A friend has a wheelchair adapted 2005 1.6 petrol Multipla that periodically suffers from severe loss of power. The vehicle can be fine for a number of days and then then it suddenly suffers a severe loss of power and fails to maintain speed. She has to change down through the gears to keep it going. I gather it in general it doesn't completely stall and after a relatively short period of time all returns to normal. She took the vehicle to her local Fiat dealer who says it needs a new ECU and lambda sensor at a cost of £1500 - probably more than the vehicle is worth! Does this sound likely? Having checked this forum it appears that Multipla's also have issues with Air Mass sensors and EGR valves and I'm wondering if one of these is more likely to be the cause. As you can appreciate, the fact that it's used to carry a wheelchair means that she doesn't really want to change the vehicle. Any advice would be appreciated.
Cheers

Air mass sensors and EGR valves are used on the diesel Multipla, so unlikely to be the problem here. I'm no expert on the petrol Multi, but would get the coil pack and ignition leads checked, as they are notorious for causing trouble on the petrol engine. If it were a permanent loss of power I'd also suggest checking the inlet manifold for cracks.

Someone else with more knowledge of them should be along soon....

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

Try cleaning the map sensor at the back of the trunking that covers the top of the engine. It's held in with 2 torx screws.
clean throttle body with carb cleaner. Take the ducting off and give it a blast inside with cleaner.
give the cranksensor a clean.

Thanks for that - I'll give those things a go. I had assumed the petrol engines also air mass sensors and EGR valves. I really only know about Mk1 Escorts They definitely don't have either!

Cheers

Hi there,

I found that a faulty Lamda/O2 sensor caused all sort of odd problems - it was only when I hooked up to the ECU scan software that it confoirmed I had a faulty O2 sensor in the exhaust manifold. Once changed, it ran well.

the other problems I have encountered in he past are a faulty RPM sensor (£25 to change and dead easy) and a new coilpack (again easy fix and around £50). From your desciption, sounds like a possible coil pack failing....

Usually the petrol version seems more reliable than the much more common diesel version....

Cheers for that - Am I right in thinking the Multipla has two lambda sensors? If so are they both the same part number
Thanks

Yes - you are correct there are 2 Lamda sensors on the 1.6 petrol model. One in the exhaust manifold immediately before the Cat, the other in the exhaust pipe AFTER the Cat (at least it is on mine, a 2001 version). The one that seems to usulally cause most troible is the pre-cat one - ie the one immediately before the Cat.

The model I have has the Cat bolted directly to the exhaust manifold though I understand later versions may have the Cat underneath the car.

Good luck - the ECU scan tool (free version) is what I used to locate a 'dead' sensor.

KR

Dodge

Earlier models with the cat underneath only have one lambda sensor. It's bolted towards the bottom of the downpipe.

Thanks for that

Cheers