Hi guys&girls my friend has got a 54 plate Panda and tonight when he was going back to his house the Engine management lights come up and the car loose power it doesn't have acceleration i've tried to drive it from 1st gear it goes max to 3000rpm and then when i change gear it wont have power at all, it just drive in 2nd without acceleration and on neutral it goes max 4000rpm and it drops to 3000rpm and thats it. Can anybody suggest me what it can be? Will you think that we need to replace the ECU? Please let me know what you think ASAP
Thanks
Regards
Brian

Sounds like the ecu has put the engine in safe mode, it will do this if it "thinks" there is a problem and it only allows low power use so you can get the car to a garage.

If the fault was a one off event it may ignore the fault after 4 starts and switch the light off and restore full power. If it's a permanent or more serious issue it will need a proper fix.

If its limp home mode it's serious, however I don't believe that the panda has a limp home mode.

Unlikely to be the ECU, don't know what makes you think that's what the issue is. Need to get the codes causing the MIL (malfunction indicator lamp) read

I had very similar problem on my C4 except on that the engine emissions light comes on, it would sort of rev to a few thousand but there'd be no power. Try and find a garage that can think beyond what their computers tell them. Mine didn't and started off replacing the sensors on the exhaust, they then replaced an injector which sort of solved it but only for a short while. In the end they replaced the spark plugs and the coil pack which is what I suspect the problem was from the start.

A car will generally run fine if the oxygen sensor has worn out (and they do become less effective with age), so it won't be that.

Is the maximum of 3000rpm one that seems to be imposed electronically or one that feels about all the engine can possibly manage?