Hi all,

I recently won a new Uno manual locally on ebay, went to pick it up & saw a slightly battered 1999 Sei Sporting on the driveway, half of it covered by a bush (same kind of situation I found my 750 panda in!), so obviously I asked about it... The lady said the family had had it from almost new (a friend got it new) & it had passed backwards & forwards between the children & parents since (10 previous owners, 9 are family members, some several times!). Its last journey had been to Poland & back & it had behaved perfectly, but it had been sitting there for a year or 2 since, & although there was nothing significantly wrong with it she was going to scrap it soon.. Well, I hate waste, especially of Italian cars, so I offered her scrap money which she accepted.

She started fine with a jump, no funny noises or smoke, no excess crank pressure, ran smoothly, fan cut in & out properly, & other than the Injector/ECU light being on, nothing to worry about.

Anyway, cut a long story short, I got a battery & wipers & MOT`d it (had a couple of advisories, the warning light, a sticky handbrake arm - which I loosened in front of him - , a weeping rocker cover gasket & a tired tyre) overall it did much better than I was expecting! I then taxed it & I got it home (& swapped the mouldy, ripped interior with a Schumacher one that I got from unclebloodyfester - thanks mate! ).

Now, it runs smoothly, but if you turn it off when hot & restart it, it idles very high, like 1500rpm high, for 30-90 seconds or so, it also chokes when changing gear when its doing it, like its over fuelling.

I went out in it last night, did about 30 miles to run the slightly stale petrol low, I then put a load of Redex in till it was scarily low, then put another £25 in & did another 15 miles, but the problem still persists, & the injector light is still on the dash. Also, after starting (after a 2 hour break) the yellow "code" light didnt turn off, though it ran exactly the same.

Any ideas? I was hoping it was where it had been sitting so long, but I`m guessing its an injection sensor or connection issue?

Also, if anyones breaking a Sei in north London/Herts, let me know, I need some bits

Cheers!

Oh, & is it supposed to have power steering? If it is then it isnt working!

Most did. If there's no steering wheel icon on the dash, it won't have (unless someone painted it out). T id early, though, so may have escaped.

Changing the fuel filter would be a good move.

Idle issues are generally vacuum leaks from hoses or base of TB. CODE may be nothing more than a dodgy earth or driving with red key (use the blue one).

Overfuelling -- engine temp sensor, or stuck open thermostat.

Ah right, thanks fingers. I`ll check for the steering light next time I`m in it.

I went out this afternoon in it did about 10 miles which included about 10 stops & restarts, its actually idling at 2500rpm when restarted, did it every time, but after a few hundred yards it clears itself & settles down to 900rpm (still a bit higher than I`d like, my other FIRE engined Fiats idle at 6-700rpm).

The CODE light didnt light, despite me using the red key today, but the injector light remains on.

I`ll get a new fuel filter (the air & oil filters look fairly recent). Where is the fuel filter located?

Thanks.

850-950 is normal for a warm Sei

Starting from cold the idle is high and falls slowly.

Please check the coolant temperature sensors resistance cold and hot with multi meter and compare with nominals estimate coolant temp by cooking hand on heater pipe with heater on hot. It is a simple temperature dependent resistor.

Publish the ohms and temperatures you get.

If it is out you will get strange symptoms.

Pep0 said:

850-950 is normal for a warm Sei

Starting from cold the idle is high and falls slowly.

Please check the coolant temperature sensors resistance cold and hot with multi meter and compare with nominals estimate coolant temp by cooking hand on heater pipe with heater on hot. It is a simple temperature dependent resistor.

Publish the ohms and temperatures you get.

If it is out you will get strange symptoms.

Click to expand...

Hi Pep0,

My multimeters actually broken at the moment, I`ll see if I can borrow one, it isnt the water temperature though, it warms up quickly & doesnt overheat, the heater works quicker & better than my Uno too, in fact its not much off my Jags heating system, both for the speed hot air comes out from cold & ultimate heat output.

The injection is behaving like its cold every time it restarts at the moment, even when fully hot, but as I say, it seems to settle within a few hundred yards.

I dare say its going to be temp sensors &/or connections throwing the ECU off.

Thanks

a73uk said:

Hi Pep0,

The injection is behaving like its cold every time it restarts at the moment, even when fully hot, but as I say, it seems to settle within a few hundred yards.

Click to expand...

The fast run after a start is typically 30 second even if the heater is still hot. The ECU goes out of its way to avoid a stall it is designed for little It girls.

No, this is literally when the car is still hot, like you jump out the car after a 20 minute drive to pop into a shop, jump back in after 2 minutes, & when you start it it revs up to 2500rpm, then stutters (flat spot, probably overfuelling) as you pull away, & does it again going up through each gear, then, after a few hundred yards, it clears itself.. if you then dip the clutch the idles back down to 900rpm.

Read to codes, if you've not got the wires etc just buy them, you can have all you need for about what a garage would charge to read them once and you'll have it for next time. Download IAW-Scan2, google search will bring it up.

Sure we can all think of things it could be but the light is on so a fault is there as far as the ecu is concerned, thats your best starting point.

borrow a multimeter

blu73 said:

Read to codes, if you've not got the wires etc just buy them, you can have all you need for about what a garage would charge to read them once and you'll have it for next time. Download IAW-Scan2, google search will bring it up.

Sure we can all think of things it could be but the light is on so a fault is there as far as the ecu is concerned, thats your best starting point.

Click to expand...

I`ve got a mate with a code scanner thinking about it, I could pass round his.

My guess, though, is that a T reg Sei isn't OBD2 compliant (will be SPI, methinks) hence Blu's recommendation of IAW Scan 2 (which is free!) rather than FES/MES which is only for OBD2 and (except in castrated form) isn't free.

exactly that, you need a vagcom cable and fiat 3-pin to obd adaptor. Both can be had for a few quid each off ebay.

Could still be the temp sensor, if it thinks the car is cold when its not. Might be as bizarre as corrosion on the connector. Remove the plug and check would be a cheap start.

Cheers

D

What mileage has it done

rallycinq said:

Could still be the temp sensor, if it thinks the car is cold when its not. Might be as bizarre as corrosion on the connector. Remove the plug and check would be a cheap start.

Cheers

D

Click to expand...

Or plug (connector) disconnected... the get you home mode will assume the auto is cold every time just in case it is.

Pep0 said:

Or plug (connector) disconnected... the get you home mode will assume the auto is cold every time just in case it is.

Click to expand...

Sorry for the delay, I lent it to a friend to use.

You were right, there was a plug down the back of the SPi that was seemingly deliberately disconnected, I put it back, light went off & the idle behaved relatively normally.. I say relatively, it went down 1500rpm when cold enrichment was on.

On the downside the fuel economy in town dropped off to around 25-30mpg when driven gently, on a smooth run at 70 it seems to be around the same, returning 45-50mpg.

My friends still got it so I cant diagnose it any further, but I`m thinking theres still a dodgy sensor or possible connection somewhere or maybe the Lambda`s on its way out.