Hi guys. My Panda is being a bad panda and I hope someone might be able to help. I've just driven my panda home from work. In the first few miles i noticed an occasional jerkiness. Infrequent and only momentary - but definitely something not right.
Pressed on and about 10 miles later I lost all power coming out of a junction. The engine was just still running, but all power had gone, pressing the accelerator made no difference for a good few seconds before the engine recovered itself. (Biggest flat spot ever).
Anyway - 1 mile further on and the jerkiness is back before the engine cuts completely.
I had this a while back when the ignition amplifier went - the jerkiness felt as if there must have been a 'fuel feed' problem, but it was diagnosed as being in the ignition system.
When that happened, the car wouldn't restart full stop.
The difference this time is that with a bit of poking in the engine (just at leads/ignition amplifier/connections on coil/dizzy and a 2 minute rest the car restarted.

I then went through the same sequence about 10 times before I made it home. Engine dies - pull over - poke connections - wait - restart - progress 1/2 mile and then repeat.

Any ideas?

For info I have a 1990 Panda 4x4 Fire, Webber Carb, Marelli Dizzy - new HT leads, dizzy cap and rotor arm....

If anyone can help with any ideas i'd be really grateful. I was looking forward to whizzing around on the bank holiday - and really need to drive it down south next weekend.

Might be the mechanical fuel pump. It has a tendency to pack up before it hits 100k. Usually the engine dies often when the engine is under extra load like on a hill and will not restart immeadiately. Putting your foot down makes it worse not better as it increases the load on the pump. It tends to happen suddenly, and the car will usually restart after a couple of minutes once the pump has cooled down. Presumably it jams internally due to wear. They are quite cheap and very easily replaced. Certainly the symptoms sound the same.

With the engine still running, but with no power, might not be the distributor.

The symptoms I had were a complete cut out, like switching the ignition off, when waiting in a queue of traffic as it warmed up a bit under the bonnet.
Cool off for anything from a few seconds to maybe a minute - but never failed while driving, always with people stuck behind you.

ISTR "Lashlondon" had exactly the same symptoms with a UNO a while ago, but that thread (ID=1746) seems to have gone (> 2years?).
Here's another:
https://www.fiatforum.com/showthread.php?t=3706

Thanks for the help guys. Both theories are plausible. I'm pretty sure its an electrical fault. Its a bit of a worry that hot dizzys tend to fail. Does this just apply to hot old dizzys - or do new ones short out as well?

As for the fuel pump - well - since they're cheap I may as well splash out and get one of those too. I'll let you know how it went in a week or so.

Thanks a lot.

What about the coil? What do you other guys reckon. Could it be an intermittent fault on the coil?

Hi,
One of ours had a very similar problem in Eire last year and we checked all the things that you have done. It turned out to be a constricted in-line fuel filter which refilled at idle but ran out at acceleration. £2.50 fixed it.

The fuel filter is all new and shiny! (Well orange). It does tend to fluctuate from being full or empty. But the cutting out is so sudden that it has to be electrical. If fuel was constricted, wouldn't it be a more slow spluttering halt?

Generally speaking, you are correct.
However; if the fuel flow is restricted and you accelerate hard, you will cut out almost immediately.
That being said, it does sound more electrical ... have you re-earthed everything yet ? Most Panda owners do.
Eventually.

I've not re-earthed everything, but have taken the Panda to the car doctors where everything is going to be made better I'm told. I'll let you know what the official diagnosis was, and the cost of repair. I love the panda so much that the garage just got a "Do what you need to" brief. The Panda will be back. Bigger, better, stronger, faster.

Panda is back. A knackered sender unit was the root of the problem - causing the overheating of distributor and consequent cutting out in the ignition amplifier.
Solution - new distributor. Cost £80. (labour was free, thanks to a mate).

I can thoroughly recommend new distributors as the way forward in trouble free panda-ing. Life seems so much simpler when you don't break down every 800 metres.

Thanks all for your help.