Last thursday, I wanted to go to Wilrijk (a place in Belgium not far from Antwerp). I drove out of the garage, and off I was. Suddenly I felt that the car wasn't responding to the trottle input anymore, the car stayed on idle.
There I was standing in the middle of the road. I was only about 100 metres from my house so no problems there.
I had to get to the side of the road of even better, home. So I put the car in reverse and let go of the clutch very easily. Luckily it is a 3 litre V6 engine with a lot of torque and I could get home easly. I jumped into my father's very old Mercedes (34 y.o.) and drove to Wilrijk.
On my way to Wilrijk I phoned home to tell my father that he had to call the insurance company to tow the car to the local Ford dealer.
After I came back from Wilrijk I drove straightly to the local dealer to find out what was wrong with the car.
They said that the gas valve (I don't know if this is the right word, it's the valve at the engine were you can revv the engine directly by hand) was broken off. So They installed a new one the next day. The head of the mechanics department said that it was not normal for this valve to be broken after only 6 and a half years and only 43.000 miles (67.500km). He said that the valve must have functioned stiffly/tightly all these years. It is a synthetic valve by the way.
The car was ready friday. There very first thing I foud out was that the engine is very, but very responsive when I touch the trottle. The car reacts to to slightest touch of my foot and accelerates much quicker. It feels that I have a lot more torque etc... .
In short, it feels that I got a race car back from the garage.
Ofcourse I called the local dealer and explained everything and they said that it is normal. That the gas valve has been adjusted/installed correctly, that I have to adjust my foot input, etc.... They also said that the previous valve was working to stiffly and that I'm used to push the throtle hard before getting a response.
I say, in a friendly way, this is BS.
I have driven my share of cars/ busses in my life. From stock (fastest was a Porsche 997 S and Boxter S) cars to a Formula Renault, trained in a auto training school and I have never had a car, not even the Formula Renault, that responded so directly to the slightest foot input.
You can compare it with a race sim. In some hardcore race sims you can adjust the sensitivity of a lot of things, including the throttle. Well with my car it feels like the sensitivity went from 30-40% to 100%, almost undrivable. Everytime I lift of the car from standing still, it sounds like an old lady that is slipping the clucth while revving the engine way too high.
The only positive thing, my car feels as fast as I always wanted it to be, after all these years. I have always been a little bit discouraged by the performance of this car. It always felt that the car wasn't perfoming like it should.
Half an hour ago, I phoned a guy whom is a rally/race car pilot (he is the owner of a small raceteam) and an ex official Ford dealer. He wasn't available but I'm curious what he has to say about this.
What could be wrong?

There I was standing in the middle of the road. I was only about 100 metres from my house so no problems there.
I had to get to the side of the road of even better, home. So I put the car in reverse and let go of the clutch very easily. Luckily it is a 3 litre V6 engine with a lot of torque and I could get home easly. I jumped into my father's very old Mercedes (34 y.o.) and drove to Wilrijk.
On my way to Wilrijk I phoned home to tell my father that he had to call the insurance company to tow the car to the local Ford dealer.
After I came back from Wilrijk I drove straightly to the local dealer to find out what was wrong with the car.
They said that the gas valve (I don't know if this is the right word, it's the valve at the engine were you can revv the engine directly by hand) was broken off. So They installed a new one the next day. The head of the mechanics department said that it was not normal for this valve to be broken after only 6 and a half years and only 43.000 miles (67.500km). He said that the valve must have functioned stiffly/tightly all these years. It is a synthetic valve by the way.
The car was ready friday. There very first thing I foud out was that the engine is very, but very responsive when I touch the trottle. The car reacts to to slightest touch of my foot and accelerates much quicker. It feels that I have a lot more torque etc... .
In short, it feels that I got a race car back from the garage.
Ofcourse I called the local dealer and explained everything and they said that it is normal. That the gas valve has been adjusted/installed correctly, that I have to adjust my foot input, etc.... They also said that the previous valve was working to stiffly and that I'm used to push the throtle hard before getting a response.
I say, in a friendly way, this is BS.
I have driven my share of cars/ busses in my life. From stock (fastest was a Porsche 997 S and Boxter S) cars to a Formula Renault, trained in a auto training school and I have never had a car, not even the Formula Renault, that responded so directly to the slightest foot input.
You can compare it with a race sim. In some hardcore race sims you can adjust the sensitivity of a lot of things, including the throttle. Well with my car it feels like the sensitivity went from 30-40% to 100%, almost undrivable. Everytime I lift of the car from standing still, it sounds like an old lady that is slipping the clucth while revving the engine way too high.
The only positive thing, my car feels as fast as I always wanted it to be, after all these years. I have always been a little bit discouraged by the performance of this car. It always felt that the car wasn't perfoming like it should.
Half an hour ago, I phoned a guy whom is a rally/race car pilot (he is the owner of a small raceteam) and an ex official Ford dealer. He wasn't available but I'm curious what he has to say about this.
What could be wrong?
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