In 21 years driving I have never been stranded at the roadside till today.

1 year old twin air 4x4, 13k miles. I had noticed a slightly rough idle last week but very infrequently, I left it in anyway to get checked out, master tech checked it, no faults logged and seemed to be fine.

Coming down the motorway slip road today I pressed the clutch and it died completely, was able to roll into a car park but there was no spark at all the engine just wound.

Fiat were more than good, the sales man who sold me the car drove out and picked me up and then gave me his company car, he rang this evening to say they recovered the car and it started and ran fine so they would have to do an investigation. I said I don't want it back till it's 100% sorted.

Disappointing after 5 years in a 1.2 4x4 with no issues what so ever but hopefully its some stupid sensor and they get to the bottom of it. I now sound like my grandad when I say there's too many electronics in cars today.

Sorry to hear that, irish boy.. hope it gets sorted to your satisfaction.

Keep us TA 4x4 owners posted!

You'd expect - or at least hope - that the system will cough up an error code. Dodgy connection? - not to the battery as the engine turned over. Faulty sensor? Good luck.

Sorry to hear that (I've got a 4x4 TA too). At least it sounds like your dealer is treating you well (I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get that kind of service from mine).

Let us know when you find out what went wrong.

Take it easy,
M

Hmmm....bit of a worry! Sounds like a sensor though doesn't it... Perhaps a dodgy connection that shook about a bit on the back of the recovery vehicle? Or a temperature-related behaviour (starts once fully cooked?)
As said above - keep us posted!

Well the cars coming back tonight but no definitive answer unfortunately as there was absolutely no fault codes logged and once again the car was driving well for the master tech.

He diagnosed it as some air pump or other on top of the engine, and as a precaution changed some sensors and did a full service so everything was fresh (will at least save a few quid as it was due in 1500 miles)

Remains to be seen if it's actually fixed but time will tell over the next week or so, I now know the warning sign it's about to happen, a rough idle as if it's about to stall.

Dealer has been more than good and are delivering it back after hours tonight, can't say a bad word about them, now to give it a good drive over the weekend and see how we go!!!

I wonder if it's to do with the Stop/Start system - if it starts to tick over lumpily it might be worth switching the S/S off.

babbo_umbro said:

I wonder if it's to do with the Stop/Start system - if it starts to tick over lumpily it might be worth switching the S/S off.

Click to expand...

I switched it off the day I bought the car and it hasn't been on since. Don't do much town driving anyways.

irish boy said:

master tech checked it

Click to expand...

He'll be the one who knows how to turn the computer on and off

Sounds like you have a great dealer!

Shame they can't identify the fault though.

Drove the car to work this morning, went absolutely superbly. Much bigger kick at 2k rpm and more sustained boost right thru the rpm range, and a lovely smooth idle.

He said whatever that air pump was it is the twin airs only Achilles heel, mine had obviously been getting steadily worse but I hadn't noticed as it was happening slowly. Fingers crossed the new one is an updated design and it lasts longer than 14k miles.

Glad to hear it's fixed and working well!

Great. Thanks for updating us.
M

What's the air pump for?

Not sure. I was told but it went in one ear and out the other.

Something to do with the MultiAir system, maybe?

Diesels have vacuum pumps as they do not create enough vacuum in the intake manifold to power the brake servo.
But a leaky or broken one won't effect the engine, just the brakes (I found out the hard way!)

Perhaps it's some Fiat term for their normal, inlet driven vacuum system.
A leak would certainly effect engine performance due to unmetered air entering the engine.

The 'air-pump' is absolutely at the heart of the TA/MA system. No air-pump, no valve control and no go-go motion. Glad it's fixed and I hope it's not a fault that becomes more popular...!

Well that's the car gone.

They couldn't get to ten heart of the issue. Would only cut out once every 800 miles or so, no fault codes, and wouldn't start for an hour. It's a lye '13 car.

The last time it has been in for nearly 3 weeks, and stopped the day it was due to be picked up.

I wrote a letter saying I'd just like a refund at this point, the dealer has been great and agreed straight away. Exactly what I paid minus 20p for each mile I did.

Sad in many ways as I loved the car....but I just couldn't count on it. Not sure where to go now...maybe a yeti. Bit boring tho.

A Dieselgate Yeti? ;-)
What about another Panda, or a Mazda CX-3?