Car sluggish in 1st and 2nd Gear

Windsor70

Hi

Sorry to be dippy, but no idea with cars and a semi new driver. I have a Peugeot 207, and this morning it felt really sluggish and gutless when I was changing from first to second gear. The only way I can think to explain it is, it felt like I still had the handbrake slightly engaged. I did this once in my old car!

Any advice would great. Thanks in advance.

thescouselander

Could be a number of things but to start with:

1) Check the tyre pressures
2) Check for seized brakes - does the car roll easily with the brakes off? Alternatively if the brakes are seized the affected wheel will get hotter than the others after a drive.

SailorSam

Perhaps a fuel blockage.

wba31

or maybe it's just underpowered? i had a 1.4 as courtesy car once and it was extremely sluggish in lower revs...

Windsor70

Thank you thescouselander, I will check the tyre pressures. It was fine when I was driving to work, but not so when I turned into my work place.

Windsor70

wba31 wrote: »

or maybe it's just underpowered? i had a 1.4 as courtesy car once and it was extremely sluggish in lower revs...

It can be gutless between the two gears, but I know that the thing to do is keep it slightly longer in 2nd before going through to third and that seems to give it the oomph it needs, and its a great little car.

Could it be anything to do with the water levels??? Sorry I am dim

SailorSam

Another one to check is your air filter.

Windsor70

SailorSam wrote: »

Another one to check is your air filter.

I brought the car in October last year and apparently the garage did service it. Someone has said to me about the air filter before, so maybe that is something I need to get checked out. I have only done just over a thousand miles since I got the car.

Strider590

No reason I can see why it would only be misbehaving in 1st/2nd, so I think that's somewhat misleading.

Keep an eye on it, if there's a fault, it should eventually light up the ECU warning lamp. Things that won't flag up on the ECU very quickly are sticking idle control valve (ICV) or the lambda sensor on it's way out.
Both of the above will cause loss of power leading to irratic idle speed and/or stalling when stopping at junctions.

There's also this

AnythingButChardonnay

Changed tyre sizes recently? That could be effectively under-gearing you.

I've had it once before caused by some petrol which I don't think had been detergented properly (it was from Asda). At first I thought the clutch was the issue because I was very underpowered setting from stationary and was unusually easy to stall.

colin13

dirt in the fuel line,,maybe,but a good load of revs would fix this