Dacia Sandero hesitates and jerks under acceleration
Discussion
Hello everyone,
I've been having an issue with my 2011 Dacia Sandero (petrol) for a while now.
The car starts to hesitate and lightly jerk when I accelerate more firmly. They're not violent jerks; it feels more like the engine is hesitating and the car starts to shudder slightly, almost as if I'm driving over small bumps.
Here's what I've noticed:
When I accelerate very gently, the problem is hardly noticeable.
As soon as I press the accelerator a bit more, the car hesitates and starts to jerk lightly.
At a constant speed, the car drives perfectly fine.
It happens mostly in 3rd and 4th gear, but occasionally in 2nd and 5th as well. It seems to occur mainly when the engine is under load.
We've connected the car to a diagnostic scanner, but there are no fault codes, and the check engine light is not on. The spark plugs have been inspected and appear to be in good condition.
Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas where I should start looking? I've heard it could be the ignition coils, a fuel delivery issue, or perhaps a sensor, but I'd rather not start replacing parts without a better idea of the cause.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I've been having an issue with my 2011 Dacia Sandero (petrol) for a while now.
The car starts to hesitate and lightly jerk when I accelerate more firmly. They're not violent jerks; it feels more like the engine is hesitating and the car starts to shudder slightly, almost as if I'm driving over small bumps.
Here's what I've noticed:
When I accelerate very gently, the problem is hardly noticeable.
As soon as I press the accelerator a bit more, the car hesitates and starts to jerk lightly.
At a constant speed, the car drives perfectly fine.
It happens mostly in 3rd and 4th gear, but occasionally in 2nd and 5th as well. It seems to occur mainly when the engine is under load.
We've connected the car to a diagnostic scanner, but there are no fault codes, and the check engine light is not on. The spark plugs have been inspected and appear to be in good condition.
Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas where I should start looking? I've heard it could be the ignition coils, a fuel delivery issue, or perhaps a sensor, but I'd rather not start replacing parts without a better idea of the cause.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!
Agree with chucking a set of plugs in and inspect carefully the coils for signs of cracks/tracking.
Fuel filter replaced? any other filters need replacing, fuel tank pick up clear and any pre pump inside tank workng well...this latter may or may not be an easy check, some cars have combined fuel level sender unit and pre pump with filter attached in one unit hopefully found under the back seat or at the front edge of the boot floor.
Crankcase breather pipes filters valves all clear?
MAF cleaned.
What you are describing sounds like fuel starvation, which probably means its absolutely nothing to do with that but its what i'd be looking for.
Left field suggestion, which probably doesn't apply.
Is it factory fit LPG converted? if so valve seat recession is a rare possibility, i've experienced this on a manufacturer fitted LPG equipped Outlander, the problem with non specialist LPG conversions is that they generally weren't fitted with a flashlube system (daft oversight for the sake of £50 worth of extra parts and easy to fit), even if VSR is the issue it can often be sorted for many more thousands of miles by simple adjusting the tappets, assuming they are adjustable.
Fuel filter replaced? any other filters need replacing, fuel tank pick up clear and any pre pump inside tank workng well...this latter may or may not be an easy check, some cars have combined fuel level sender unit and pre pump with filter attached in one unit hopefully found under the back seat or at the front edge of the boot floor.
Crankcase breather pipes filters valves all clear?
MAF cleaned.
What you are describing sounds like fuel starvation, which probably means its absolutely nothing to do with that but its what i'd be looking for.
Left field suggestion, which probably doesn't apply.
Is it factory fit LPG converted? if so valve seat recession is a rare possibility, i've experienced this on a manufacturer fitted LPG equipped Outlander, the problem with non specialist LPG conversions is that they generally weren't fitted with a flashlube system (daft oversight for the sake of £50 worth of extra parts and easy to fit), even if VSR is the issue it can often be sorted for many more thousands of miles by simple adjusting the tappets, assuming they are adjustable.
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