Improve poor performance

Jack0106

Hey guys, hope i found the right place to put this but i have a question. I have a 2001 mk4 golf (1.4) but it seems to be lacking a bit of power when it goes past 2500 rpm. I dont really mind when driving around my area, but when on the motorway it seems like some of those horses have turned to ponies. I know the car has only 75 bhp but come on.
Is there anything i can do besides buying performance parts? or is there any problems that could be there?

Any advice will be appreciated - Thanks

Moneymaker

Heavy body + underpowered engine = slow car.

slimjimmc

Post moved from Consumer Issues to Motors.

corkgsxr

If it's servised right then bigger all

Jack0106

yeah i serviced it last week, changed the plugs and filters etc but no luck, or nothing that i acn see so far

Jack0106

yeah i serviced it last week, changed the plugs and filters etc but to no avail. Or none that i can see.

bryaner

Heavy car, underpowered engine, feck all you can do I'm afraid.

Jack0106

thats helpful, i was asking for any tip, tricks or solutions to the problem or if this is normal for mk4s

colm_mcm

Its a characteristic of the car. The only solution is getting something more powerful

Atlantic Dawn

Having driven one before the only comparison is like a 20 stone man trying to get the best out of a Honda 50, it ain't happening.

corkgsxr

I had that engine in a saloon polo ( I'd imagine a even heavier car)

Coming from a moped it felt like a animal.....for about a month.

And that was one with no cat. When I put a new cat in before selling it it was a lot slower

Jack0106

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Having driven one before the only comparison is like a 20 stone man trying to get the best out of a Honda 50, it ain't happening.

hahaha okay, i think i get the picture lads

colm_mcm

corkgsxr wrote: »

I had that engine in a saloon polo ( I'd imagine a even heavier car)

Coming from a moped it felt like a animal.....for about a month.

And that was one with no cat. When I put a new cat in before selling it it was a lot slower

Polo saloon is a bit lighter but they fitted it with an even less powerful version of that engine (60bhp)
Friends mum had one a few months and was giving out that it was dead slow even for a 1.0 - imagine her surprise when we told her it was 1.4

CiniO

Just use the high revs. That way you'll use this small engine to it's maximum and have reasonable bit of performance.

I have 1.2 fiat Bravo which is really slow, but I rev it up to 6500 rpm nearly everytime when acceleratin, and generally very seldom drive below 3000rpm. That way cargives as much performance as it can.

Jack0106

CiniO wrote: »

Just use the high revs. That way you'll use this small engine to it's maximum and have reasonable bit of performance.

I have 1.2 fiat Bravo which is really slow, but I rev it up to 6500 rpm nearly everytime when acceleratin, and generally very seldom drive below 3000rpm. That way cargives as much performance as it can.

That cant be healthy for your greabox and clutch, the poor car. Figured you only did that stuff if yu wer racing no?

colm_mcm

Fiat engines encourage you to trash them to the redline though.
Kinda miss mine

visual

colm_mcm wrote: »

Fiat engines encourage you to trash them to the redline though.
Kinda miss mine

Is that the temperature red line

Jack0106

No way, seriously? That couldnt be right? I wouldnt know, never driven one

colm_mcm

visual wrote: »

Is that the temperature red line

CiniO

Jack0106 wrote: »

That cant be healthy for your greabox and clutch, the poor car. Figured you only did that stuff if yu wer racing no?

I can't see any reason why would it be bad for gearbox or clutch.

visual

With lower bhp tyre pressure makes a difference make sure they are at correct presure

You said you changed spark plugs are they the correct type. ?

Dipatane in the fuel will make it a little more responsive.

If it emission is off a faulty CAT could zapping power from engine.

But its more likely the engine is ok and just underpowered for the car weight

Jack0106

Yeah they where all proper plugs, have put a cup of diptane in it about a month ago thanks for the advice though

Jack0106

Yeah the high rev will give more horse power but. Its less efficient and harder in engine plus youd burn yur clutch out no? Im not an expert but thats what ive been told through out the years

Titzon Toast

Stickers, you need to put stickers on it man.
Or maybe a gti badge or two?
That'll be worth 50 bhp straight away.

visual

I drove a few of the diesel model golfs including the non turbo. Like the cars but speed isnt their ace in the hole. But stable drive with plenty of grip on windy roads it felt much faster.

There are quite a few cars on the road with underpowered engines

It then becomes down to drivers skill.

One of my first cars was old Leyland mini 850
The first car I tried to over take the best I could do was pull up along side and after some considerable time had to drop back.

After driving the car for a while I learned that if I accelerate from a long way back I could build momentum and over take with ease. If I could do that in a old mini your easily do it in a golf.

Bpmull

Gt tdi badge for the back.
A few stickers for the rear window specially the one which says "this sticker adds 5bhp".
Finally a few racing stripes. All that has to be at least 50 bhp :pac:

Ah no in all seriousness there is not a whole lot you can do. But check the tyre pressure all round probably keep it on the high side of the recommend limit in the owner manual or probably written on fuel cap or around driver door sill.

Remove any excess weight anything thrown on the back seats (actually probably the seats themselves too) or anything in the boot. I don't think any of this stuff will make any drastic changes. It could be a case of just getting use to it or buying something a bit quicker.


Edit: bet to it on the first few items of advice.

colm_mcm

Jack0106 wrote: »

Yeah the high rev will give more horse power but. Its less efficient and harder in engine plus youd burn yur clutch out no? Im not an expert but thats what ive been told through out the years

You won't burn your clutch out by revving. There's no harm in using the revs to come up to speed or for overtaking. Nobody's suggesting you cruise around in 2nd at 70mph.

Jack0106

So its 100% fine to be up on 4500 rpm in 5th gear (i have no more, could have done with a 6th) cruising at whatever speed thatd be, for a lengthy period of time? Or as you clime up the gears hitting that red line or close to it before you shift every time?

CiniO

Jack0106 wrote: »

So its 100% fine to be up on 4500 rpm in 5th gear

Of course.
Obviously assuming car is being regularly services and oil is not after serving last 60k miles in the car, but was regularly changed.

(i have no more, could have done with a 6th) cruising at whatever speed thatd be, for a lengthy period of time? Or as you clime up the gears hitting that red line or close to it before you shift every time?

Most car manual say that you shouldn't drive for extensive period of times at revs on your red zone on your rev meter.
However hitting red zone when accelerating is no harm.
As well as travelling at 4500rpm as you mentioned above.

Only what will suffer is your fuel consumption. Otherwise this can have rather positive effect on engine condition.

Absolutely no harm on a clutch. Clutch suffers the most from driving with it half engaged (f.e. someone sits his leg on a pedal when driving), or just fails to fully release the clutch just after starting on 1st gear.
Also sharp movements like very quick releasing the clutch when moving off on 1st gear to make tyres spin is not good for clutch and gearbox and engine.
But gentle driving at high revs is no harm.

goz83

There is actually something you can do, beside get a different car, or putting a better engine into it the Golf.

The problem is that the engine is underpowered for the cars weight. The answer is to lose some weight (the car, not you). At the very least, make sure you're not lugging stuff around that doesn't need to be there. Amazes me as to how many people drive around with their car boots and back seats full of junk and tools that haven't been touched in months. You could go and rip out every piece of the car you don't need. Aircon, back seats, plastic trim, girlfriend and whatever else you don't need in the car.

And now you see the answer is to get a better car :pac:

Jack0106

goz83 wrote: »

There is actually something you can do, beside get a different car, or putting a better engine into it the Golf.

The problem is that the engine is underpowered for the cars weight. The answer is to lose some weight (the car, not you). At the very least, make sure you're not lugging stuff around that doesn't need to be there. Amazes me as to how many people drive around with their car boots and back seats full of junk and tools that haven't been touched in months. You could go and rip out every piece of the car you don't need. Aircon, back seats, plastic trim, girlfriend and whatever else you don't need in the car.

And now you see the answer is to get a better car :pac:

Thanks man haha yeah i think ill just deal with it for now amd thanks everybody for all the input, much appreciated - Jack

wonski

Jack0106 wrote: »

Hey guys, hope i found the right place to put this but i have a question. I have a 2001 mk4 golf (1.4) but it seems to be lacking a bit of power when it goes past 2500 rpm. I dont really mind when driving around my area, but when on the motorway it seems like some of those horses have turned to ponies. I know the car has only 75 bhp but come on.
Is there anything i can do besides buying performance parts? or is there any problems that could be there?

Any advice will be appreciated - Thanks

Rev it up, 2500rpm is nothing;)

greasepalm

maybe a reason to have a diagnostics done to see if anything crops up like lambda probe fault=car down on power.how does engine look on tick over viewing it with bonnet open rocky/shaky side to side movement from drivers wing =worn valve guides.

colm_mcm

Jack0106 wrote: »

So its 100% fine to be up on 4500 rpm in 5th gear (i have no more, could have done with a 6th) cruising at whatever speed thatd be, for a lengthy period of time? Or as you clime up the gears hitting that red line or close to it before you shift every time?

The second bit. Obviously in 5th at 4500 rpm you'll be breaking the speed limit by a fair bit.

djimi

Its worth bearing in mind that amid all the advice to red line the car to get the best performance out of it, the fuel consumption will take a significant hit if a car is driven in that manner all the time. Also driving a car that hard is going to put a lot more strain on components and as such more frequent servicing is going to be required. A car can be driven in that matter, but there is a reason why, for the most part, they are not, and if want the kind of performance that only red lining can give from your current car then perhaps its time to consider upgrading to something with a bit more poke!

slimjimmc

I hope your timing belt and belt tensioner are in good nick before you start making a habit of revving high.

Some guys and gals here have the engine internals cleaned by Terraclean and reported some improvement, not huge but some.
http://www.terracleanireland.ie/

alias no.9

visual wrote: »

Is that the temperature red line

Nah, the lumps most prone to head gasket failure don't have a temperature gauge, just a little warning light telling you that its already too late to do anything

Stallingrad

If you are willing to spend some money around €300 will get you 10% more power via Superchips. Only you can decide if it is worth it.

Caliden

Owned one before.

Grand for driving around but if you want to overtake something on a single carriageway forget about it.
Economy isn't great on them either and you need to keep at least 10 bulbs in your glovebox as they go every second week.

CiniO

Caliden wrote: »

.

Grand for driving around but if you want to overtake something on a single carriageway forget about it.

Well you can overtake with anything capable of speed faster than vehicle to be overtaken is travelling. It's all a matter of technique.

In cars that have very little power, and poor acceleration, what you need to do is keep big distance from vehicle which you'll be overtaking.
That gives you better visibility on situation ahead and time to gain speed. When you see there is a gap in oncoming vehicle, then you start accelerating on your lane before this gap is near you (so you accelerate when cars are still oncoming).
If you do it right, the gap should be just there available for you to overtake, when you are close behind car to overtake, and you have a good bit of speed difference built up. Then just a lane change, and overtaking takes only few seconds.

I learned this technique when I first started driving in late 90s and was driving mostly my dad's fiat cinquecento 0.7cc. 30BHP.
I think even though it was the slowest car I've driven, I've proceeded with the higher number of overtakes per 100km driven out of all the cars I ever had. And this car was only 4 gear and only capable of doing 120km/h max.

Caliden

Yea I should probably have stipulated that unless you formulate a battle plan 30 second prior to there being a gap in order to overtake, forget about it :P

Henry Ford III

Improve poor engine choice? 1.4 in that Golf is a bit of a nail.

ShaunieVW

Stallingrad wrote: »

If you are willing to spend some money around €300 will get you 10% more power via Superchips. Only you can decide if it is worth it.

€300 for 7.5% bhp would be madness though. The 1.4 is an awful engine to put in them. Id be more worried about burning oil than gaining power if I was you. Sell it and buy a GTI, a 1.8T that is. They will do great MPG and all for a warm hatch. They are cheap and all as everyone buys the over rated diesel counterpart.