Hi Everyone

I am a newbie and not too mechanical minded. I have downloaded the e-learning program to teach myself, but cannot find the info I am going to request now.

On a Fiat 1.6 16v 3 door Stilo, about 2004/5 model:

1. On the picture, there is an open hole in the part that sits underneath the heat cover where the exhaust system attach to the engine, please excuse if I cannot name this better, what do you call this part with this hole in it?

2. What is suppose to go in this hole and what is the purpose of it? Any detail around this will be much help. Is it some kind of sensor, bolt, etc?

3. Because this is an open hole at the moment, all the engine noise that is supposed to get muffeled by the exhaust system, gets out of this hole, making a very loud noise and the pressured air that escapes out of the hole is extremely hot. For a temporary solution can I just plug this hole temporary to reduce the noise, or must it "breath" somehow? As can be seen on the photo I did try to plug it with putty, but it just pops it out after a few km, and I really do not know if I will damage anything by plugging it more permanent with a bolt or something I can screw in there?

Apart from getting the correct part that must go into this hole, as it is not possible straight away, any suggestions will be much appreciated.

Thank you kindly.

Isnt it where one of the lamba sensors go?

I presume so, however it is not clear to me, and what I really need to know is if I just plug it by screwing in a bolt or something there if it will be okay or must there be some sort of air escape via that hole, even if it is plugged with the sensor or what ever must go in there?

Ok, so that part is called the exhaust Manifold/Headers, that hole should have the first Lambda sensor in it which monitors the exhaust gases and sends a signal to the ecu to let that know the engine is running right, with this disconnected you are probably running down on power as the engine is running in a rich safe mode meaning you are also using more fuel. get a new lambda and fit it and connect it up and all your issues will be fixed in one strike.

Thank you for the feedback mariocinq

I am planning to get the sensor, I just cannot do it straight away, and in the meantime I need the car to run (quietly) until then. If I screw in a bolt or something in that hole just to block the noise coming out of there, except for as you mentioned reduced power and more fuel, would it do any damage to the engine at all, as it is getting very hot inside that hole with the engine running?

Kraai said:

Thank you for the feedback mariocinq

I am planning to get the sensor, I just cannot do it straight away, and in the meantime I need the car to run (quietly) until then. If I screw in a bolt or something in that hole just to block the noise coming out of there, except for as you mentioned reduced power and more fuel, would it do any damage to the engine at all, as it is getting very hot inside that hole with the engine running?

Click to expand...

Yes, you can just plug it up with a Bolt of the same thread as a temp fix, the car is running in a "safe" mode because the ECU is not receiving the right signals, so in a nut shell, yes, plug it up until you can get the proper Sensor.