After changing the plugs my car has been running a lot better (from the previous thread some people will know one of the plugs was black) however today in just one 10 mile journey the car surged forward as I was releasing the clutch and the ECU light came on, about 3 miles later as I was releasing the clutch the car just stalled.

So clearly something is still not right, my mechanics kit was unable to detect a code and I am not wanting to pay £80 at the stealers just for an ECU scan.

I am wondering if the clutch has any connection to all these faults, or if it is just that more to with the fact the car is idling or running very slowly when the ECU/stalling happens.

I am getting a bit fed up of this now, its a 2010 1.1 Active with 15,400 miles.

Thanks once again.

black plugs means over rich
either get it scanned or get it on a emissions machine to check co
or buy your own reader offsay ebay for £20 ish
a map sensor doesnt always show a code mind so i would do a co reading first as a pointer like

Where are you JD?

You could do with some proper diagnostics running on it or at least having someone that can monitor the sensors and make sense of what's going on.
If the EML is lit, there will be a code.

It sounds like it's having trouble maintaining it's own engine speed, but without any testing, it's hard to say why.

On most modern cars the PCM will detect the car is in gear and the clutch is rising and raise the rpm slightly to prevent a stall, you should be able to pull away, gently, without any throttle input what so ever, but if the PCM can't control the idle speed, it won't and will stall.

This idle speed is control by the PCM via the idle control bypass inside the throttle body,
(inside the crescent shaped cutout in the throat of the throttle body)trouble is the PCM will use signals from all the other sensors to determine what's needed, then operate it, so it's a stab in the dark which and what is effecting it.

There are companies like this
http://automotive.oscillotech.co.uk/index.html
dotted around that carry the kit for full, indepth monitoring and scanning.
Might be a better bet that Fiat or your local car butcher.

If you're local to me, I can plug it in and have a look.

I am in Manchester sadly .

An update the ECU light came on again this morning, just before it happened the car seemed to jump foward or rather lurk foward by itself.

I tried a stall test, putting in gear and slowly releasing the clutch without any throttle input and the car behaved exactly how it should, it just slowly started to move off with not even a hint of stalling.

Have you a scan tool?

I wonder, black plug, lurching, cutting out -
Coil/igntion lead problem.

The new plugs haven't been in long, but I wonder if one is sooting up again, perhaps swap the coils over and see if the sooty plug moves with the coil??

the coil work in pairs,
so it should be 2 good plugs + 2 poor plugs,


HT lead sets are @£15 - I would do that 1st..,
then worry about other issues,
Charlie

Quite a lot worse today, EML light came on twice, both times the car lost power even at a steady speed then the EML light came on for about three seconds and the fault corrected itself.

My bluetooh scanner should arrive in the next few days so hopefully that will give me a clue. When it looses power it doesn't feel like a miss fire but more like I have lifted the throttle off.

My USB Bluetooth thing arrived this morning, despite the EML coming on last night, no fault is showing up . Checked current, pending, and historical and all show nothing.

Lambda sensor seems to be doing its job. I am still thinking it might be a wiring issue, if it was a mechanical issue such as a valve problem wouldn't it run rough all the time? This morning for example it was running perfectly.

How I am supposed to get this fixed when there isn't even given a fault code? To test very component would be a nightmare financially.

Think I may have cracked it, I have been playing with Torque Lite all day taking take of all the values. I have noticed a pattern, when the engine is cold it reports but the air intake temperature of around 30c (it is 3-4c outside) when it is hot (e.g coolent at 80c) it reports an air intake of around 23c.

I suspect the sensor s giving the ECU duff info, but the parameters are always within range causing no error code.

So have you solved this dreaded problem? My car has been cutting out intermittently for a couple of years now. The engine management light comes on for a few seconds and it either runs again right away or the ignition needs to be switched off and on again to start the car in extreme cases.

It went back under warranty but as it never registered a fault the muppets refused to do anything about it. I think its a bad connection as it normally occurs over bumps or when cornering in roundabouts always at the worst possible time. This has happened to my wife whilst driving on a number of occasions and she is terrified to drive the car now.

It seems a fairly common problem which Fiat seem unable or unwilling to fix, maybe until someone gets killed!

Gary

Buy a copy of multiecuscan and the appropriate connector, even the multiplex unit at 230 euro is extremely good value (thats what I use), you will save that in a few faults. !
It is only 50 quid for the version where you use multiple plugs.
MANY times the mil light is not on, or you cannot read the errors with a simple tester.
Items like MES should be in the toolkit of every fiat owner who intends to work on their car or avoid where possible being ripped by the stealers.