Hey everyone,

I'm new here and this is going to be my first post. I've recently bought a 2010 clubman s 6 speed and I am absolutely loving it. The car currently has 48k on it and still pulling strong but I have encountered a troubling issue. While heavy acceleration uphill in my 3rd and 4th gear I'll be hauling *** and then all of a sudden I have no power at all! It feels like I take my foot off the gas but I'm still floored. It generally happens after 4,500 rpms. I have to either shift it into the next gear to keep going or hope that pumping the gas pedal it will start hauling again. I have updated my timing chain tensioner and a new valve cover too so I know that is not the problem. Also I can hear when I floor my car it sounds like metal pieces are flying around in my cat or my exhaust. If anyone has an idea please let me know!

 

be kind/gentle with your clubman...when you floor the car uphill and the speed is low, your are not going to get any faster because your torque is down and the engine cannot keep up with the flood of gas into the pistons.
are you getting any engine codes? half check engine light? under normal driving, do you experience the same thing? did you check your spark plugs?

 

What you're doing is lugging the engine. If you were riding a 10 speed bicycle along a level road in 9th gear and you came to a hill and tried pumping as hard as you could without changing gears you would probably find it impossible to maintain your speed. Think of the gears in your car just the way you would the gears of that bicycle.

 

No it doesn't do it regularly, only when I am having fun in the canyons. It does not do it at low rpms but only in the highs. Almost like my gas pedal is not responding. Changed my plugs less than 10k ago with NGKR plugs along with regular oil changes every 3k to 4K. Only performance part is k&n drop in filter

 

it is normal behavior of the engine. it has not packed enough torque to take you all the way up hill. so by the time you're half way through even with your foot down to the metal, the engine is going to disappoint you. try down shifting one or two gears and you'll feel the difference.

 

Thanks for the info everyone, highly appreciated. One last thing i would like to address though is sometimes when I boost I can hear something that sounds similar to metal pieces flying around up front. When it happens too I also feel a slight decrease in power and exhaust tone. Any ideas? I was thinking maybe it was my cat or maybe a piece of my exhaust. Hope it is not my turbo as I make sure to use it because I am familiar with the turbo feed line becoming gunked up over time.

 

Severely worn turbo bearings can cause either of the wheels to contact the housing, which can be causing your noise as well as low power.

If the bearings are already worn to the point of making contact with the side of the housings you are in for a turbo replacement.

The lines do fail on every one of these cars, which is why we designed our turbo oil feed line so that it is the last fix you'll make!

Detroit Tuned Turbo Oil Line Super Kit

You're not getting any CELs or half power lights illuminated on the dash when you are having these "low power" incidents?

 

nkfry, thanks for the tip! I fortunately do not have any CEL when it is happening. I do think though that I should contact my dealership and see what they have to say. Are the lines prone to failure even if I am driving spirited and after driving hard allowing proper cool down time before shutting off the engine? And are the turbos prone to failure from abuse? I was always under the impression that if i do not use it I lose it so i try to use my turbo every time I drive. Also every couple hundred miles I lose a slight amount of coolant, not much but just wanted to make sure that it is normal.

 

The oil feed line will leak regardless of spirited driving or driving like a granny, just a matter of time. They all fail.

The turbos aren't prone to failure from spirited driving, but they are all susceptible to failure due to low oil, broken down oil, improper cool down times, etc.

If you're loosing coolant you need to find out where it is going. You shouldn't be using any coolant, and these cars do really weird things when you get an air pocket around the temperature sender.