1994 Micra on the kangaroo juice

Hi all,

Had been driving for around 30 minutes and was doing 40mph when the car started kangaroo-ing. Slight pressure on the clutch made the car driveable, but as soon as I took the foot off the angarooing started again. Managed to get to work and called out RAC. Set off round the block a few times, and after about 10 minutes in traffic the kangarooing started again when I got up to about 30. It continued at all speeds (and gears) until I arrived at work.

After about 30 minutes under the bonnet I was told it "could be any number of things" (very helpful), but probably something wrong with the distributor cap. At this time all garages were shut and the car was towed home.

Anyone had any experience like this? Or any better ideas? It's up for MOT and tax this month and depending on the probable cost of repair I might be better off looking for a new car...

Reply to
GI Joe
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Your first clue is that the 'kangarooing' was eased when the clutch was slightly pressed. Sounds like clutch problems to me. I assume you are in Australia (kangarooing, bonnet). In the US, a clutch repair can be as much as $1000. If you like the car otherwise, $1000 is a lot cheaper than years of car payments. By the way, what is RAC and MOT?

Reply to
Willshak

He ain't an Aussie, he is a Brit. The RAC is the Royal Automoble Club who run a breakdown recovery service. MOT stands for Ministry of Transport which no longer exists as that name but has come to mean the vehicle roadworthiness test.

As to the most cost effective solution, take one glass bottle, half fill with petrol, stuff the neck with a petrol soaked rag, you can guess the rest. ;)

Reply to
Oso

Hmm. Sounds like you might have done that before.

Was it effective..?

Reply to
DemoDisk

Depressing the clutch slightly eases the load on the engine, this means there's a chance it's the ignition as less loading means a lower voltage will appear across spark plug gap. A lower voltage leads to less likely breakdown and misfire if anything's on its last legs like HT leads, dizzy cap, coil. Spray the leads and dizzy with WD40 to see if that helps.

Reply to
SteveB

Never on a car but it was very effective on a Bosnian Serb BTR we wanted rid of (but it did add some sugar to the mix for that). :p

Reply to
Oso

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