Hi Guys,

So, Long story short.

I bought my first car this january. Great deal at first and i managed to get my driving license with it. But then the thing started to fall apart . So now it's at a mates garage completely immobilized!

Specs:
Punto Mk2 from 1/2001
1.2 8v petrol
170 000km
no central locking or electric windows
but air conditioning

When i bought my car, the break pads and drums were changed by the previous owner.

First i went and had it serviced at friends garage. They changed the oil, oil filter, coolant, air filter, spark plugs and battery.

I also had a problem with the heater. Turns out i had to change the heater radiator. So 60€ valeo radiator later and a lot of time spend on disassembling the dashboard this was fixed .

Next thing to do was changing the timing belt. The old one had 102 000km on it. So i got fitted the new timing belt and a new automatic adjuster at a friends garage.

But after driving with my car for two days it just immobilized it self. Not while driving! I drove to my house in the evening and in the morning it juste won't start.

So, i got it taken to a friends garage who is a old school mechanic who doesn't know a thing about ECU or OBD2. He started looking inside the engine and noticed a lot of parts that were damaged and won't run properly.

We checked the timing belt 2 times, since the mechanic thought that maybe he made a mistake fitting it. We also checked all the sensors, their cables and cleaned them.

We changed the starter for a working second hand one.

We changed the head gasket, since my oil was disappearing from the engine. It is still hard to understand since we couldn't find any leaks, there was no white smoke out of the exhaust before and no mayonnaise inside the oil tank. The old head gasket was very damaged, i think it was never changer. But the cylinders were ok and the was no crap around.

There's a spark and fuel is administrated properly to the engine.

And still my car won't start. It's trying hard though, but there is something missing. That's why i think that it's immobilized itself "ECU".

Since i still wait for my "Bluetooth OBD2 ELM Code Reader Scanner Can 327" that i bought today. I will have someone come with it's computer and usb to EOBD cable to check ECU error codes tomorrow.

And, Plan B, I'll have to tow my car at my town's Fiat garage.

I will update the post when i'll have some new info.

But meanwhile. Do you, guys, have any idea why my punto immobilized itself?
Does anybody had the same problem?

is there Key code light on the dash board?

That little radiator you had replaced was a heater matrix

8v are safe engines so if the timing was out it'd run like crap or not at all since it did run but not now might.mean the timing did slip

If there is sparks and fuel getting in it isnt going to be the crank sensor thats usually at fault
and also eliminates the immboliser in lockout

im baffled really..... Will it try and run with a cold start spray or brake cleaner spray?

Have you also got fuel?


Ziggy

Ziggy122 said:

is there Key code light on the dash board?

If there is sparks and fuel getting in it isnt going to be the crank sensor thats usually at fault
and also eliminates the immboliser in lockout

im baffled really..... Will it try and run with a cold start spray or brake cleaner spray?

Have you also got fuel?


Ziggy

Click to expand...

Yes the fuel tank is almost full of petrol.

There is no yellow key code error so it's not immobilized due to that.

Yes we try to start it with spray. And we also tow it behind a pickup to try to jump start it in 2 gear.

So the car is shutting down itself.

Si i had my ECU read.

Those a the error codes

Engine errors:
P0300: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0300
Basically this means that the the car's computer has detected that not all of the engine's cylinders are firing properly.

A P0300 diagnostic code indicates a random or multiple misfire. If the last digit is a number other than zero, it corresponds to the cylinder number that is misfiring. A P0302 code, for example, would tell you cylinder number two is misfiring. Unfortunately, a P0300 doesn't tell you specifically which cylinder(s) is/are mis-firing, nor why.


P0130: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0130
The O2 sensor produces a voltage based on oxygen content in the exhaust. The voltage varies between .1 and .9 Volts, .1 indicating lean and .9 indicating rich. The ECM constantly monitors this voltage while in closed loop to determine how much fuel to inject. If the ECM determines that the O2 sensor voltage was too low (less than .4 Volts) for too long (for more than 20 seconds (time varies with model)), this code is set.

P0335: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0335
The crankshaft position sensor (CKP) measures crankshaft location and relays this information to the PCM (Powertrain Control Module). Depending on the vehicle, the PCM uses this crankshaft position information to time the spark properly or on some systems it is only for misfire detection and does not control spark timing. The CKP sensor is stationary and works in harmony with a reluctor ring (or toothed ring) that is attached to the crankshaft. As this reluctor ring passes in front of the CKP sensor, the magnetic field created by the CKP sensor is interrupted and this creates a square wave voltage signal that the PCM interprets as crankshaft position. If the PCM detects that there are no crankshaft pulses or if it sees a problem with the pulses on the output circuit, P0335 will set.

It's the crank shaft sensor (A) positioned on the timing belt. He is broken or spotted a problem with the timing belt. I will try to replace it and we'll see from there .

P0115: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0115
The ECT (Engine coolant temperature) sensor is basically a thermistor that changes resistance with temperature. Usually a two wire sensor, a 5Volt reference from PCM (Powertrain Control Module) and ground signal to PCM. This is different from a temperature SENDER (which usually operates the dash temperature gauge and operates in a similar way as the SENSOR, only it's a different circuit than what a P0115 is referring to). As the temperature of the coolant changes, the resistance changes on the ground signal to the PCM. When the engine is cold, the resistance is high. When the engine is warm, the resistance is low. If the PCM detects a voltage condition that seems abnormally low or high, P0115 will set.

Some people are rough handed when it comes to getting the belt on past the zensor and end up damaging it, its odd that you are still vetting a spark and fuel injection with a dead sensor..... Either way try the sensor as thats what actually allows the car to run, a scrappy one willo for testing.

The missfire could be related to dead sensor

keep an eye out for the car in limp home mode ie roug running, cooling fan always running along with the engine light been on

ziggy

Make sure your HT leads are on in the correct order (i had this on a 16 valve ) it would run fine then just stop and not run for a day then decide to run again , turned out the leads were on in the wrong order .
Also sounds like you could have a possible fuel pump issue or fuel flow issue

Ziggy122 said:

its odd that you are still vetting a spark and fuel injection with a dead sensor.....
ziggy

Click to expand...

I know that it sounds stupid now. But i forgot to say that we tried that before the diagnostic .

littleyellowpaininthearse said:

Make sure your HT leads are on in the correct order (i had this on a 16 valve ) it would run fine then just stop and not run for a day then decide to run again , turned out the leads were on in the wrong order .
Also sounds like you could have a possible fuel pump issue or fuel flow issue

Click to expand...

Yes, the HT leads are in the right order according to all the diagrams, tutorials... i found on the internet


I think that the fuel pump problem is a old one. The diagnostic case just read all the historic of errors that this car had. And i think it was never cleared.

I have an update on my situation. I changed the sensor on the timing belt pulley for a second hand one. And i finally got the car to start. But the engine light on the dashboard was blinking. So i went to my local fiat garage.

And while the mechanic was doing a diagnostic on my car, starting and cutting the engine, the car had the same problem. It started to shutting down itself.

So the fiat mechanic wants to change the sensor for a new one (55€).



I am so fed up with this problem that i rather pay fiat to fix my car.

But they also told me that maybe the timing belt pulley wasn't straight anymore.

I'll update tomorrow since they'll change the sensor in the morning.

Look on your Coil pack holder

Between the Coil packs and just under the Plate where the airbox screws down onto it
There will be a number like so
23 - 41 - that the order the plugs need to be ie

Coil 1 has cyl 2 and 3
Coil 2 has cyl 1 and 4

But if a new sensor didnt make it work, i'd be suspecting a possible wiring fault to a coil?

The blinking EML mean a misfire is been currently detected
im still thinking sensor personally tho

If the belt isn't spinning straight - then suspect bearing issue?

ziggy

So finally my punto was fixed at my towns fiat garage. They put a new crank shaft sensor, the second hand one was broken. They revved the engine and it was running fine. The pulley and the timing belt were put properly since the beginning .

Also, i changed my dashboard for the one with the rev counter and the led screen was blinking. After deleting all the errors with the fiat diagnostic computer, this issue was gone. But i still have the incorrect milage. So proxy aligning it is .

By the way, nobody knows how to do proxy alignment in Belgium. The garage owner told me that he spent 100€ on a so called specialist who couldn't fix the blinking lcd and the milage on the dashboard. So they have to send theirs in Torino.

Did a paralel park yesterday. You can see why this was the only free spot . Must be an achievement of some kind, for me anyway .

read this thread about proxi alignment / mileage adjustment https://www.fiatforum.com/punto-ii/298102-changing-odometer-reading.html