[flatcap]

I've just become the owner of a 12 year old 214SEI. The car had not been used for about a year, but up to then had been regularly serviced (almost full history). It has done £74k miles. The car has just flown through it's MOT no problem. However, when moving off at low speed or decelerating the car jerks, this goes away once up to speed but acceleration does feel a bit sluggish. Does it just need a service (the oil has just been changed as it needed a new sump) and tune-up or is it something more serious/expensive? It is about to become the family's only car.
Thank you.
Great forum by the way. No doubt will be using it regularly.

[xadowbg]

first thing to check is for dirt in the throttle body try to clean it with some carb cleaner..... if problem persist try replace the throttle sensor located on the throttle body side facing the engine.....

the problem is a very common problem but it can be resulting from many little things...... such as

-leads, plugs and other electrical and ignition stuff
-cat converter flooded or failed
-lambda sensor
-or worst a gasket failure

[E_T_V]

Blow out the little tube from the ECU to the inlet manifold/throttle body. Any oil that settles in here upsets the throttle pickup

[flatcap]

Thanks for the replies. Will give these suggestions a go when I find the time and let you know how i get on.

[Deev]

Is it definitely to do with the power? My 416 is a little jerky when gently accelerating/decelerating but I'm quite convinced it's a slightly juddery clutch which appears to be quite common on these cars (but is copeable if you're gentle with the clutch pedal)

[S495KBL]

Another common issue at low speeds is the plastic throttle body itself. The butterfly in them can stick and then it releases giving you the jerky or kangaroo effect on the throttle.

Simple fix for this is to shave a little off the butterfly or fit an alloy one.