Car: 2007 Fiat Punto Grande 1.9 Multijet 130
Hi all,
So, the problem started a few months back when the car progressively began to lose power, most noticeably in between 10K and 20K revs. There was no engine management light on, and the diagnostics at my local garage struggled to read any fault on the ECU. On the advice of a local garage I took the car to a fiat dealer to have a diagnostics done - £90 later I was told that the EGR valve needed replacing (for which they quoted me £313 to do!).
Instead I got hold of a new EGR valve for £58, and got it done at a local garage for not much at all. After fitting the new EGR, the car drove fine; there was no longer a lack of power as I accelerated, and the problem appeared to be solved.
Only, not long after the new valve was fitted I started noticing flat spots in the acceleration, and juddering as I was driving at low revs. It felt at times as if the EGR valve was randomly and quickly opening and closing as I drove along - you could hear this slight hesitation in the sound of the engine when this happened.
Other problems that have occurred since then are that the car sometimes struggles to start (despite new glow plugs and a new battery being fitted recently), and a lot of smoke (clear/white) would come out of the exhaust when the engine would eventually get going. The car's performance seems lagging compared to how I've known it, and 2 or so months on from having the new EGR valve fitted, the engine management light came up on the dash. I took it back to my local garage, who when they ran a diagnostics on it, came back with… an EGR fault.
This confused the mechanics (and me), as the EGR valve was brand new - all they could suggest is that I get the part mechanically and electronically tested to see if the electronic part of the valve is functioning as it should. So I did (cost me £50), and the results came back that the EGR valve on it's own (when removed and powered up outside the car) functioned as it should, and that all wiring from the EGR to the ECU was okay. The issue they found was that the ECU was intermittently receiving, or not sensing the earth from the EGR valve, causing the EGR valve to randomly open/close when driving. They couldn't tell without further investigation what could be done to fix this, but suggested that I start with getting the ECU tested (£150).
It doesn't fill me with confidence that even if I get the ECU tested, the fault could still be elsewhere, so I'm not ready to shell out more £££ on this until I know what's the best course of action to take.
I read a while back when I first had this problem, that on changing the EGR valve, the MAF sensor should also be replaced - any ideas on whether this could be what's causing all this mess? Or any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated guys, this problem's really starting to get on my nerves...
Sorry about the essay, and many thanks in advance!
Hi all,
So, the problem started a few months back when the car progressively began to lose power, most noticeably in between 10K and 20K revs. There was no engine management light on, and the diagnostics at my local garage struggled to read any fault on the ECU. On the advice of a local garage I took the car to a fiat dealer to have a diagnostics done - £90 later I was told that the EGR valve needed replacing (for which they quoted me £313 to do!).
Instead I got hold of a new EGR valve for £58, and got it done at a local garage for not much at all. After fitting the new EGR, the car drove fine; there was no longer a lack of power as I accelerated, and the problem appeared to be solved.
Only, not long after the new valve was fitted I started noticing flat spots in the acceleration, and juddering as I was driving at low revs. It felt at times as if the EGR valve was randomly and quickly opening and closing as I drove along - you could hear this slight hesitation in the sound of the engine when this happened.
Other problems that have occurred since then are that the car sometimes struggles to start (despite new glow plugs and a new battery being fitted recently), and a lot of smoke (clear/white) would come out of the exhaust when the engine would eventually get going. The car's performance seems lagging compared to how I've known it, and 2 or so months on from having the new EGR valve fitted, the engine management light came up on the dash. I took it back to my local garage, who when they ran a diagnostics on it, came back with… an EGR fault.
This confused the mechanics (and me), as the EGR valve was brand new - all they could suggest is that I get the part mechanically and electronically tested to see if the electronic part of the valve is functioning as it should. So I did (cost me £50), and the results came back that the EGR valve on it's own (when removed and powered up outside the car) functioned as it should, and that all wiring from the EGR to the ECU was okay. The issue they found was that the ECU was intermittently receiving, or not sensing the earth from the EGR valve, causing the EGR valve to randomly open/close when driving. They couldn't tell without further investigation what could be done to fix this, but suggested that I start with getting the ECU tested (£150).
It doesn't fill me with confidence that even if I get the ECU tested, the fault could still be elsewhere, so I'm not ready to shell out more £££ on this until I know what's the best course of action to take.
I read a while back when I first had this problem, that on changing the EGR valve, the MAF sensor should also be replaced - any ideas on whether this could be what's causing all this mess? Or any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated guys, this problem's really starting to get on my nerves...
Sorry about the essay, and many thanks in advance!
