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720s hesitating/bogging during acceleration (WOT)

21667 Views 126 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  K-1
Hey guys, hope everyone's healthy and well. I have a fully stock 18 720s that I bought last september from Ohio with 1200 miles for 262k. Its VIN ends with 1805. If you'd like to go straight to the problems facing my 720s, kindly skip to the next paragraph gentlemen (and the one lady who thought this was her husbands dating site). I parted with my '14 SLS for it which was a big deal for me. Although I made a hefty sum on the SLS, I willingly got into a car that I knew was a money pit because I never intended to sell it. You see, I am kind of in love with the 720s. Its presence is strong yet sublime and its speed is second to none in the segment. I am not going to discribe the 720s any further in fear of being superfluous after so many other reviews. Anyway, I am one year and 9000 miles in. I changed the oil twice and the tires once so regular maintenance have been like 8-9k. I drove it from Ann Arbor to Boston and back with no problems.and after the first six months I began to.think it's the best car ever made (very subjective reasons). But around the time the two year service interval of the car came close it started to show some problems.

You see, I had other smaller issues which I don't mind and got taken care of (mostly) and they are the following:
1) Leather moulding surrounding b pillar getting its clip broken and replaced.
2) Driver side door sill leather panel sliding down and needing to be re-glued.
3) Passenger door seat housing discoloring
and having the part replaced
4) rear badge logo peeling off and having the badge replaced.
5) Rear passenger side area rattle > still to be diagnosed :(
6) passenger mirror squeaks likes an old door > still to be diagnosed
7) Door struts giving out and being replaced
8) Vehicle shaking roughly at 193mph due to dealership in Boston putting new rear tires with 37psi on the left and 33psi on the right. Minor error by the dealership honestly. I should've known better.
The real issues that have been bothering me/bothered me are:
1) Vehicle bogs at around 7000 rpm. This is the main problem omg. I need some knowledgeable advice please. Mclaren Boston replaced the fuel pump controller and it fixed the issue from like March to June but it came back. There is usually an engine system failure light at wide open throttle and it goes away after a few more WOTs but after a while the bogging at 7k rpm starts (INTERMITTENTLY). I am finally writing today as I got it on tape actually. Video link provided. I just came back from an oil change and warranty repairs a few weeks ago in Troy, Michigan and they said the power train was fine but the problem's consistent to this day.
2) Suspension Failure. I diagnosed the problem to the accumulators as when I set the dynanics of the car to track while the car's idling on neutral, the whining suspension noise starts going crazy lol like the noise the car's suspension(?) usually makes is long-ish but now it goes, swizuswizuswizuswizuswizu... it constantly goes on with the suspension failing to adjust. If i turn of the car off without putting the dynamics back to sport/comfort (in which after a while the suspension suddenly adjusts and the noise is normal again), upon turning the car on again I am 90% of the time greeted with a suspension failure light..love it.
3)Check engine light, p420 and the 30 or whatever catalyst codes. Both cats and downpipes replaced a few weeks ago at Mclaren Troy, Michigan. Problem solved (in so far). BUT WHY

The Mclaren dealers were great. Real gentlemen, the service advisors. Just wish they were quicker, but that is not a mark against them! Love mclaren and id be delighted to get the successor as well. They respected the warranties and never treated me any different from older multiple mclaren owners. Now the worst ordeal here is having my car's performance restricted since March and with the impeding cold season, I am very sad about my first world problem of not being able to thrash around in my beloved 720s.

Anyhoo here is the link to the video please watch it carefully. Engine revs up fine on second gear but bogs around 7k rpm on 3rd. Maybe bogs twice. I only put 93 and only from Shell. Notice there no fault lights this time. Its kind of random but the bottom line is, the car bogs bad!!! I really want my car back as it were in the first six months, idc if i have to pay for it really. I just hate to see it like this.

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In USA?, speaking a different language?, car is set in celsius? in "non active" mode?
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yes in the states lmao sorry for glaring mistake of being on non active sir i promise it happens even when activated
speaking
Quite perceptive of you to guess that i am speaking a different language
get your turbo air intake tubes checked for a possible loose baffle.
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get your turbo air intake tubes checked for a possible loose baffle.
is that consistent with the car running just fine a lot of times while the bogging problem is still sporadically existing?
yes,under high boost condition,the airflow may be high enough to dislodge them. not a guarantee but others have mentioned lack of boost or surging when baffles came loose.
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yes,under high boost condition,the airflow may be high enough to dislodge them. not a guarantee but others have mentioned lack of boost or surging when baffles came loose.
That does make sense. Thanks for the solid advice boss 👍 i will follow up after i get it checked up again with service. Currently waiting on accumulators, previous shipment got wrecked in the tropical storm...
let us know what the outcome is once fixed. always good to have feedback for the rest of us.
good luck.
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let us know what the outcome is once fixed. always good to have feedback for the rest of us.
good luck.
Will do. Thank you and take care!
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Something you can try doing yourself, get a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi ODB2 adapter and download Torque Lite. In there you can monitor your boost pressures. See if you're getting a boost drop-off. I don't know what you should be getting on the 720, but it's common to hit 19 PSI on the 600.

Also ignore the useless trolls. You're going to have problems with this car, it's inevitable. The key is to get it to a dealer that is good and can fix it the first time. I can tell you from personal experience Troy is horrible. They wouldn't know a spark plug from their own poker. Take it to Chicago if you are in the Detroit area, it's a four or five hour hike but the tech there is way better. Troy kept telling me my engine was fine in my 570S, but I happened to have the car in Florida and had Tampa take one look at it and they found out that I had a bad head gasket. Troy performed the engine swap, and royally screwed that up. It dumped nearly all it's coolant a week later and nearly blew the second engine. I would only take it to Troy for small things, like oil changes and basic warranty stuff, but that's it. Even then I would think twice.

I hope this helps.
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Something you can try doing yourself, get a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi ODB2 adapter and download Torque Lite. In there you can monitor your boost pressures. See if you're getting a boost drop-off. I don't know what you should be getting on the 720, but it's common to hit 19 PSI on the 600.

Also ignore the useless trolls. You're going to have problems with this car, it's inevitable. The key is to get it to a dealer that is good and can fix it the first time. I can tell you from personal experience Troy is horrible. They wouldn't know a spark plug from their own poker. Take it to Chicago if you are in the Detroit area, it's a four or five hour hike but the tech there is way better. Troy kept telling me my engine was fine in my 570S, but I happened to have the car in Florida and had Tampa take one look at it and they found out that I had a bad head gasket. Troy performed the engine swap, and royally screwed that up. It dumped nearly all it's coolant a week later and nearly blew the second engine. I would only take it to Troy for small things, like oil changes and basic warranty stuff, but that's it. Even then I would think twice.

I hope this helps.
Thank you so much for the reply. it's a lot of information, I really appreciate it. I will see if I can manage to do the OBD testing! Story time. The problem first happened whilst I was in Boston around March, Mclaren Boston performed tests and found that the actual fuel pressure values were less than specified so they changed the fuel pump control module slapped the car on the roof (probably) and gave it back to me only for the problem to keep happening again, but I guess I must understand that that is a part of the normal diagnosis process for problems regarding such cars. Anyway, they asked me to bring it back right away and were very cooperative but I had already driven back to Michigan. By then a check engine light was also on and once I got it in to Troy around early August they immediately greenlighted changing the downpipes and cats on my car (big repair, both cat codes) and also the accumulators (along with other minor inevitable problems as you say). Still waiting on the accumulators (first shipment got destroyed?), but the check engine light's gone. Mclaren Troy never found problems or stored codes relating to the engine system fault light that usually (but not always) preceded the bogging problem at WOT and figured all engine problems were solved. So the bogging is not due to the fuel pump control module (although that was also faulty, god knows the symptoms), and not the cats (or any lean/rich running associated with it) and I suspect the accumulators wont fix it either, the dislodging baffles theory sounds right but I digress, no point speculating so much. Overall, my experience with both dealerships was quite fair. I am however very disappointed and sorry to hear about your horrid experience with Troy sir. Id have torn half my hair out if i were you. I am a full time international student and i dont have a lot of friends so driving 4 hours to chicago especially right now is tough, but i swear id heed your advice and do it if i could make it feasible. For now, forgive me (and wish me luck) for giving Mclaren Troy a chance with diagnosing this problem once i tell them to check the air intake tube and also show them the video
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I agree with having turbo inlet pipes checked. I was getting intermittent hesitation under WOT and the inlet baffle had come loose and was blocking airflow to turbo. Replaced under warranty. Happened to the other side too ane the baffle got sucked into turbo, destroying it and intercooler. $12000 repair denied by warranty.. Had to fight. See posts on here.
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I agree with having turbo inlet pipes checked. I was getting intermittent hesitation under WOT and the inlet baffle had come loose and was blocking airflow to turbo. Replaced under warranty. Happened to the other side too ane the baffle got sucked into turbo, destroying it and intercooler. $12000 repair denied by warranty.. Had to fight. See posts on here.
Thank you for sharing your experience sir. It sounds very similar to what im facing. The thought of causing the car more damage while it is susceptible like this occurred has occurred to me but the potential risks feel even heavier after hearing about your ordeal. I thought of waiting till my accumulators were in before taking my car down to the dealership but umm i guess itd be more prudent to make an appointment now.

On a side note, check engine light (fixed in august by replacing cats) came back on today as well. I feel like these cars have a ~10k mile "good" mechanical life cycle after which known issues realting to accumulators, inlet pipes, cats etc begin to surface. As long as it isnt as bad as rod bearinngs in the e60 m5 or ims in 996 porsches i feel alright about it but then again rod bearing and ims issues occur after 50k miles which would be great if that were the case with mclarens.
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Extra extra

Check engine light on. Engine system failure light on. Engine wont rev. Very weird noises. Here is a video. Pay attention to noises. Losing my sense of humor.

Extra extra

Check engine light on. Engine system failure light on. Engine wont rev. Very weird noises. Here is a video. Pay attention to noises. Losing my sense of humor.

For clarity, the car was not driven hard prior to the video. Just went to get gas today and while coming back, the engine light came on and then it started to not rev over 4 to 5k. upon trying to rev it, the engine system failure light also came...on. I returned home and only blipped the throttle once for this video. I do not want to put pressure on the car, it is clearly suffering. I gotta wait the weekend out to call service. Hopefully they have appointments available soon. Any advice as to whether i should prepare transportation arrangements for it or if i could at least trot around central campus to pick up some girls for the time being (never actually happened).
I don’t think you’re losing your sense of humour 😂

definitely get the turbo baffles checked.
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I don’t think you’re losing your sense of humour 😂

definitely get the turbo baffles checked.
Thanks for the advice boss :) im gonna do that asap
Also where did you get her up to 193mph lol
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