I am having a bit of a problem with my car, the revs of the engine seems to jump/increase too much when i press the accelerator, in that this jumps far more then it should then falls again and the revs increase as it should do (normally) even though i have the accelerator pressed down. Does anyone know what could be causing this? This is intermittent and doesn't seem to occur all the time. My car is a mitsubishi carisma 1.6 glxi 1998 model
Thanks in advance guys (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

the car also feels sluggish.. does not have the acceleration that it used too

If its an automatic , it can be transmission related. poor fluid quality can cause debris in the valve body and cause issues with the transmission shift precisness and pressure control. making a loss for power on acceleration. wut other symptoms are yu seem to have?

Thanks for the reply mate (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
The car is a manual. That is the only problem that i can notice, in that the revs jumps up every now and then when you press the accelerator and the acceleration is affected. THe revs jump up and then drop and then increase as normal (as it should do).
Thanks again (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I thought it might be a manual but , was not sure. Yu may be experiancing a problem with yur clutch or the hydraulic system. If yu have a worn clutch (the pressure plate, disc) this will cause it. Do yu experiance these rev problems after driving a bit? Or when the engine is cold?

But nun the less most of the issue is when the pressure plate , friction disc or flywheel is grooved it will cause this issue. Most cases is that the friction disc lots of times gets worn down , so it has issues grabbing well against the flywheel and pressure plate.SO it may grab well when its cold and then have issues grabbing after driving for a while. This seems to be yur case. I dont think there is an issue with yur hydraulic system. Do yu have a severe cam cover leake? That is leaking oil onto the transmission? Anyway i think yur clutch will need to be replaced before it leaves yu stranded. Check also yur clutches master cylinder fluid. I have also put in a pic of the clutch system of Mitsubishi F5M4, F5M5 model transmissions

i had this problem, my car was irraticly reving and would stop around 600rpm then stall, there is a common problem with the idle control valve motors on theese cars, a replacement is v expensive but most of the time the magnets shake loose inside or dirt gets trapped, to fix this, I dismantled everything all the way up to the the throttle body, took off the throttle body ( remembering to disconect the coolent lines first and the idle control valve which i soaked in wd40 for a couple of hours, then sprayed in some spray grease onto the brushes, the throttle body its self was very coked up so some white spirit, toothbrush and a a few cloths done the trick on cleaning it up, I then also greased up the throttle valve mech aswell as this seemed to be quite sticky, the intake valve looked very black but thatll have to be another days work plus new gaskets, put the throttle body and all the air system back on but before I put the maf sesnsor back on i carefully cleaned that out with a damp cloth and allowed to try first, as this being dirty inside can cause alot of problems aswell. After all this i had no problems at all idles fine, runs smoother and the throttle is alot more responsive. Hope this helps (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Thanks mate (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Darn that seems like a lot of work.. my car is getting on a bit.. its on 132K miles and 11 years old..I wonder if it is worth fixing. It needs a few other bits as well. New exhuast soon as it starting to make some noise and probably a new driveshaft too.
How much do you think it would cost to get all the work done to the throttle machanism done at a independent gargage?

Thanks mate.. I think I might need to get it seen by a expert as I think this has gone above my head a bit.. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

mines done 112k and its just sailed through mot lovley the car only cost me 120 quid bout a month ago and its been sitting still for a year so there pretty solid cars. You can buy a new throttle body for around about 400quid and to have it reconditiond at a dealer its going to cost alot more then the cars worth, its really not that hard to do.... if you want any help i could give you a step by step guide. its easier to look for volvo s40 parts then it is for carisma they are the same car except the body, so buy a new drive shaft of ebay for around £70 and get it fitted, or you will be paying through the roof, you could even take a shot at it yourself i have a peugeot 306 and i have gone through 5 drive shafts and two gear boxes on it ( because its a track car and the wheels are very very grippy ended up upgrading the drive shaft to the diesel ones much thicker) but at a scrappy they were costing me 15quid a time which is brilliant! your best bet really is to either have a go at cleaning yours up seeing if it makes any diffrerance if not go to a scrappy and see if they have an an old volvo s40 gdi lying around grab that for 20quid..

thanks again mate, mine is a non-gdi, a 1600CC engine. So the GDI parts won't fit on my car will it? I will try and see what I can find on the local scrapyards. If it is the clutch, will look for leaking fluids like Kit mentioned too.. if it is the clutch is that hard to replace?

dnbdubs , frum wut ive read hes not having an irratic idle issue. He seems to be having an issue of driving. Wut is happaning , since his clutch disc is worn or the pressure plate is aged and not grabbing well. After warming up its causing the friction disc and pressure plate to slip. Not applying the proper grabbing force against the flywheel , so he is "loosing" TQ and power , and the car will rev more than it will apply moving force as needed. Thanks for yur input but i think yur leading him into the wrong direction.

The S40 and here the Proton used many teh same parts as the Carisma. With the mitsubishi engine and transmission setup. The clutch is not that hard. On the older model Mirage and Asti models were easier where the engine layout was right to left as the new layout left to right. Ill see if i can get a break down for yu uploaded. If yu go to the Diamante, Magna area, there is a section pinned of breakdowns for the Diamante , there is a section showing removal of the manual transmission and clutch. On the Carisma it is pretty much the same manner altho its a 4cyl. yu can view that also to get an idea of wut the work would be like.

i was thinking is was the clutch.. i will check both of the suggestions out so thanks to you both (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)
Is changing the clutch an easier job to do or expensive. If i take it in to replace the clutch it will be at a small independent gargage and not the main dealer
Thanks again guys (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

My appologies wasnt reading into it propperly dossing off on here at work and all that (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Replacing the clutch can get pretty technical for a person that has never changed one before. Removal of the cv shafts and having tools to remove the large lock nuts off the cv shafts at the spindles. And dissasembling the frunt suspension. Thus after removing these , supporting the engine and removing the lower engine/transmission cross beam, which would also require unbolting the frunt facing and rear transmission mounts. Then removing all of the transmission to engine bolts except the 2 upper sides.

Then unbolting the clutch slave cylinder with the hydraulic line still attatched and suspend it frum the nearby bracket with a tie strap. remove the rear transmission mount bolt (right side fender facing frunt) and remove the 2 last transmission to engine bolts while supporting the transmission. after it is removed , remove the transmission frum the car. I use an engine hoist to lower the trans unit , sumtimes have to use a floor jack. then yu will be able to unbolt the pressure plate and clutch friction disc frum the flywheel.

Putting in the new clutch set yu have to use a clutch disc alignment tool. SO that when yu tighten the bolts of the pressure plate against the friction disc and flywheel , the friction disc will be properly centered. If it is not yu will have issue aligning the input shaft of the transmission as yu put it back on. , The rest is reverse as taking off.

thanks mate, i have been quoted £200 for supplying and fitting a new clutch is that a good price?

There seems to be some kind of fluid underneath the car, but I do not know where is it coming from... would replacing the clutch cure this or would i also have to replace the clutch master cyclinder. I replaced the clutch slave cyclibnder myself about 2 years ago.
In addition to this, I also need to replace one of the driveshafts and a CV gaiter. So i am looking at about minimum £350 to get all that done, is it worth doing on a car that is 11 years old and done so many miles?? Or should I cut my losses and get a newer second hand car?

Good tip!

I notice that the Shogun Pinin has a 1.8 GDI engine. Is this the same as the Carisma's engine? Are there interchangeable parts?