Hello all.
I have a 1998 Fiat Punto 60 S, and when im driving - normally when going slow or changing down gears, the gear will shake and the engine will just cut out.
only thing that works when this happens is my breaks - and my outside lights stay on - if on.
I pull over, try to restart the engine and 99% of the time its fine starting up again and im on my way. Haven't had it checked out, but it happened twice today and thats why i just signed up. Normally can happen once every one or two weeks.
Only previous problems i had was i had a water leak and had to replace the water pump and cam belt. And a minor crash when i first bought it but that was 8 months ago - and didnt cause much damage.

Anyone had similar problems or know what it may be so i have an idea of cost for getting it fixed in the future. would be a great help! thanks.

what happend in this minor crash?

Pretty much just a scrape along drivers side, main damage was to wheel arch and drivers door. But those were just dents.

my punto some times shakes then dies when stopping - i think it's a clutch fault on mine - however, it's not done it for a while so it might be a dirty Throttle Body that caused it or HG

Both HG and Throttle body were sorted on mine, not sure if either one cured it or not, i wasn't fussed about it dieing just got used to it

One suspect might be the crank sensor. A good test is to run the car and get someone to woggle the wire -- if it cuts out, then you've found the culprit.

I dont know if this makes any difference, or if it is even correct, but i think it mainly does it only when i've got under a quarter of a tank of petrol.

I took it into a garage today and its got quite a few things wrong with it, so they said its not worth getting repaired...o well, so i will be looking for a new car soon.

ehmahh said:

I took it into a garage today and its got quite a few things wrong with it, so they said its not worth getting repaired...o well, so i will be looking for a new car soon.

Click to expand...

it looks batterd anyway, go for an upgrade in punto my friend :devil:

ehmahh said:

I dont know if this makes any difference, or if it is even correct, but i think it mainly does it only when i've got under a quarter of a tank of petrol.

Click to expand...

It may well be getting in some solid sediment from the fuel tank then which clogs the injectors. I used to have something similar on my 1998 Brava once when such impurities in low quality fuel completely clogged the fuel pump ultimately resulting in full seizure of the engine.

my problem was the crank sensor (rpm sensor) wen it idled for about 4 min from cold it would shut down and not start until it had cooled the way i checked was to do to the scrappers and get one of another punto and swap it around this fixed it for me i also believe this would happen on the open road above idle but i didn't want to risk it hope this helps

If you are not wanting to just sell the car and buy an upgrade, make sure you are definite of what the problem is and how much it's going to cost to repair, you don't want to be paying for loads of little replacements if they aren't the problem, it could end up with you losing more money and time than it's worth!