hello all,

I have a Fiat Stilo 1.9 JTD 115 BHP 2003.

i just need some help and advice really please......

here's the problem,

i was driving the other night and was in 5th gear doing around 50 mph when all of a sudden i had power loss. I got to the traffic lights and tried pulling away from the lights and had the same problem and the car stalled.
I managed to start it again and drive it home safely. The next day i decided to get an oil change and noticed it was a lot smoother to drive and didnt really have a problem with it.

Today i was driving to my other halfs and had the same problem as a couple of nights ago.....had no power. This time i done same thing but the car idals and ticks over fine and has no funny squeeks or anything, but as soon as you put it into first gear to go it just has no power.

So we manage to tow it to my other halfs where it is right now and still it idals fine but as soon as you rev you get like a white smoke out of the exhaust. The turbo seems to be ok from what you can hear from the engine. And their is no Faults on the dashboard.


We thought it maybe a blocked fuel filter (starving itself of fuel) or an air filter. So we are changing them tomorrow.
Im not sure weather that will sort the problem but its worth a try.


is there any advice or anything to check for?


thanks in advance

regards marcus

Have you checked your intercooler pipes, it is under the left side of the front bumper. Check if there isn't any splits.
Also check air filter, if lookd dirty put a new one in.
Also whilst your having a fiddle, might as well clean the egr valve as it could be stuck open.

It doesn't sound if the car is going into limp mode. Ie= it revs fine and doesn't hold back fom power.
Just trouble with the power and then comes back to normal as if nothing happens isit?

I would do them top things first and it should cure it, I only know these things from people helping me on here. There awesome.

Have you already relocated the overboost valve (supercharging pressure sensor) from it's flood-prone position? If not, that's almost certainly the problem.

https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/127328-my-findings-p0235-error-code.html

hello quick update....

i had the filter box and fuel filter out and changed them.

The problem we found was that there was oil in the air pipe leading to the turbo which we believe is a suspect turbo problem. perhaps the oil seals on the turbo are knacked??

The oil was not on the filter itself but there shouldnt be any oil in the area anyway.


any suggestions please?


thank you

Have you checked the oil catch box under the air filter box to see if it need cleaning or emptying?

Could also be air flow sensor, give it a clean with electrical cleaner. It's easy to do and located on the side of your air box looking down on to your engine to the floor, it is to your right and you will see a connector on top of it and two screws. 5 min job

thanks for the advice...

but would the oil from the oil catch box affect the car how it has and would the air flow sensor affect accelerating but not when its on idal??


how would i be able to tell if the oil is coming from the turbo?

has anyone got a diagram of all the pipes (inlets and outlest) to the turbo and surrounding area's?

regards marcus

I would forget the turbo doesn’t sound like it to me.
Sounds more like EGR valve, very common problem, try blanking it off will cost you nothing and takes about 20 minutes, all you need is a good Allen key a pair of scissors and a baked bean tin.
If it works you will need to get the proper blanking plate (EBay a couple of pounds) or make a thicker plate up yourself.
There are plenty of guides on how too (use the search) my guess it will fix your problem or at least rule it out.

remember one thing. if you make your own blanking plate just to see if its the problem goes away. if it fixes the problem, get a new plate straight away as that one will be way too thin

Mine was doing something very similar, and the white smoke led me to check the EGR which was stuck open, I cleaned it and freed it off and it seemed better, check out the guide to doing it.
I made my own blanking plates and refitted them afterwards, although listening to some guys on here you can just fit 2 of these plates, as its not a bad thing to do, and in my opinion its a bit of a fiddle taking the egr off, theres one allen bolt none of my tools reach very well.... You can block the EGR where it enters the throttlebody, but I think you need to block both sides of it, or it will get full of soot from the exhaust.

Link - https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-guides/263681-clean-egr-valve-1-9jtd-8v-engine.html

Good luck

hello all,

another quick update.....


Had someone out to look at it today and its come up with these error codes;

1. P0101

2. P0404

3. P0530

4. P0704


It came up with the first one as a Mass Air Flow sensor and the second one as the EGR Valve, im not quite sure what the other two are?

So tomorrow i will be doing as recommended by other users and cleaning the EGR and try blocking it off and taking off the MAF to clean or see if thats the faulty part if all fails.


i will keep everyone posted with the outcome.....thank you all for your advice so far

regards marcus

Have a look here,

https://www.fiatforum.com/scudo/179...-meaning-any-codes-please-post-them-here.html

Did you clear the codes? Sometimes they can be old codes where the car was repaired, but not cleared.
I think you should clear them and see what re occurs

hello all,

another update.....

we cleaned all the egr valves and connection (pipes, etc), we tried running the car without the MAF connected... same problem

This time after we done all the bits, it struggles to get to 2500 rpm but once it's gone past that point it seems to have power.

More concerning is the fact that we have found a milky substance in the oil cap but not on the dip stick???

so we think it may be a head gasket.

regards marcus

milky substance in the oil cap may just be condensation

rite mate, iv had the same problem not long ago. first of all you need to buy a new MAF. if you have already cleaned it and put it back in like i did then it most probably went wrong and now nackered. sounds like your car is in limp mode = maf
second of all you need a oil and filter change, then it will be fine.

mayo on oil cap usually = head gasket. but not always as i found out on my mothers car the other week.

when was the last time the oil was changed?

I think i will play it safe and replace the whole sensor instead of cleaning it.

I got an oil and filter change about a week ago. And also done the fuel filter and air filter which was to say the least dirty so this may of led to the problem of the MAF.

Regards marcus

MAF problems can appear in lots of ways, if you've done the egr then a new MAF is the next thing, my Dads old Marea 110 jtd wouldn't rev at all past 3k, 'till we changed it, other cars run rough or cut out intermittently.
Get a good make though, not cheap rubbish off ebay or you may end up buying twice!

ok thanks,

do you know what brand to recommend as the ones i have phoned locally have not been bosch.

I know peope say about the cheap ones off eBay. BUT I have bought one of them and it is in my car as we speak, and been on the car for months and months, plus I have got 12 months warranty on it.

So in my opinion they work well, but a lot of people on here do not like them. You can always try it and if it doesn't work then have a refund. That's what I did as I was trying to save on the pennys and it worked.

yeah i was looking at these but because i have work on monday i need the part tomorrow so that may not be feasible but i will have to see.
A lot of the part shops to me locally say they can only get the MAF for monday but one said tomorrow at the price £79 inc VAT.

i may have asked earlier but would any of whats happened to my car explain why im getting thick white smoke out of the exhaust??

i know a lot of people say it should be black smoke if its the MAF sensor so im not sure weather that would be part of this particular problem??

regards marcus