Hi all,
Lastnight I dropped my girlfriend off home and when I started my car the engine light came on, and I thought oh no!

I drove the car and it seemed fine. I tried to restart the car several times and the engine light would still come on.

So I left it and this afternoon on going out no light came on, and the car was driving fine.

No loss of power, no engine light.

On my way home, the engine light came on about 25mins ago I gradually lost power, so I knocked it down a gear helped picking up speed a little.

Stopped at a round about and pulling away was very bad, was like I was stuck in mud.

I managed to get home and I parked up and popped the hood and switched the engine back on, and it was juddering forwards and backwards.

Could not see anything torn or broken.

What could this be?
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Sounds like a engine misfire,mite help if you tell us your engine size and mk.

Hi,
I have a 1.2 8v Active Sport Mk2b

catalepticstate said:

Hi,
I have a 1.2 8v Active Sport Mk2b

Click to expand...

missfire defo - got all symptoms

Spark plugs and ht leads
then coils
wiring
then ecu
is the usual failing order

Find out which cylinder is Misfiring (1 is the Timing belt end - 4 is the Battery/Coil Pack side)

Look in guides section

Ziggy

Thanks will take a look.

Do you think I can take it to work tomorrow, around 25miles away if it does not play up?

catalepticstate said:

Do you think I can take it to work tomorrow, around 25miles away if it does not play up?

Click to expand...

If works fine yes
If it starts mis-firing No

as Unburnt fuel will be poured into the Cat
The Cat dont like fuel - it wants emissions instead

Over fuel does the same - it clogs the cat - burns it out and you get a heap more problems

Ziggy

Hi,
I had the car fixed on Monday.
Garage said that Coil B needed replacing. So he replaced both coils.

Car was fine. But on Wednesday morning as I got to work the engine light came back on.

So i took it back to him and he said the same error code came back up for Coil B so he reset the code and checked it but it was working fine.

Tonight I drove back from work and I was stuck in traffic and it was stop and start and the car just kept juddering and at the traffic lights.

There is no engine light or loss of power.

What could it be?

Thanks

Hi,
The morning after my last post from last week. The car seemed to have fixed itself.

But yesterday morning I was driving down the M6 and I heard something that I can only describe as a thud.

It felt like I had lost some power, it wasnt very much and the engine light came back on.

I drove it to the garage again and told the guy that the same issue came back.
He checked it out and he confirmed it was the same code.

Coil B.

I had to take the car back as I had somewhere to go. I told him I would bring it back the nexy day (today).

As I drove it away it was fine again.
When I got home last night I switched the car off and on again only to find the car started juddering again.

The car was fine this morning, but the engine light was still on.

The mechanic said that he had a friend who has £10,000's work of computer equipment who can have a more indepth look at the car and see if it is the coil or the ECU.

He quoted me £300 excluding VAT and labour and around £40 for the guy to take a look at it.

Does anyone have any experience with coil issues and can someone explain what the coil does.

Should this cost £300+

He said if he installs a new ECU, the ECU will need to learn to drive? What does that mean?

I'm not very car/mechanics savvy. I am technical as I am a I.T Technician but this stuff sounds like gobbledygook!

Thanks for any help

£300 to remove the ECU?
**** that!

its like 2 Cable Clamps
4 screws and its off!!

So DIY

I wonder why the Fault comes and goes?
Usually if the ECU is at fault the ECU has burnt the track.....

One thing i would do is Swap the Coil packs over
So they do the oppersite set of plugs

If the Fault stays at Coil pack B - More likely ECU
But if it moves to coil Pack A - Its the Coil pack at fault

Another possible fault could be the Crank Sensor
Could be on the blink, and causes a mis-fire, which the ECU picks up at Coil pack b?

Worth a punt really

Ziggy

All he needs to do is follow the guide, no need for £10,000 of diagnostic equipment- https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-guides/52068-punto-coil-ecu-checks.html

The common ECU failure always comes up as showing one of the two coils not working. It's been discussed on here millions of times, and is listed in Autodata manuals as a common fault (among many other places). The easiest and cheapest way to confirm if it is a coil fault is to swap the two around and see if the problem stays on the two affected cylinders or jumps with the coil- takes 5 mins and saves sourcing another coil or buying new plugs and leads for no reason.

There's numerous companies who can repair the ECU too.

Thanks guys.

Can I swap the coils around myself? How easy are they to get to?

Easy. Four 4mm allen bolts hold each one in, then it's just a matter of refitting the HT leads and coil connections. First you need to identify which one is not firing.

D4nny8oy said:

Easy. Four 4mm allen bolts hold each one in, then it's just a matter of refitting the HT leads and coil connections. First you need to identify which one is not firing.

Click to expand...

Regardless - swap the Coil packs over and look for the codes

Ziggy

Is there a diagram or a photo on the forum I can look at?
I will try it out tomorrow or Saturday

Ziggy122 said:

Regardless - swap the Coil packs over and look for the codes

Ziggy

Click to expand...

And if you're an owner with no access to a code reader, and a mechanic who's a complete muppet?

Simply unplugging one and seeing if it affects the running will identify which is playing up, then swapping the coils over will highlight if it's a coil fault or ECU/wiring. No code reader, no FES, no £10k diagnostic machine.

catalepticstate- You can't miss them, plus searching the forum will bring up a few pictures of the coils/HT leads.

Today the car started juddering and tried to drive it and the engine cut out.

So I have given it to the garage hopefully he will call me tomorrow and tell me whats up.


Really upset and pi***d off

catalepticstate said:

Today the car started juddering and tried to drive it and the engine cut out.

So I have given it to the garage hopefully he will call me tomorrow and tell me whats up.


Really upset and pi***d off

Click to expand...

Well yes as the engine is Choking on fuel

Problem with a misfire and keep driving it when it does misfire makes the cat burn up
which could eventually cause running problems again

get the Misfire fixed - as said the coil packs need swapping to determine ECU or Coil pack at fault

Ziggy

The mechanic has already replaced the coils (both of them)

Hi all,
I had my car back on Thursday all fixed. Finally!

The garage was trying to put a standard ECU in the car and it was not controlling the revs or the temprature.

They then thought this was a faulty ECU, but they found out that my Punto had a different ECU.

So they went to Fiat and and got one. Cost around £300.

The car works without misfiring or juddering.

There is a judder when idle, but not while driving.

Also noticed when he gave the car back to me, that the bulb light came on (yellow bulb with ! inside).

We checked the lights and all were fine.

And the light went off when I got back in the car. So I thought nothing of it.

But the light comes on all the time when I start the car.

I had a full service in April/May of this year and bulbs were changed.

What could this be?