Stalling Problems +

Hi, I hope someone can help as I am now at my wits end

Sorry this is quite long but I want to give as much info as poss with the hope someone has had the same problem or can point me in the right direction.

I have a '99 (I think) 2L Ulysse, purchased in Feb 08.

Generally, my car is great but........it has stalling episodes for no apparent reason. It can go 100's miles without any issues at all then go 20 miles up the road & it cuts out half a dozen times. This has been happening since I bought the vehicle. Always starts first time & never stalls whilst idling.

The problem generally happens on either braking or de-accleration(sp) when slowing approaching junctions etc. All the dash lights come on & the "stop" light flashes. It always restarts (thankfully).

or I can be driving along at 70mph, smooth as you like when suddenly, the power completely dips (doesn't stall) like someone has half turned it off but by dropping into 4th gear, it generally picks up again (sometimes I have to give it some revs to get it to power up again but rarely).

It has been into 3 different garages (none Fiat specialist) & here's the run down:

I returned it to the garage I prchased it from, they had it 5 days & eventually told me & I quote "there was water in the distributor cap". Car ran great for about 8 weeks then started doing it all over again.

Garage 2: I stalled right outside this garage so I jumped out, explained the problem to the mechanic, he asked me to confirm what garage one had diagnosed then informed me the old wagon did not have a distributor cap

He plugged it into his diagnostic machine & no fault detected. He kept it & ran it round for approx 50 miles & needless to say, car ran perfectly. He thought maybe an electrical fault but said he couldn't really do anything unless the car displayed the fault whilst he was driving it!

Garage 3: Asked them to plug it into their machine whilst they were doing the exhaust. Nothing showed up & they guy cheerily told me it could take years to find the fault & it would cost me ££££'s. "Bring it in when it's doing it"!

Monday this week: car constantly stalled while slowing down & felt slightly juddery going up through 3rd gear. As I had to navigate a busy dual carriageway, I didn't fancy being rear ended so I called the AA. Nice man came, plugged it into his machine & hey, no fault found! Nice AA man followed me home & guarded me from being hit from behind, good job too as it stalled over half a dozen times in 15 miles.

The AA man said from watching exactly when the car lost power - he thought it "could be" a stepper motor problem.

I returned the car to the original garage, they had it nearly 2 days & guess what, they found nothing & did absolutely nothing. I informed them what the AA man advised but they said they thought that was unlikely & advised me to bring it back when it did it again but they did not check the "stepper motor". After a few angry words, I explained that the car had been "doing it" big time when I bought the thing in on Monday.

I am extremely frustrated by this & would be grateful for any ideas or the recommendation of a good Fiat mechanic in the Northants area.

Many Thanks

Lisa.

If you are anywhere near Corby you could try Rockingham Motors, Fiat garage (unless it's one you have already tried!) I have never had any problems with them when I've used them.

Lou

Thanks Lou.

I will give them a call but I am reluctant to keep sending it to garages only to be told there is nothing wrong with it or to bring it back when it is "doing it"

I'd be unlikely to get to Corby when it is "doing it" LOL.

Hi,

Got same problem exactly with my 2.0 99 petrol Ullysee

Did find some faults on diagnostics, MAD sensor, MAS air inlet sensor and the crank shaft timing sensor...changed all but the crankshaft timing sensor..cant find where the bloody thing goes !!!

none of the other sensors have cured it, hope the last one does or i think it will be a wiring loom or ECU fault.

Question, does all your relays click when the fault is happening ?

Let me know please

Ta

A search of the forum will bring this problem up.
I had a similar thing happen to me, to cut a long story short it was the throttle potentiometer. It would just lose power but would tick over ok but as soon as you tried to pull away it stalled.

Almost without doubt this is the idle control valve - the pesky little electric plunger (is it in fact a stepper? not sure) on the threottle body. Look up the following threads (there be pic there too):

http://www.fiatforum.com/ulysse/1503...ed-ulysse.html

http://www.fiatforum.com/ulysse/1537...-stalling.html

A cheap and perfect fix in my case. (My 2.0S exhibited EXACTLY the same problems and was mis-diagnosed the same too)...

Best of luck.

Hi

Just to update you - the problem did indeed turnout to be the "stepper motor". It was covered with carbon & crud basically.

I took it into Rockingham Motors, in Rushden & they were absolutely great. Gave the stepper motor a good clean & changed the oil & filters & so far, so good. They did say it may need replacing in the future but it seems to be running ok at the mo.

Touch wood, things are A-OK, now.

Lisa.

I lost the plot there for a while, It was diagnosed as the throttle potentiometer but turned out to be the Idle control valve. As I say in one of the threads, try ebay they are on there regularly.

Gordon

I'm glad it got sorted. As I mentioned before Rockingham Motors have always been good with me. I have never been to the Rushden branch personally though my cars have for bodywork.

Lou