or letting it out to slow and then it jolting as the revs being higher than they should be when letting the clutch out fully