hello guys! I am new to this forum but putted a faith in it so you experienced owners can help me with this problem on my Bravo.

So first of all i have this car since 2005 and i did over 60k km whit it so i now every "****" and "click" of the machine. Three years ago my baby started to show some sickness. It start normal,goes normal, BUT at revs between idle and 2000 the engine hesitates when adding throttle and vice-versa if i rev it high say beyond 3000 and lift up my foot from throttle pedal it drops very smooth till 2000 and suddenly drop to idle very quick. So the critical point of the problem appears between idle and 2000 rpm. Although when the engine is cold if i tip the throttle pedal it jumps to 1800-2000 rpm instead of slightly raising. Can't get it say 1500 or just 1200 it suddenly jumps up. Like there is no between 2000 and iddle. Beyond 2000 it is normal, if i run it on 2000 and add more throttle it goes immediately up. I thought nothing special, just having week gasoline ( i am from Serbia and we have very low quality gasoline)
so i continued driving it.
Three years after the problem grows. Now runs very poor, varieting idle RPM (500-1000 when warm). When warm,it looses power and runs very poor.
So now: sparks,oil,filter (air,oil) timeing belts changed last year. Compression ratio is a little low (8,xx instead of 10,xx on every cylinder) but is ok for a 130k km car. I never drive it hard, never racing with it ,so no stress was given on the engine.
Sometimes the injector light flashes up for a few minutes but very rare time (say every 8 months ones) and never new what causes.
I have done the diagnostic and nothing was wrong with the data.
Other problem is that it heats very hard. Even driving for long distances the temp meter not grows over two lines from bottom spot. At summer it grows just when stopping at traffic light for long time,then grows to middle and a little across so the fan starts to cool down the water.
I am suggesting that the injectors are faulty because ones i had run out of gas and the machine was acting just like the problem is but very remarkably.
Not responding to throttle,hesitating rev growths and poor running.
So anyone has a similar problem or new where to start the inspection of the problem?
Sorry for the long post btu i need to be specific.
Very best regards, Atila

No problem about being specific. All the info helps.

I'd say the first candidate to look at is the injector system as you noted. Do you have a multimeter? If so, measure the resistance of each injector coil. (When standing in front of the car, looking back there is a 5 prong plug on the right side of the injector-rail. One of those contacts is the mass, the others are the positive ends, one for each injector.) Measure each injector to see how much resistance they have remaining. These should be above 13 Ohms. (they have about 15 to 16 ohms when new and drop with age)

Another thing that might be due for replacement is the fuel filter. This is located near one of the rear wheels, hidden behind a panel. (I'm not sure what side at the moment)

Lastly the temperature. It should normally go to about midway on the temperature gauge. If it doesn't rise high enough and drops quickly when driving fast the thermostat is probably stuck in an open position or leaking. I recommend replacing it if that is the case. (These cost around 70 euros in the Netherlands, it took me about 4 to 5 hours of work to change it. But then again I took my time as it was freezing cold outside)

Thank you Gregovic for your fast reply. Yes i have a multimeter, i inspect the injectors as soon as possible. About the fuel filter, if it is an alloy filter located at the rear right side of the car from bottom what come out from the fuel tank,it has been replaced last year too,because of leaking. And about the thermostat, i will check that too, that problem appears from the day i bought the car,but maybe it has an influence to the whole system.
I post the result here when i have done the messurement of the injectors.
Regards, Atila

That is indeed the filter I was talking about.

So finally i got spare time to check the resistance of the injectors.
I think i found the connector what u explained to me, the front side of the engine not so far from the radiator on the right side of the manifold. 5 pin connector what i disconnected and when realised that my multimeter contacts cant fit in the hole of the female connector to attach to the "ground" i decided to attach to the negative of the battery, because i know the - is connected to the mass and there is good contact. So i stick one contact to the - and the other to one of the pins on the connector what goes to the injectors. But no luck, i ged no reading from each of the pins. I tried swiching ingnition on but no luck too. The engine was not running.
Am i doing something wrong?

One of those pins acts as ground for the injectors, disconnect the plug and the engine and injectors no longer have common ground. The injectors itself are not grounded to the engine. Can not say about the connector as I have never needed to examine it, but if multimeter probe cant fit into it, use sewing needle or similar to bring the contacts out (ground pin sex reversed on the connector?).

If i disconnect the connector the male side is that goes to the injectors and the female side is what comes out of the ECU. When i'm inspecting the resistance i touch one probe of the multimeter to the negative of the battery and the other probe to one of the pins. I read that the middle probe is the ground line and 2 from the left and two at the right side of it is one by one an injector. If i touch the other end of the multimeter to one of that pins i get no readings. At any pin. I am taking a pic of the connector later and attach here to be sure i am inspecting the right connector.
Cheers!

You need to measure across the injector itself. that means all your measurements are done on the injector (male) side. What you want to do is measure the resistance of the injector coil itself. that means measuring between the ground pin (Which is shared by all injectors) on the MALE plug and then measuring with the other probe to each injector connection. The way you have been measuring there is no connection and thus you can't read anything.

On the male plug, put one lead on one of the pins and measure with the other lead on all other pins. If you only get a result on ONE of the other pins then THAT pin is the common ground. If all pins give a measurement then you already have your lead on the common ground. When needed, move the black lead to the common ground pin and then measure the resistance across each coil.

Hello! Thanx for the instructions Gregovic i did exactly what you tell and it worked. I get reading on all 4 pins and the result is between 17,2 and 17,4. Not much difference. But the engine was warm. When is warm it runs better then cold. I will read them again in cold state just to be sure that is not the problem. Some suggests about going to the next examination of that problem what i have explained in the beginning if the injectors are ok?

Those resistances should theoretically be fine.

I've been having a similar problem, on and off, for a while now. Using some injector cleaner (fuel additive) seems to help in my case.

If you feel up to a little spanner work and dirty fingers, get a can of Carburetor cleaner and take off the throttle body. Give that a very good cleaning (Make sure you clean very well around the valve seat itself) and put it back. Use a clean rag and be careful not to make any big scratches. As the sump vent feeds back into the intake line it tends to clog the TB with oily residues.

If it is NOT injectors, then you have to assume it is temperature-related.

As mentioned before, it seems that the thermostat is not working and the engine over-cools itself and doesn't get to temperature correctly. You should look at this : there was another thread recently about this. It seems that the 'stat on the 1.6s is complicated and expensive!

The other thing is the temperature sender unit that fits into the engine (a manifoldusually), if this is sending the wrong signals to the ECU then you will get erratic running. Look for info on this by searching other threads in this section (and maybe Marea also)

Hello Bluejohn125!
I don't fully understand what are u trying to help. Do i need to check the temerature sensor or the thermostat? Or do i need to replace some parts? Because the engine is not heating well on any condition. That appears from the first day i bought the car. But have not take seriously that it could be a big problem. If i am running with it the meter is not growing from to or three line from "zero" on the dashboard. Sometimes at summer when i stand much at a traffic light it goes above the middle and the fan sstarts t o cool it down,but when i start to ride it goes down again really fast to the before mentiond state. Could it be that the engine is fooled and the ECU thinks that it is on cold start all the time?