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Newbie question for R53 JCW owners

5K views 2 replies 3 participants last post by  shaggydoc 
#1 ·
Hi all,

I'm a new R53 JCW owner and this is my first ever post so hello :).

I'm loving the car so far, lots of fun and I'm even getting used to all of the rattles! I had the car serviced when I bought it for peace of mind and at the same time had a compression test (13 bar across all cylinders) and leak-down tested (<5%) so the engine is very healthy for it's 70,000 miles. I also had the car dyno'd as it felt like it had lost boost and it came in at 160bhp with the bypass valve the obvious culpret. I had a new BPV fitted yesterday and it now feels like the horses are back in the stable!

Anyway, my question relates to power delivery and I'd really like to hear whether my experience is shared by others. I find that when under full-load the power rises steadily to around 2,500rpm the suddenly surges to around 3,500-4,000 before almost pausing then resuming it's rise towards the limiter. It feels almost as though the clucth slips between 2,500 and 3,500 before biting again but I know the clutch is healthy. It could also be that the wheels lose traction but that wouldn't occur consistently at the same rev's and it would also trigger the traction control (which it doesn't). I would expect power delivery with a supercharger to be very linear throughout the rev range.

Is this just a quirk or is it normal or do I have an 'issue'??

Many thanks in advance
Charlie
 
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#3 ·
I have an '05 R53 JCW and have noticed the same thing. I thought it might have been a traction thing, because it's most noticeable when turning at an intersection and accelerating out of it. I can overcome it by dropping down a gear and keeping the revs up, but it would be nice to have a more linear response.

I have noticed some other problems with the engine under load when it is hot too (loss of power), so I am now contemplating either trading it in for something newer (like the new Focus RS due out next year [Gasp - Sacrilege]!!), or having lots of fun and spending much less, and spending money on a significant performance upgrade project.

Anyway, in short, I have noticed a similar power problem with my Mini, but have no real good ideas as to why.
 
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