High Revs and Low Acceleration on 1.8 Vectra

**RavenRob** · 2nd January 2009, 14:34

Hi Guys. My Veccy has been getting gradually worse over the festive period to the point its not safe to drive imo. Basically over the last few weeks the revs have been shooting up randomly as I am driving. I cant even use the cruise control as even with my feet on the floor the revs shoot up and cut the cruise control off! Its now got so bad theres hardly any acceleration because the revs just go mad when I press the pedal and my speed barely changes and sometimes I feel like im driving in glue! Any ideas whats wrong? I have a 52 1.8LS Vectra and only got 51k on the clock.

Appreciate any help

**ed taylor** · 2nd January 2009, 14:39

I wonder if the Air control valve could do with a clean, it might be "gummed"up and is sticking.

**bloodworm** · 2nd January 2009, 15:21

could it be the clutch slipping? does it tend to happen when you are accelerating or going uphill the engine revs higher,

**RavenRob** · 2nd January 2009, 15:27

It always happens when I accelerate wherever I am but its got so bad now that the speedo barely moves even when the revs shoot up to 4500!

**ed taylor** · 2nd January 2009, 15:28

I did think of the clutch too. But he did say that the rev,s shoot up randomly. So I presumed he meant they increased without any driver intervention. If you do think it might be the clutch try starting off with the handbreak still applied the revs will go up but the car should not move too far, if the clutch is on ot,s way out. If you can feel that the car is trying to move forward then the clutch is probably ok.

**RavenRob** · 2nd January 2009, 15:36

The revs increase without me doing anything when the cruise control is on therefore cutting it out when it happens. Otherwise it shoots up anytime i try and accelerate. If it is the clutch that needs replacing how much would I be looking at and is it worth doing if the car is worth a couple of grand tops? Thanks for your help so far really appreciate it

**si1964** · 4th January 2009, 22:42

hi, i have a similar problem on my 03 sri, i thought the clutch was slipping, but found this not to be, put handbrake on and let off the clutch expecting the engine to rev, but it eventually stalled after dragging the rear a foot or so, so now i think it is the throttle position sensor thats u/s, untill it gets really bad, i will live with it, don't want to get fleeced by the local bandit armed with his tech 2

**poves** · 4th January 2009, 22:43

Manual / auto ?

**diesel dog** · 5th January 2009, 02:20

Revs shooting up with no difference in forward motion with a manual box is usually (if not always) down to the clutch slipping.

Try it on a slight gradient at about 30mph in top gear,press the gas pedal and if the revs rise but there's little or no difference in the cars speed then it's deffo the clutch.