Hi, I'm new here, and have joined after a conversation with some very helpful chaps I met at MITCAR this sunday.

They suggested I joined up and asked the question... so here I am!

My stepdaughter's W reg Punto 1.2 8V has suddenly developed a problem, and 2 garages have looked at it, (although not Fiat garages, good local mechanics) and not found a solution. (one of them changed the Throttle Body, no joy). The second looked at all the obvious, and couldn't find anything, but thought it might be the ECU, and offered the information that NO fault codes were stored. Having spoken to a few people who sell "virginized" ECU's on Ebay, they gave me the distinct impression that this wasn't a common ECU fail symptom!

The problem is... it starts instantly, and smoothly, on all 4 cylinders, but will run for about 2 - 5 secs, and cut out. That's it. If you can get it (with much mashing up and down of the throttle) up to about 3,000 rpm, it will run long enough to load the engine and you can just about pull away, but it dies immediately.

My problem is that I'm away from home, and my Wife and Stepdaughter are sort of washing their hands of it, and moving on... I'd like to have a stab at repairing it, to get some return from it, but my knowledge of fiats is almost nil.....

It might even appear on here as spares or repair soon!!

Thanks for your time...any suggestions??

have you checked, coil packs, ht leads, spark plugs?

No, I'll be absolutely honest, I've not been around for a few weeks, so, my only involvement has been towing it to the second garage from my in-laws, and then towing it back home after they didn't have any ideas either, on the day I left for work again... I did start the car though, and the symptoms are my own findings. No warning lights on the dash, either...

Rightly or wrongly, I'm assuming that the 2nd garage (who usually service my wife's C4) will have checked all the immediately visibile/available stuff...

I will be home on Sunday for a few hours, so just thought I'd try and arm myself with a little of other people's knowledge...

Thanks for taking the time

if you have no clue what the garage checked, its best to get stuck in there and do all checks yourself, for its worth download free edition of MES (MultiECUScan) get the cable for it if you dont have it already and see what you can, find, you can clear engine codes and check them with free edition, i have the full edition myself.

Ok, thanks Benny, I'll have a look on the net for that software...

RE the cable... does it look a bit like a scart TV lead on the end that plugs into the car? I've got a USB one for the laptop that looks like that at one end for my Rangie, cos the Air Suspension is a constant nightmare!!

GLM said:

Ok, thanks Benny, I'll have a look on the net for that software...

RE the cable... does it look a bit like a scart TV lead on the end that plugs into the car? I've got a USB one for the laptop that looks like that at one end for my Rangie, cos the Air Suspension is a constant nightmare!!

Click to expand...

you'll need the ELM 327 1.3 or 1.4 cable just type that into google.

and for the software:

http://www.multiecuscan.net/

click on the free edition, the other two are paid ones.

Cheers!!

Does the cable have to be a 1.3 or 1.4 for the age of the car?

On ebay, the 1.3's are more expensive, and there's a 1.5 version quite cheap...

Ta.

if its compatible with FIAT then it'll be fine.

So.... Free software downloaded, cable arrived, will figure some stuff out on Sunday, if I have time! Thanks, Benny.

Hi, almost irrelevant now, I'm afraid as the car is to be collected for scrap later this week.... but, after much head scratching, the software's installed, the cable connected, and despite a wrong ISO message, I got a fault code of ...

P0105 - Pressure Sensor.

and info notes about an anomaly in the pneumatic connections to the sensor or leaks in the depressure circuits...

will try and post a screen grab, but what does this fault code stand for??

Soz, know nothing much about anything at all!!

Thanks v much...

It means that your MAP sensor is faulty or the wiring too it. Most likely the sensor though.

Alan

Moby shot of the computer screen...

Thanks v much anyone who's interested...!

Hi,

I see from the screen grab that the fault is not currently present. Could it be possible that you have disconnected the MAP sensor whilst the ignition was on whilst investigating the original fault?

If you were going to investigate any further, I would recommend clearing the code, starting the vehicle again and seeing if it re- appears.

Alan

Well, I cleared the fault, then ran it till it cut out (about 10 secs), then checked again.
Same fault came up.
But.... cleared it again, ran it again, car died after same amount of time, that time, when checking... NO fault codes...
And one more time subsequently... NO fault codes.
Have come in now as it's dark, but am scratching my head even more than usual... bloody midges...!
Thanks for the observation...!!

I would suggest that the MAP sensor is DEFINATELY faulty then if it came back. Third time it might have JUST been within parameters (ie not enough to trigger eml) but well out in terms of what is should actually be reading.

Don't suppose you got a snap shot or can remember what the MAP sensor was reading whilst the engine was running?

Alan

No, sorry, I'm pretty clueless at all of this... is there a parameter in the MultiECUscan software (free version) that will give me a readout for that??

Cutting out without fault codes can often be a fubar TDC sensor (aka Crank Sensor, aka Rev Sensor).

I can't really see how a MAP sensor would cause a "no throttle" cut out.

exactly the same as mine was doing a while back and i too was getting map sensor error.

you might want to check this as this is how i resolved my same symptoms as you have:

lift up the rear seat and below you will see the fuel pump location undo the screws and remove the electrical plug connector by dislodging the safety/lock tab and pull the plug off.

carefully remove the fuel pipe's and then withdraw the pump. looking at the bottom of the pump is a filter, remove it and clean it with washing up some fuel untill you can see through it also clean out the section where the filter sits in aswell.

now put the pump back in the tank and connect the wired plug but only connect the fuel line that supplies petrol to the pump (inlet) then turn the ignition on and if you see a load of black crap coming out that is your problem. morral of the symptom is when you are turning on the ignition the pump whines a puts enough fuel in to start the car but will not or struggles to pump anymore fuel due to the blockage and when you try and start again the same procedure happens enough fuel gets through to start but then burns off and again pump cant deal with it,

hope that helps.

also forgot to mention there is a large round type threaded sealing ring with notches all round it you need to tap it round anticlockwise but be warned they can be quite brittle so swift knocks but be carefull unscrewing it.