Hi all
New member here- I’ve just bought a 1995 Panda 4 x 4. It’s a left hand drive and the PO has put a Punto engine in it ( not sure which one). The original engine came with the car!
Anyway it won’t start- there’s a red dashboard light with a picture of a key and the word code. Also a light saying there’s a problem with the fuel injector. My investigations show there’s no spark and no fuel to the carb. I’m assuming this is the key code/ immobiliser causing this. Unfortunately I have no red key and Fiat main dealer says I need £2K to sort it!
Surely there’s a way to get round this 25 year old technology! I hope so anyway- if you lot don’t know it I reckon it doesn’t exist. Help!!!

Hi and welcome

The engine swaps are relatively common..

Lots of info in the cinq:sei section..
Same era... so the same immob kit

Charlie

which ECU is it? it will have a bit of text on it like "IAW 8F 5T"

if so the most easy way to fix this is to just look for a replacement Key, ECU, and CODE box.

the code box is the thing the plastic ring antenna around the ignition barrel plugs into.

the most easy way to disable the immobiliser is to take an original key and glue the chip thats inside the key to the plastic ring antenna.

a blue key should still start the engine. the red key in this day and age is not needed as blue key chips now days can just be copied.

sadly theres not really a known way to disable the immobiliser. sure it is possible but it involves taking the ecu apart, reading what the immobiliser chip inside the ecu does directly when it lifts the immobiliser, then making something to inject that same code into the rest of the ECU.

ECUs cant be that expensive now days for these. my local scrap yard will sell you pretty much everything for under £40.

also depending on your engine wiring loom, some other ECUs may be a direct plug in.. but it is worth checking.

the IWA 8F ECU is fit to the Punto 75. this engine has multi point injection but if you follow the wiring in the engine loom, its just 1 wire that splits into 4 and goes to the injectors. its basically a single point injection ECU.
im pretty sure the IWA 6 ECUs (not the 16!) will plug directly in.. and some of them (the really old ones) never had immobilisers built into the ECU. saying that i think some really old IWA 8 ECUs were the same.

Dragon Man said:

which ECU is it? it will have a bit of text on it like "IAW 8F 5T"




.

Click to expand...

Thanks Dragonman, so first step is find it. I've had a look round and can't spot it. Can you tell me where it should be? I'll post what is written on it.

varesecrazy said:

Hi and welcome

The engine swaps are relatively common..

Lots of info in the cinq:sei section..
Same era... so the same immob kit

Charlie

Click to expand...

Thanks Charlie I'll have a look there.

ploughboy said:

Thanks Dragonman, so first step is find it. I've had a look round and can't spot it. Can you tell me where it should be? I'll post what is written on it.

Click to expand...

Under passenger side dash..? Sat on tunnel under heater box..

SEARCH on here is pretty good

Found 67 for ECU in punto mk1

Immob. Related:

https://www.fiatforum.com/punto/23764-what-should-i-do.html?23764=#post274518

with yours being a 4x4 it may be in a different location to a 2wd panda but they are usually on the same side as the header tank just forward of it. bolted to the inner wing. though if you have headlight washers it could be somewhere else.

under the dash is where they put the older Bosch ECUs.so maybe it's in the same place. best thing to do is follow the engine wiring.

Sorry ..its the engine thats punto..

Plenty of panda expertise on here

ahh when i did an engine swap i put the ECU behind the battery. the wiring was all in the right place for it to fit there.

can you take a photo of your engine bay, try and get a picture of under the air filter on the back of the engine. looking to see if its got injectors on the intake manifold or just a single one in the throttle body. also if its an 8 vale engine or a 16.

Hi
Found the ECU under the dash passenger side. It has IAW 16F .EJ written on it. Is the best option a replacement one, plus code box and key
There is just one injector into the throttle body, not sure how many valves.

sounds like its a punto 55 or cento sporting engine. its a common ECU to use with the 1108cc 8 valve engine.

fairly common ECU.. any scrapyards that have Fiats with the 1.1 (1108cc/sporting/55) engine from 2002 or earlier will use this ecu.

just had a look, we do not have any in my local scrap yard sadly.

hope this gives you something to go on!

shame its not got the punto 60 1.2 (8 valve) engine as that is very common. not sure if it uses the same ECU though. worth doing a little research on!

Thats great - thanks for your help. I've registered with some online scrapyard searches, just waiting for some replies.