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New Altezza Owner (and A Couple Of Issues...)


GavinJR
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Hi everyone,

Just picked up my Altezza RS200 Tiptronic yesterday - very happy :D

except...

The car seems to be very sluggish, making it very difficult to pull away or overtake etc. There seems to be a real lack of power and the revs are not picking up... At the moment, it's actually slower than my old Pug 306!

I was burning along the M1 today, 3rd gear revs out quite well, but then when it drops into 4th the revs drop to the 5k mark and it's a real struggle to get the revs up any further (impossible when I hit a hill!). I tried using the tiptronic, 3rd gear is "ok", then when I put it into 4th it struggles.

The dealer did replace the Cat on Monday, and reading through a few posts on here mention that the ECU needs time to adjust??

I would really appreciate any advice you may have, and what to check - I can do a searh through the posts for the how to's but I just need to know where to start and some reasurrance that it's nothing serious!

Cheers (Fingers crossed!!)

Gavin

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Congratts, and welcome to LOC!

It is slower in the lower rev range, once u get the hang of driving it you'll have no such problem :)

Might be worth getting it serviced and fully inspected though.

:)

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Hi Gavin

First welcome to LOC :D and the darkside :ph34r:

The first question is are you used to an auto box :question:

When I first got the Tezza I had driven auto cars before but not really "tried them out", thought it real weird. But stuck with it refusing to drive the manual IS till I found out how it worked.

Have a play and remember that the box will respond to what your right foot does as well as the buttons on the wheel. The Tezza needs revs so don't be afraid of giving it some "wellie".

Anyway have a play and have fun and to answer your question I thought the same as you about the slow bit till I got used to it. Used properly the tip is nearly as good as a manual and just so much better in traffic jams.

You want the revs up to overtake when you know a good straight is coming, to avoid kick down on corners or roundabouts use the tip to give you the gear you want.

Hope that helps :D

EDIT GOT ANY PICS :D

Edited by MacRS200
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Hi Gavin

First welcome to LOC :D and the darkside :ph34r:

The first question is are you used to an auto box :question:

When I first got the Tezza I had driven auto cars before but not really "tried them out", thought it real weird. But stuck with it refusing to drive the manual IS till I found out how it worked.

Have a play and remember that the box will respond to what your right foot does as well as the buttons on the wheel. The Tezza needs revs so don't be afraid of giving it some "wellie".

Anyway have a play and have fun and to answer your question I thought the same as you  about the slow bit till I got used to it. Used properly the tip is nearly as good as a manual and just so much better in traffic jams.

You want the revs up to overtake when you know a good straight is coming, to avoid kick down on corners or roundabouts use the tip to give you the gear you want.

Hope that helps :D

EDIT GOT ANY PICS :D

Thanks everyone for the quick replys!

PICS ON THE WAY VERY SOON! B)

I'm not used to Auto - so I thought it was maybe me, and the way i was driving it. But driving to work this morning i'm not so sure. The car feels almost "held back", and the revs really struggle to creep up - especially when going up hill. I blasted it down a hill and it seemed better (Revs got over 5K).

I also had a sort of "blind spot" in 1st gear - foot flat down and revs didn't increase past 4.5K at all - eased off the accelerator and it dropped into 2nd and started to accelerate...

I'm near Guildford / Aldershot - Anybody know of any good, reliable places to get it serviced/Tested if all else fails?

Cheers

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Over 5k is where these are fun. Drive it in the 4-7k rev range, i'm sure u'll see what all the fuss is about then ;)

Your not too far from TDi, i'd be tempted to have them look at it, least they understand the car

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Defo something not right if it won't rev above 5K, it should rev freely right up to 7K where the limit is, I assume all tips are the same as mine. As Mr Singh says the fun is at the top end 4-7K.

You say that the dealer replaced the cat? was that the main cat or the pre-cats? If it was the pre-cats they could have got the O2 sensors the wrong way round. The tip has 2 just after the pre-cats, one senses the gasses from cylinders 1 & 4 and the other cylinders 2 & 3. That could mess up the fueling.

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Defo something not right if it won't rev above 5K, it should rev freely right up to 7K where the limit is, I assume all tips are the same as mine. As Mr Singh says the fun is at the top end 4-7K.

You say that the dealer replaced the cat? was that the main cat or the pre-cats? If it was the pre-cats they could have got the O2 sensors the wrong way round. The tip has 2 just after the pre-cats, one senses the gasses from cylinders 1 & 4 and the other cylinders 2 & 3. That could mess up the fueling.

It does get past 5K, but VERY slowly - a real struggle. It seems ok going downhill, but up hill it doesn't increase.

I've no idea which part(s) of the the cat was replaced. I'll try switching the O2 sensors around and see if there's any change. (any help in locating these would be appreciated!) - I'll have a go at cleaning the MAF sensor as described in other posts.

I would have thought the Battery has been disconnected at some point, do I need to reset the ECU?

Cheers for you help.

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Hi Gavin

First welcome to LOC :D and the darkside :ph34r:

The first question is are you used to an auto box :question:

When I first got the Tezza I had driven auto cars before but not really "tried them out", thought it real weird. But stuck with it refusing to drive the manual IS till I found out how it worked.

Have a play and remember that the box will respond to what your right foot does as well as the buttons on the wheel. The Tezza needs revs so don't be afraid of giving it some "wellie".

Anyway have a play and have fun and to answer your question I thought the same as you  about the slow bit till I got used to it. Used properly the tip is nearly as good as a manual and just so much better in traffic jams.

You want the revs up to overtake when you know a good straight is coming, to avoid kick down on corners or roundabouts use the tip to give you the gear you want.

Hope that helps :D

EDIT GOT ANY PICS :D

Welcome to LOC,

Did ya try pressing the power button ,

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I had similar problem a month ago, my car was sluggish too, it was to do with a faulty speedo converter, here is a link to my thread

http://www.lexusownersclub.co.uk/forum/ind...showtopic=27318

Thanks for that - I'd actually read through the link when doing a search.

The speedo readings are fine, I haven't noticed anything amiss there. But the sluggishness does sound familiar...

Did the problem go away as soon as you disconnected the converter? If so, I'd appreciate some advice on how to do this (is it an easy job?)

Cheers,

Gavin

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Hi Gavin

First welcome to LOC :D and the darkside :ph34r:

The first question is are you used to an auto box :question:

When I first got the Tezza I had driven auto cars before but not really "tried them out", thought it real weird. But stuck with it refusing to drive the manual IS till I found out how it worked.

Have a play and remember that the box will respond to what your right foot does as well as the buttons on the wheel. The Tezza needs revs so don't be afraid of giving it some "wellie".

Anyway have a play and have fun and to answer your question I thought the same as you  about the slow bit till I got used to it. Used properly the tip is nearly as good as a manual and just so much better in traffic jams.

You want the revs up to overtake when you know a good straight is coming, to avoid kick down on corners or roundabouts use the tip to give you the gear you want.

Hope that helps :D

EDIT GOT ANY PICS :D

Welcome to LOC,

Did ya try pressing the power button ,

Thanks!

Yes I did! It give's a bit more welly but it still feels like i'm towing a lorry sometimes...

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I've no idea which part(s) of the the cat was replaced.  I'll try switching the O2 sensors around and see if there's any change. (any help in locating these would be appreciated!) - I'll have a go at cleaning the MAF sensor as described in other posts.

Before you do that I will check tomorrow which way round they should be and post up

I would have thought the battery has been disconnected at some point, do I need to reset the ECU?

Disconecting the Battery would re-set the ECU anyway

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I've no idea which part(s) of the the cat was replaced.  I'll try switching the O2 sensors around and see if there's any change. (any help in locating these would be appreciated!) - I'll have a go at cleaning the MAF sensor as described in other posts.

Before you do that I will check tomorrow which way round they should be and post up

I would have thought the battery has been disconnected at some point, do I need to reset the ECU?

Disconecting the Battery would re-set the ECU anyway

Thanks Mac,

That would be great.

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Gavin

If you look at the exhaust manifold and follow it down you will see the O2 sensors screwed into the downpipe just before the precats. They are wired into two connectors at the back RHS of the engine cover

Just checked mine and the the O2 sensor for cylinders 1 & 4 is connected to the black connector and the one for cylinders 2 & 3 is connected to the grey one.

This is an old pic of mine before I took the pre-cats out, you can see one of the O2 sensors at the bottom right, just before the thing that looks like a rusty can, thats one of the pre-cats :D

Yours will look a bit different as I assume you have the standard cast iron manifold.

Manifold.jpg

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Gavin

If you look at the exhaust manifold and follow it down you will see the O2 sensors screwed into the downpipe just before the precats. They are wired into two connectors at the back RHS of the engine cover

Just checked mine and the the O2 sensor for cylinders 1 & 4 is connected to the black connector and the one for cylinders 2 & 3 is connected to the grey one.

This is an old pic of mine before I took the pre-cats out, you can see one of the O2 sensors at the bottom right, just before the thing that looks like a rusty can, thats one of the pre-cats :D

Yours will look a bit different as I assume you have the standard cast iron manifold.

Manifold.jpg

Thanks for that, you've been a great help!!

Checked under the bonnet on Monday night, and:

-cleaned the MAF Sensor with some contact cleaner as recommended in other posts (it wasn't actually that dirty, but got some soot off it and made it nice and shiny!)

-Checked the air filter wasn't clogged - looked fairly new. Couple of leaves in there so removed those!

- Had a look at the O2 sensors and checked that they were connected the right way round.... now this is the interesting part! As i pulled the wires out from hiding behind a pipe they weren't actaully connected to any connector (Black or grey)!!!! :whistling:

Now I can only presume that the garage who fitted the new Cat didn't bother to put these back... which was nice of them!

I connected them up, as you suggested (Sensor 1&4 to black, 2&3 to grey), reset the ECU by leaving the Battery disconnected for over 10 mins and put everything back to how it was before.

I took it for a quick spin, and at first I was a little dissapointed - still spluttering/misfiring in low gears and not how I would have hoped. Anyway, took the car to Shell the next day and filled up with Optimax and been driving it around for the past few days and WHAT A HUGE DIFFERENCE!!

Really nice to drive, especially when using the Tiptronic to keep the revs around the 4-5K mark! :winky:

Still not 100% happy...

- The car's hit a sort of "dead spot" when in first gear a couple of times. Foot flat down and revs don't want to pick up (engine still revving loudly) - I have to ease of the accellerator and force it to drop into 2nd gear to get moving. The engine was warm at the time.

I will see how this pans out over the next couple of weeks, keep using decent fuel and maybe change plugs/coils?? Any recommendations for what sort to get and where to get them from?

- Still not overly impressed with top end speed. Pulls nicely through the gears, upto 80-90mph and then seems to struggle to reach the rev limit in 4th gear. It does not want to rev out in 4th and drop into 5th for some reason. If the road is VERY long and empty I have managed to get it to drop into 5th and got to about 110-115mph (but that was down hill with a strong wind behind me!)

I'm not sure if this is common with RS200 Autos? Is there anything that can be done to improve this (with compromising the lower end performance)?

I'll get round to taking some pics sometime soon! But for now i'm a much happier tezza driver :driving:

Gavin

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- Still not overly impressed with top end speed.  Pulls nicely through the gears, upto 80-90mph and then seems to struggle to reach the rev limit in 4th gear.  It does not want to rev out in 4th and drop into 5th for some reason.  If the road is VERY long and empty I have managed to get it to drop into 5th and got to about 110-115mph (but that was down hill with a strong wind behind me!)

I'm not sure if this is common with RS200 Autos?  Is there anything that can be done  to improve this (with compromising the lower end performance)?

I'll get round to taking some pics sometime soon!  But for now i'm a much happier tezza driver  :driving:

Gavin

Great news that Gavin!

Top end speed - has the speed limiter been removed since it was imported?

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I will see how this pans out over the next couple of weeks, keep using decent fuel and maybe change plugs/coils??  Any recommendations for what sort to get and where to get them from?

- Still not overly impressed with top end speed.  Pulls nicely through the gears, upto 80-90mph and then seems to struggle to reach the rev limit in 4th gear.  It does not want to rev out in 4th and drop into 5th for some reason.  If the road is VERY long and empty I have managed to get it to drop into 5th and got to about 110-115mph (but that was down hill with a strong wind behind me!)

Good news mate :D

The 3S-GE is designed to run on Super Unleaded, I use either Optimax (97 RON) or Tesco's (99 RON). If you change fuel you should also re-set the ECU again, try pulling the fuses it is less hassle than disconnecting the Battery :winky:

I got my plugs from here (Denso iridium IK22) EBAY.COM they quoted me $15 for shipping making a total of $49 delivered (about £28) :D

Like Zee said it's probably still speed limited to 112Mph and it will slow up as it approaches that speed, but really not that noticeably, mine only changes to 5th with the foot right down just before the limit is reached.

On the changing problem in the lower gears I can't say that I have had that problem it just shifts from low to 2nd just below the rev limit. The box does do some funny things, like in D you think it has changed down, then if you hit the down button to set to 4 it changes down again. It's like a sort of overdrive wierd but useful when you know it does it. Anyway what I did when I first got the Tip was to refuse to drive a manual car for a Month or so until I got used to it.

Happy driving :driving: And let us know how you get on.

ALSO WE WANT SOME PICS

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Great news that Gavin!

Top end speed - has the speed limiter been removed since it was imported?

i Don't really know to be honest... I would probably have to say it hasn't :angry:

Any advice how to go about this from experience? I'll have a search, but if you can recommend anything that would be great :winky:

Cheers

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