Something very strange happened to me on the way home last night. I was on some NSL back roads varying between 40 and 60 mph when all of a sudden the engine seemed to quieten up and the accelerator didn't seem to be responding. I was in 4th gear at the time and so slowed down to try some other gears. It was not responsive in any gear, including 1st. By that I mean I could accelerate, but on an even more glacial level than usual! I mean it was REALLY slow, took a long time to reach 2,000rpm where it would sit for a while before attempting to climb to 3,000rpm. At one point my speed was dropping on a particularly steep hill so much that I wasn't sure if I could make it to the top!
I found the best way to limp it home was to feather the throttle; that way I made much better progress through the gears and was able to not hold the road up too much. If I tried a bit more pressure on the accelerator, I got a worse response; after 2,000rpm the car would make a nasty rattly noise and refused to rev, so I'd have to back down to lightly feathering it again. Too much fuel? As it was night I couldn't make out whether it was smoking excessively or not.
One of the strangest things though was the fact that nothing unusual lit up on the dash; it was like the ECU didn't have a clue that something wasn't right. Usually it lights up like a Christmas tree at the slightest hint of a problem. Stranger still, I fire it up this morning and it's back to how it always was! I didn't hammer it for obvious reasons, but it was perfectly willing to rev on the road, climb hills etc.
Any ideas what the hell happened last night? The temperature gauge showed 4 bars as it always does. One thing I should mention although it's probably nothing to do with it and completely coincidental; the last few days I've been getting a strange throbbing and grating sound (doesn't sound healthy) that seems to come from the rear end when the car pulls away at low revs. By low, I mean idle revs as in just releasing the clutch and letting the torque do the work; as soon as any revs are applied it disappears. Just thought I'd mention it.
Any input would be appreciated. Hope this doesn't happen again.
I found the best way to limp it home was to feather the throttle; that way I made much better progress through the gears and was able to not hold the road up too much. If I tried a bit more pressure on the accelerator, I got a worse response; after 2,000rpm the car would make a nasty rattly noise and refused to rev, so I'd have to back down to lightly feathering it again. Too much fuel? As it was night I couldn't make out whether it was smoking excessively or not.
One of the strangest things though was the fact that nothing unusual lit up on the dash; it was like the ECU didn't have a clue that something wasn't right. Usually it lights up like a Christmas tree at the slightest hint of a problem. Stranger still, I fire it up this morning and it's back to how it always was! I didn't hammer it for obvious reasons, but it was perfectly willing to rev on the road, climb hills etc.
Any ideas what the hell happened last night? The temperature gauge showed 4 bars as it always does. One thing I should mention although it's probably nothing to do with it and completely coincidental; the last few days I've been getting a strange throbbing and grating sound (doesn't sound healthy) that seems to come from the rear end when the car pulls away at low revs. By low, I mean idle revs as in just releasing the clutch and letting the torque do the work; as soon as any revs are applied it disappears. Just thought I'd mention it.
Any input would be appreciated. Hope this doesn't happen again.
