Hi,

Can anyone help me out? - I have just re-assembled my 1994 Panda 1000CLX after the heads been off a few weeks and now have a serious running problem.

She will fire and run, but VERY slowly and only on full throttle - she burbles sounds like a mini canal barge, as soon as the throttle is decreased she stalls.

I have checked the timing belt too many times to count and it's spot on, have been 180 deg out and back but won't cure the problem. There is plenty of fuel getting in and all plugs are sparking nicely. I can't find any air leaks anywhere. The plugs are getting sootted up very quickly so I 'm guessing it's not getting enough air in?

My best guess is that the valves have hydraulic lifters and they're empty of oil - but I can't find any mention of Fiat ever putting these in the 999cc FIRE engines. It seems reasonable, especially beacuse the lifters can be pushed down under the cam lobes quite easily by hand at the moment - that can't be right with just springs & shims can it?

Anyone heard of this before? and if so any advice to cure the problem - engine has burbled away for about an hour with only a minor increase in engine speed!

Since I can't find the fuel injection or ignition set up on this car in any of the Panda or Uno manuals I have most of the work has been done blind and I'm getting a bit fed with it now - any help greatly appreciated!

Sounds like over fulling or the plug leads are in the wrong firing order 1-3-4-2? I very much doubt it's the tapits unless you have fitted the exhaust and inlet shims in the wrong order.

Thanks Alan. Over fuelling would make sense, but what would make it do that - any ideas what to look at? Was running fine before the head was taken off and nothing has been changed.

A 999cc FIRE uses solid cam followers/ lifters so that won't be your problem.

Cam Timing belt - check again? Both pulleys have to be aligned correctly else the timing will be out.

Ignition timing - Did you remove the distributor when you took the head off? If you did then the timing needs to be checked/ reset. On the older 999cc FIRE engines the timing is 2 degrees BTDC (with vacuum advance disconnected and plugged).

Spark plug leads - Did you remove these? If so are you SURE they've been put back on in the correct order? If they are incorrect you'll get a lot of the symptoms you described. The plugs will soot up because they aren't firing at the right point and the engine will run rough and 'chuggy' if it does start.

Distributor vacuum diaphragm connected? Pipe not split?

You need to check all the basics and confirm settings before going any further. Double check cambelt, ignition timing and plug lead order first and then see what you come up with.

Good luck!

Thank yuo - Yopu are right about solid followers - took off the camshaft and pulled out the shim exposing the spring.

Cam belt is definately correct and spark plug leads also definately correct. Can't check the ignition timing because there's no ditributor - there are 2 modules, one for cyl 1&4 and one for cyl 2&3. There is a large toothed wheel on top of the crankshaft sprocket with a sensor facing it so I guess the ignition timing is adjusted by that.

The long and short is - engine was running beautifly, head taken off to replace gasket, got distracted for 3 weeks, put everything back together, engine kaput and can't work out why.

Thanks again for the suggestions, please keep them coming - my brain is mush!

Did you plug the lambda sensor back on? Normally the plugs (x2) are down by the o/s wing just behind the light unit.

That's the most common problem of over fueling, lambda sensor US.