Hi All,
this is my first post. my 2013 fiat 500 1.3 multijet has a intermittent fuel problem. the car can loose power wull not go above 60 mph on the flat or just stop altogether randomly. I have changed the fuel filter. Change the fuel pressure sensor on the end of the fuel bar and had the new sensor reset by a computer. I took the low pressure pump out from the tank and everything is clean. I am getting good fuel delivery up to diesel filter and up to high pressure pump. the engine warring light comes on when I loose power and will go off the next time I start car and power can be back for a while. it happens with a full or near empty fuel tank. right now its driving me mad :bang::bang:

any advice appreciated
Thanks,

Hi.

Are the rail pressures holding steady?


Any proper service history..?

I have not checked rail pressures. its that difficult? I would need to buy some tool for that I guess.

I bought it with a history and it was serviced regularly, 100K miles on it now. no smoke and engine is quiet

thanks

Potential for poor quality fuel wearing HP pump..

Maybe corroded parts upsetting rail seal.

Are you getting any codes or pending codes stored?

Have you an OBD2 tool that you can plug in and log while you force the car in to Limp Mode?

Fuel pressure faults often reset if you switch off and on again.
One of the most common causes is one or more injectors leaking off too much fuel.
This will cause a drop in rail pressure that the HP pump can't over come, you usually notice this when the engine is under high load or at start up, when the ECU tries to fire the injectors with relatively low rail pressure from cranking.

A leak off test might be a good idea, with a bit of a search of the internet and a few bits of pipe and 4 small bottles, you should be able to build up a quick rig to test the injectors to see if all 4 return a similar amount.


Boost pressure can also cause similar issues with similar resets on with restarts.

If it detects an over boost when accelerating it'll trip into limp and the wastegate on these are prone to carboning up and seizing, though I wouldn't have thought this would effect start up if the gate is seized closed.

Search the forum on how to check the wastegate arm if free.

Just a quick thought, is the fuel filter housing sealed properly?
If it can draw in air, it'll have the same result on the rail pressure.

Thanks for all the information. I will have to research an obd2 tool. I have not got one.

my mate has a leak off test kit. I will borrow it and do a test.

Yes when the engine light is on and I am down on power, sometimes if I park up for a while and start again - the engine light goes off and all is ok for another while.

I will check the wastgate arm too

the fuel filter is a sealed unit

thanks a million

MultiECUScan

Great software working on a Windows laptop

I think its sorted. I took the low pressure up out of the fuel tank. its all looked clean. I could not figure out how to take the pump out of the big plastic pump housing. But I used an airline and blew air back into the pump. Some small bits of dirt came out. I think it might have been restricting the flow of diesel into the pump. Its early yet only 2 days driving but problem is gone away. I was thinking of removing pump again and stripping it out of the plastic housing and checking if the fuel entry at the bottom is fully clean but for now I am going to drive away.

Thanks everyone - fingers crossed another weeks clear driving and I would say its sorted