General Panda problem

[benspanda]

Hi. Hope you can offer some help / advice.

My grandson is learning to drive in a 2006 Panda, and has come across a strange problem.

Everything seems fine, then suddenly for no apparent reason, the engine warning light comes on, and the car stops.

Pull over to the side of the road, the engine is still running, but when you push the throttle down, there are no revs! even though the car is running. Pushing the accelerator hard to the floor raises the revs so slightly, it's not enough to move the car.

Turning off the ignition, and allowing the car to sit for 30 seconds, then it will start again and drive normally - until it stops again that is, which is getting more often now. The engine warning light will stay on for about a day, the goes off until the next time it breaks down, then go through the same procedure, and it will drive ok again.

The car is a manual gearbox, petrol, 1.2cc

Any help / advice would be most appreciated

Thanks!

Graham

 

[The Panda Nut]

The car may have a fly by wire throttle ans it sounds like a sensor problem. Search on EPS OR Throttle body or throttle pedal position sensor. You will find suggestions. This may be poor contact on the connector to the throttle pedal.

 

[benspanda]

The car may have a fly by wire throttle ans it sounds like a sensor problem. Search on EPS OR Throttle body or throttle pedal position sensor. You will find suggestions. This may be poor contact on the connector to the throttle pedal.

Thanks so much for your help/advise, I've a mechanic looking at it on Friday, and I'll be sure to pass your comments on to him. Best regards. Graham

 

[jackwhoo]

Please tell mechanic that if he gets a four number P code for MAF sensor fault it is a red herring because the car doesn't have a MAF sensor.
Code readers that read 6 digits after the initial P may give more helpful information.

 

[benspanda]

Please tell mechanic that if he gets a four number P code for MAF sensor fault it is a red herring because the car doesn't have a MAF sensor.
Code readers that read 6 digits after the initial P may give more helpful information.

Thank you so much for your input, I've passed your reply on to my mechanic. Cheers

 

[jackwhoo]

Thank you so much for your input, I've passed your reply on to my mechanic. Cheers

If mechanic does get the p four digit code for MAF sensor (which car does not have) the actual fault is often the evap solenoid valve at the manifold (evap solenoid valve has a blue plastic tube attached to it)

 

[benspanda]

If mechanic does get the p four digit code for MAF sensor (which car does not have) the actual fault is often the evap solenoid valve at the manifold (evap solenoid valve has a blue plastic tube attached to it)

Brilliant! Thank you so much for the advise, I'm sure the mechanic will be grateful too, especially as the advise has come from someone who knows Pandas like you obviously do. Best regards. Graham

 

[jackwhoo]

Brilliant! Thank you so much for the advise, I'm sure the mechanic will be grateful too, especially as the advise has come from someone who knows Pandas like you obviously do. Best regards. Graham

Hi,

You are very welcome , the overwhelming majority of fiat forum members like to help and join in.


Best wishes
Jack

 

[koalar]

You can read the code yourself If you have an iphone it's less than £15 and free software, android would be less than £10

It's not getting a valid reading somewhere

It's likely to be a bolt on part, that most people would be able to change themselves


affected by temperature/time, will not rev past a certain point in the past it's has been the crankshaft sensor £15 new and one bolt.


In fact you may be able to confirm or rule out the crankshaft sensor without reading the code if you have a rev counter in your car. When it's not starting but turning over the needle should still move up slightly if it's getting a valid signal. If it stay at the bottom a fauly crankshaft sensor would be likely

 

[benspanda]

Thanks so much for this very useful info, I shall pass it on to my mechanic today

 

[benspanda]

Hi all.
Well, mechanic has been, seems the throttle body may be the faut, he did a diagnostic on it and got a fault code of P1220. So now I'm on the hunt for this throttle body! He got a quote while he was here from someone of £180 for the part, but as it's for my grandson, who's still at college and not waged, I'm going to look see if I can get one cheaper - any ideas anyone? Thanks again for everyone's help. Graham

 

[jackwhoo]

Hi,

That code can also be caused by an accelerator pedal position sensor fault.

 

[benspanda]

Hi,

That code can also be caused by an accelerator pedal position sensor fault.

Hi.
On inspection, it was found that the butterfly wasn't opening and was sticking. He tried cleaning it, which didn't make any difference. The accelerator sensor was reading 100% when the peddle was pushed to the floor, so I'm not much the wiser! Cheers

 

[koalar]

It's going backwards P1220 according to fiat is

P1220 ACCELERATOR PEDAL POSITION SENSOR 1/2 CORRELATION

Not what's on the screen

Fits the fault discription

If it's flyby wire your not supposed to force them open and never needed to be touched

The pedal has two seperate sensor, if there is a mismatch it will only idle and cut all requests to accelerate/rev

Reading the accelorator pedal position you have to read both senors if you only read the good one it will appear fin

If it's cable with the P1220 error things get complicated

 

[benspanda]

Wow, don't know what to think now, don't want to go forking out for a new throttle body if that's not the problem, what to do next........

 

[koalar]

Wow, don't know what to think now, don't want to go forking out for a new throttle body if that's not the problem, what to do next........

Yep difficult

Is it a dynamic, active

 

[benspanda]

Yep difficult

Is it a dynamic, active

Afraid I wouldn't have a clue lol

 

[jackwhoo]

Afraid I wouldn't have a clue lol

What is number plate?

 

[jackwhoo]

If throttle plate wasn't opening then it must be fly by wire , unless the mechanic is too young to know what a cable operated throttle is? (-:

 

[koalar]

Afraid I wouldn't have a clue lol

No matter

being a 1.2 it will be flyby wire throttle my 05 was

I can almost garentee the original fault was the pins on the accelerator pedal had gone green and furry

Hi everyone,

We now have the invoice back from the garage and in fact it was the entire throttle pedal that was changed, not just the sensor.

So they read the code, replaced the pedal and tested it out. It was 1.5 hours labour in total for the part replacement and fault reading/testing.

The car has been working fine since, it seems that although the error code is the same maybe the precise problem is not quite identical.

As always, I hope this will be the end of the problems now!

8 times out of 10 the pedal

You really should measure the 5V and grounds first