I have a 98 Marea weekend 2.4TD which does not like going up steep hills.

when going up a hill I would usually get up in 4th I just start loosing power to the point that I am in 2nd with my foot hard down, the revs will just get up to 3000 but very slowly, if I change into 3rd I start slowing down again and I cannot get above 20mph, you cannot believe the embarrassment of having a tractor trying to overtake you up a hill.

Once at the top and levelled out after a couple of minutes everything is back to normal again. It is not all hills just the larger ones.
It almost seems like a fuel problem or it is not running on all cylinders.

Has anyone had this problem or have any idea's what I can try. I have put injector cleaner in the fuel and changed the fuel filter and I have now run out of idea's.

I would appreciate any help as even my mechanic is baffled.

Cheers
Dave

sounds like somethings knackared, these this are usually quite quick.
whats the mileage? does it smoke much? will it rev untill the governor cuts in when its in neutral? is it running on all five cylinders?
stuff too check could be valve timing, pump timing, check the turbo isnt siezed.
but really it could be one of hundreds of different things.

uno 1.0ie RAAAWW!

It has only done 69k, not that much for a diesel. The car drives as it should under normal conditions and the turbo seems fine, it easly pulls very strong to over 100mph (not that I have ever gone that fast), it is only affected when going up a hill. It does kick out some black smoke but only when you put your foot down and the turbo kicks in.

I would have thought if something was broke or the timing I would have the problem all of the time not just up hills but I am no mechanic.

Thinking about it, a few months ago I had a problem when driving along a dual carrageway under acceleration I occasionally had the injector light come on and the car lost power until I took my foot off the accelerator then the light would go off and everything was back to normal. Since I done a service (Oil, Fuel and air filter change) I have not had this happen but now I have this problem with hills. I was wondering if these problems could be linked although the injector light does not come on when going up a hill I do get the loss of power.

Is there any way of reading and interpreting the fault codes without taking the car to a dealer and could they be linked even though I dont have the first problem any more and the light does not come on.

Got same wagon. thought i was suffering from a general loss of get up and go . Following advise from this forum i disconnected the Mass Air Meter (On the air intake pipe-just unclip the wiring plug) and the difference was amazing. I didn't know I'd lossed so much power.
Worth a try (costs nowt)

Dalex

afaik it wont have that meter since its got a regular diesel pump, think tractor engines
although it should have a code system and an ecu which controls the egr valve, it might be worth pulling the vac pipe off the egr valve and see if that gives you any improvment.
the egr is on the exhaust manifold.

uno 1.0ie RAAAWW!

Well our doblo 1.9 jtd lost all power a few months ago, turns out the Doblos are drive by wire throtles, we thought the turbo had blown, when your foot was on the floor the car went no where. No turbo cutting in nothing. So we tookit to Gainmanor fiat and they sorted it for us. We still don't properly know what they did when they took it in.

What the hell was that! common cry of other road users as the doblo over takes up a hill fully laiden at 90

I have just tried disconnecting the Mass Air Meter and I have only took it on a short run but it appears that the problem has stoped fingers crossed. I will know for certain tonight on the way home.
Not knowing that much about these things what affect would it have on the car with it been disconnected. Also I beleve that it can be cleaned, does anyone know how to do this as Fiat have just quoted me between £260 - £360 for a new one depening on chassy number.

Cheers

it has a air mass meter? [:0]
im sorry i gave you some bad advice then.
doh, i was so sure it was all mechanical fueling.

uno 1.0ie RAAAWW!

checked out a r plate TD125 a work today, no air mass meter but it had an air flow meter [:0]
if the flap in the meter is reading wrong it would make the engine weak, disconecting it forces the ecu too use a stored valve of airflow too keep the motor running well.
it could all just be blocked up since its a diesel.

uno 1.0ie RAAAWW!

hi
I had a price of £170 quoted by a local tuning outfit. that was for a genuine bosch unit
Dalex

Cheers for that, I could not tell you the difference between an air mass and a air flow meter. Do you know how the air flow meters work so I can try to give it a clean as although the car is running better without the problem it is just not quite the same as when it was connected and running with no problems.

sure, an airflow meter uses a large sprung flap which is moved by the air flowing through it.
http://us1.webpublications.com.au/static/images/articles/i1/0128_08mg.jpg
the movment is measured by a resistive track which outputs a voltage too the ecu, 2 tracks are usually used so the ecu can check the readings for error.
combined with a reading of air temp and atmospheric pressure the ecu can calculate exactly how much air is being drawn into the engine.


uno 1.0ie RAAAWW!

When I took it apart last night it looked like a hollow tube with the sensor pushed in through the top. The sensor looked like it had a circut board hanging in the air. Sorry for the vague description, from what I have learned so far it looked like a mass air flow meter, it also appears that that part that comes in contact with the air had a crack in it as it broke off extremly easy.

I phoned Fiat this morning and they want £260 for a new one, does anyone know where I could get one cheaper, I dont even mind a recon or a second hand one as £260 seems a bit steep for a sensor.

Cheers

im wrong again
i have no idea why but it seems you marea has an air mass meter, the circuit board bit detects the density of the air by heating and cooling off a metal film in older model it was a filiment not unlike that of a lightbulb.
afaik you can buy recon ones and they are very expensive compaired too flow meters, try a lucus garage since its a bosch sensor i think or a scrappy.

uno 1.0ie RAAAWW!

My TD125 is absolutely useless when you set off especially on an incline. This week I had to rev to 2,000 to reverse up a slight slope. Is this what your TD125s do as well?

It seems to be when you are holding a constant speed then try to accelerate and there is just no power there, if it happens I have to let the revs drop to tickover then bring the clutch up and it runs fine again. When pulling away it is fine, when I disconnected the maf the problem went away although there was a loss in performance, so based on this I brought a new one for £200 ( Fiat want £270) put it all on full of confidence, then had the smile wiped off my face when the problem come back. So it now looks like I am going to have to pay Fiat £70 to put it on their computer to see what the problem is but I am guessing it is going to get expensive.

Try looking at the boost control valve pipe! Mine had a split in it, no probs now!

Timuth

whereabouts is the boost control pipe, there's that much down there i'm stuck for choice

Dalex

Hi
About this mass air meter thing. I've been looking for weeks for a cheaper alternative (even doing a national search on the scrappies web sites) but got nowhere.
Finally took then plunge and took it apart.
First had to remove (cut existing fiat crimp bands) held the unit in a vice and cut to slot in the security type screws. this enabled a straight screwdriver to loosen them.
Pulled out the unit, there seems to be 3 areas of interest a small electronic loop that looks like it would read the temp and 2 gaps the allow the air to pass through.
Anyway i used a 1/2 inch paint brush and washed everything with a good dose of meths and allowed this to dry. followed by a liberal spray of WD40 and finally blew it dry with a compressor (local garage might oblige)
I have to say that by this stage I thought it was terminal so i was non too gentle . but when it went back together (2 new jubilee clips)it seems to work fine.Time will tell!!!
Now this might not work for everyone but i thought i had nothing to lose I'll post a new note if it packs in again.
Keeping my fingers crossed
DAlex