Hi,

I have a problem with my Fiat Bravo 1.2 16v (2000 manufacturing year).
First of all I had the car idling and heard small "buff" kind sound from the exhaust. I noticed that engine runs quite jerky and hesitates to accelerate. It was very annoying to drive home just few kilometers.
It felt very jumpy, like pumping the gas pedal quickly. Also rpms go up and down when idling.

And also the sound from the exhausting pipe is strange. We changed the exhaust system last winter (excluding the exhaust manifold), so I don't that's the problem.

I hope the problem isn't the head gasket. I had some problems with water circulation, had some air in water cooling pipes. I tried to bleed the air out, and it did work for a while but then it came back. Some purling sounds come from the heater radiator when starting the engine, so I guess it's air in tubes. The temperature gauge hasn't gone over the middle line, so it shouldn't have overheated. It also seems that oil and water haven't mixed up. And I don't see any bubbles in the expansion tank when the engine is running.

The red injection light hasn't light up

I uploaded a video so you can hear the exhaustion and see the engine stuttering. It ran actually little better than yesterday, yesterday it stuttered even more and barely keep running.

(doh, can't post urls because I have less than 5 posts)
edit: oh it works I guess

-I took off lambda-sensor wire but it didn't have any impact to the problem.
-Also MAP-sensor didn't have impact
-I checked spark plugs and they seemed fine. Changed those spark plugs last summer.

Do you think it's ignition related or has the head gasket blown up?
I heard that I should try to replace the coil package and sparkplug leads.
That would be much cheaper than head gasket repairing.

I'm waiting for 3pin to OBD adapter and then I will check fault codes and sensors with alfadiag. I hope fault codes or sensors tell me something new

(ps. I hope you understand my text. I'm from Finland and my native language is finnish, not english)

hmmm when did you last have it serviced?

tobyn123 said:

hmmm when did you last have it serviced?

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We have serviced it ourself. Changed oils, spark plugs etc basic parts

when you did did you do the filters?

tobyn123 said:

when you did did you do the filters?

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Which filters do you mean? Oil filter was changed last spring, air filter last summer

fuel filter?

eidt* sorry only just got round to watching the video, what mileage is it on, it sounds a bit like a belt issue

tobyn123 said:

fuel filter?

eidt* sorry only just got round to watching the video, what mileage is it on, it sounds a bit like a belt issue

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I heard/read somewhere that 1.2L engine has "lifetime" fuel filter and can't be replaced (or then you have to replace the whole fuelpump I think). And the mileage is on about 130 000km

have you had the cambelt(also known as timing belt) changed?

tobyn123 said:

have you had the cambelt(also known as timing belt) changed?

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About two years ago, when the mileage was on 78 000km. Going to change that belt next spring/summer.

Well, I took some photos
http://www.saunalahti.fi/~ruusre/fiat

It seems that plugs have gone wet. Last time I checked those (3 days ago) they were fine. Also you can see there is no "goo" on oil cap/rings.
Could removing the MAP-sensor wire result in wet plugs -> too rich mixture?
I tried running the engine without MAP-sensor, but it didn't have impact

Some update...

Car won't start anymore. I changed HT leads, didn't have any effect.
I read also fault codes (P0105 Manifold Absolute Pressure/Barometric Pressure Circuit Malfunction) and that's because I removed the MAP-sensor wire once, I think.

Spark plugs seem to give spark. I took them out and grounded them to ground and saw them sparking as they should.

We are going to do compression test, hopefully this week. I hope that gives us some new information

It sounds like a fault with one of the sensors,if you can clear the error codes then you may get some more information.

You need to refill your coolant system and use the bleed valves to get the air out of the heater and git rid of the gurgling sound.

Exactly which sensor you think is faulty?
Alfadiag saw 1 fault code and it was because I removed the MAP sensor wire (P0105). Alfadiag didn't saw any other faults.

We did a compression test and the compression was lower on the 1 & 2 cylinder. So I guess it's time to repair the head gasket . Or might be stuck valves but still we have to do engine repairing .

Don't know yet if we are going to fix it ourself or get it fix by some mechanic.

I have the same engine as youu, and mine was idling incorrectly and was gettting the same buffing sound from the exhaust. It was the head gasket. mines gone twice now!
the head gasket job isnt to lengthy i dont think. about 4 hours work, or an afternoon.

Okay. I got the car back. Took like 3-4 months . The cause was 2 burned exhaust valves, mostlikely from different cylinders because I had low compression ratios on 2 cylinders.
What might have been the cause? I heard that it might be too lean mixture, so I should change oxygen sensor (atleast it's rather cheap and easy to change)? I will try to check for vacuum leaks in few days, if that helps.

Now it runs "fine" except now and then I hear small "poff" sound from exhaust when the car is idling. Like once in a minute, but you can notice that from inside the car. Engine sound changes a bit, like pitch goes lower for a second. I will try to clean the throttle body and reset ECU. ECU doesnt give any error codes. I hope I don't have any other burned valves/slightly burned

are you running fiat leads at the moment i notice you had aftermarket ones before cos the coils on these cars eat leads for fun witch in tern causes missfires and raw fuel in the exhaust that heats the lambda untill it fails that completly ruins the fueling and melts valves pistons and the cat if you keep driving

this can all start with something as simple as a weak plug and cheap lead shocking ay

Jonbe, how did you get on? I have identical car 1.2 16v 87K 2000 build year. Been getting the 'pof pof' sound from my exhaust and irregular idle. Also when I accelerate between 1000 and 2500 at first there is a throat sound like a hole in the exhaust which then clears above that. It suddenly got worse in the last day.
I noticed on mine the accelerator cable sheath (at the idle adjust under sound damp cover) is broken, but doesn't make big difference.
How was your head gasket? Was it only the burnt exhaust valves?
Vince

vincenze said:

Jonbe, how did you get on? I have identical car 1.2 16v 87K 2000 build year. Been getting the 'pof pof' sound from my exhaust and irregular idle. Also when I accelerate between 1000 and 2500 at first there is a throat sound like a hole in the exhaust which then clears above that. It suddenly got worse in the last day.
I noticed on mine the accelerator cable sheath (at the idle adjust under sound damp cover) is broken, but doesn't make big difference.
How was your head gasket? Was it only the burnt exhaust valves?
Vince

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Headgasket was fine. Two (one from cylinder 3, one from cylinder 4) burnt exhaust valves caused the problem.

Sorry for this late respond, forgot to follow this thread