Hi, I'm Caron and I've joined this site in the hope that there is someone out there that can help me sort out the problem with my daughter's 1.1 active eco Panda. It had a PO443 message come up when taken to a garage and they said it is the fuel evaporation valve.
When I spoke to Fiat they couldn't identify the part. Could it possibly be what is known as an evaporation purge solenoid valve?
I hope someone can help as it sounds like it could be expensive according to our garage!

Welcome to the forum Is the car having running problems, or is it literally just the EML on the dash coming up and the reading of the code that has prompted this investigation?

I ask because - more often than not - the error codes aren't an exact science, and although they can assist with fault diagnosis it also helps to know what they alleged fault is causing the car to do.

Hi.
Welcome.
There's a wealth of knowledge on here, so I'm sure an expert will reply soon, but this may help a little meantime. My knowledge has huge gaps, so take this with a pinch of salt.

OBD II codes are both generic (applicable to all compliant vehicles) and manufacturer-specific.
P=Powertrain, that is basically the engine.
O (that's a zero, not a capital 'O') =generic code again.
400 through 449 represents a bunch of emission controls - anything from the EGR valve, Catalyst temperature, Exhaust pressure (DPF - diesel particulate filter), cooling fan and it's controls.

A mouthful, but most of these components and their controls are not major problems. Often a garage will cling to a laptop readout as the holy grail, when a good road test by a smart mechanic would pinpoint the problem. See what the experts come up with, but I doubt if you are talking about a major outlay.

Sweetsixteen.

As the other two have said, the messages coming from the warning lights are often spurious and easily extinguished, more often than not, never to return.


If it's just the warning light, then it may just be worth resetting it. I had the light come on on my Seicento recently. I paid £13 for a plug-in ODB reader/resetter and cleared the error (thus extinguishing the light).


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=201150172567


If the car is running poorly then it does need some remedial attention.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Initially the engine management light came on and this flagged up the P0443 on diagnostics which was reset and to my knowledge hasn't come back on so far but they advised my daughter that this fuel evaporation valve was required.
She has noticed that the car seems to be using more fuel than usual and is concerned that it may lead to further problems so is loathe to drive it long distances.
Is it worth me taking it somewhere like Halfords or go straight to the Fiat garage for a second opinion?

Personal opinion says neither - Halfords will probably break more than they fix, and the Fiat dealer will cost limbs and organs for the simplest of jobs. Whereabouts in the country are you? Perhaps someone local can recommend an independent Fiat specialist, or even have the experience to be able to have a look at it themselves.

The using more fuel thing is most likely placebo effect of knowing a fault is there. Especially if someone started saying something to do with fueling. There's no mpg meter on the active so it'd be real difficult to say one way or the other and even by measuring it hard to tell anythings wrong unless its 15 mpg.

As other have said, might be worth cancelling the light and seeing if and why it comes back.

My daughter is in Bramley near Leeds and she takes it to a local garage that does Fiat servicing, etc and we have had no problems. It is just bothering me a bit that they can't give me the part number yet they say that Fiat quoted them 172.56 for said part!

You should say you want the part number or you'll have to go somewhere else.

It sounds like they are basically scaring your daughter to get £170 for something that may or may not be needed.

Edit:

Im guessing she's not too up on cars? I don't mean that as an insult.What I see with this sort of stuff is the light comes on and she dont know that some random code dont really mean a whole lot so desperately wants closure on the whole thing (so car dont blow up or leave her at side of road) by going to garage and paying £170 to a fiat magician for some magic beans cure all. It's in this situation that people can raise the fear factor of the gremlin light and extract a bit of cash from those who don't know any better, which is a shame.

There's a valve that the cars ECU opens and closes to allow gas in the petrol tank to vent into the engine to be burnt, manufacturers can no longer vent the tank to atmosphere.

It sounds like it's stuck open/closed.
I've found a part number
71718105

It isn't always the case the valve has failed, there could be a wiring issue to it or an ECU problem.

Thanks for your messages Dave of Kent and Goudrons.
We are going to get a second opinion on the situation this afternoon and I will check with them that the part number tallies with the problem part so wish me luck

Right, here's the latest update on the Panda.
We took it to our local Halfords for a second opinion and found out some interesting information!
The first thing was that the 2009 1.1 active eco DOESN'T have fuel evaporation system and
secondly when the EBD tester was plugged in there was no record of an error code ever
occurring on the car!
We asked how come the fuel was going down a lot quicker than previously and it transpired that supermarket fuel (especially Morrisons) is bad for the car.
We will be sticking to independent petrol stations from now on!

Kolly said:

Right, here's the latest update on the Panda.
We took it to our local Halfords for a second opinion and found out some interesting information!
The first thing was that the 2009 1.1 active eco DOESN'T have fuel evaporation system and
secondly when the EBD tester was plugged in there was no record of an error code ever
occurring on the car!
We asked how come the fuel was going down a lot quicker than previously and it transpired that supermarket fuel (especially Morrisons) is bad for the car.
We will be sticking to independent petrol stations from now on!

Click to expand...

hi, late on this one..

I'd be amazed if there is NO evap equipment on the panda..,

once you've READ a code you can CLEAR it..!!,
so there being no record is fine

supermarket fuel is a common grumble.. BUT I've never had issue ( apart from a tanker driver filling the #5 "unleaded"pump with Diesel..) they're right..you could "taste the difference"

charlie

As I said earlier, Halfords are idiots as the Panda absolutely does have a fuel evap system.
Supermarket fuel (especially Morrisons) is by no means the best, but I ran it for a long time in both my Pajero and Seicento with no massive change in MPG. But, lets see how it goes on better fuel, hopefully that is all it is.

in case it's relevant,
a clean air filter could work wonders ; - )

charlie

A good service with top quality filters/oil etc usually makes the world of difference and if its any consolation i've been saying for years that supermarket petrol is inferior although the Fifth Gear tv programme recently did a back to back test with normal unleaded and so called 'posh' petrol across a variety of cars and found no real world difference in day to day driving.

I wouldn't trust Halford's for a second opinion!

And I'll agree that supermarket is not as good as other branded fuel. I once put a tank of Sainsbury's diesel in my Panda (only because there was something like a 15p per litre voucher with the shopping. Never again! I thought there was something seriously wrong with the car as the performance was so bad, but a fill up at my usual place (Maxol) and my car was back to its normal self.