Or they're changing the parts because a good garage will never trust what someone else has supposedly changed.
Hi Pete, I am wondering if you ever got the misfiring problem solved as I am experiencing almost identical problems with a 2007 Panda 1.2 that we have had for at least 7 years, but which started misfiring in the last few months. It has been probably in the garage more than on the road for the last two months. So far they have changed the coils, HT leads, Plugs, sent the EGU away for diagnostic, it was returned no fault found. Still experiencing misfire and engine management light spasmodically on. The garage contacted FIAT main dealer and was advised to take it in to be connected to FIAT Italy to have the EGU reprogrammed as there was an update for that model's firmware/software. They have taken it there 4 times until they deemed that the update was successful. Luckily we were away for two weeks whilst this was going on, so we collected it on our return after waiting for two new Marinello coils to be fitted in place of the other new coils. Apparently recommended by FIAT Italy. Four miles down the road and it misfired again. I am giving up the will to live.Well, hopefully we've finally got to the bottom of it (touches wooden desktop!).
The garage have accidentally (?) left a piece of paper on the seat which appears to contain the fault codes they read, and their interpretations of the possible faults:
P0300 - random multiple cylinder(s) misfire detected - HT leads, coils, low compression or wiring.
P0304 - cylinder 4 misfire - engine mechanical fault, wiring, ignition/fuel system, injector, ECT/MAF sensor, ECM.
P0351 - Ignition coil A malfunction.
Bear in mind that the coils, HT leads, plugs and sensor have already been changed.
However, they reported that the engine was very wet (with water), and on investigating, found that all the drain holes for the air chamber between the bulkhead and the windscreen (fresh air intake for the cabin) were blocked!
What appears to have happened is that the chamber has filled up with water when it has rained, and eventually its overflowed, showering all the electrics under the bonnet with water!
This makes perfect sense, as its only since the weather has changed that its started acting up!
He's cleaned all the drain holes out, thoroughly dried the area, then sprayed WD-40 over all the nearby electrical cables.
The car is now running like a sewing machine again, with no warning light. Hopefully that's it fixed. But if it recurs, I will report back!
Hopefully my experience may help someone else with the same issue. Its not an obvious cause for the effect observed, and to me, indicates the problem with relying too much on computer diagnostics!
Many thanks to all for your helpful suggestions.
--
Pete
"Duct tape is like the Force: It has a light side and a dark side, and it binds the Universe together!"
Hi Pete, I am wondering if you ever got the misfiring problem solved as I am experiencing almost identical problems with a 2007 Panda 1.2 that we have had for at least 7 years, but which started misfiring in the last few months. It has been probably in the garage more than on the road for the last two months. So far they have changed the coils, HT leads, Plugs, sent the EGU away for diagnostic, it was returned no fault found. Still experiencing misfire and engine management light spasmodically on. The garage contacted FIAT main dealer and was advised to take it in to be connected to FIAT Italy to have the EGU reprogrammed as there was an update for that model's firmware/software. They have taken it there 4 times until they deemed that the update was successful. Luckily we were away for two weeks whilst this was going on, so we collected it on our return after waiting for two new Marinello coils to be fitted in place of the other new coils. Apparently recommended by FIAT Italy. Four miles down the road and it misfired again. I am giving up the will to live.
Going to give your suggestions to my garage, but the engine bay is totally dry so I doubt if it is that simple.
Your further comments (or anybody's) would be much appreciated.
GoodOldDoug,
Just a long shot, but I had a Panda that went through a painful misfire/engine-light phase and I did all the things you described, but without success. I thought about it some more and in the end it turned out that the engine was becoming a somewhat heavy 'breather', in that the oily, smelly crankcase fumes that are fed back into the airbox and then re-combusted were causing the lambda sensors to read incorrectly. I disconnected the breather from the cam-cover and vented via a bit of hosepipe to a separate catch-tank. After a few miles the hot exhaust gases - which were now oil-fume free - cleaned up the mess on the lambda's and the engine ran just fine once again. Worth a go I'd say.
Let us know how you get on!