Technical Panda Juddering around 30mph when slowing down

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Technical Panda Juddering around 30mph when slowing down

PandaRollin

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Hi Guys
Would be grateful for any advice / suggestions on this topic. My Panda slightly judders (my dad calls it a 'miss') at around 25-30mph when removing foot off throttle to slow down. This happens way before I touch the brake and usually occurs in 3rd or 4th gear. It is intermittent so I wasn't able to replicate the fault on the 5 minute test drive at my dealership who checked it & no fault codes came up so they changed the spark plugs but there is no improvement. I posted another topic here recently when a sensor failed and was replaced but not sure if this is linked. The car was last serviced 6 months ago.
 
so they changed the spark plugs

That's what I'd have done too.

It sounds to me like you have a slight misfire on the overrun; this was 'business as normal' in the days before sophisticated electronic fuel control systems.

A dubious lambda sensor could cause this, and if you've recently changed one, that's the first place I'd look, particularly if it's been replaced with an aftermarket part.

Thinking outside the box, could it possibly be a small leak in the exhaust system? Back in the day, it was commonplace to hear both cars & motorcycles doing this when fitted with aftermarket tuned exhausts.

Which engine have you got?
 
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Hi, it's a 1.2 petrol.

The OEM plugs on the 1.2 are cheap rubbish; fitting iridium replacements helps (and you won't need to touch them again for another 60,000 miles), but I'd still expect a brand new OEM set to work properly.

My concern would be potential long term damage to the catalytic converter, if it's misfiring due to excess fuel.

If it's still under warranty, take it back to the dealer as "they don't all do this, sir".

Otherwise, you may just have to wait until it gets worse, in which case it'll likely throw up a fault code to give you a better idea of where to look.
 
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Hi.

Give the throttle body and throttle flap a good clean with carburettor cleaner, also check the MAP sensor is not oiled up, mine was and after fitting an oil catch tank after a month or two this issue went away completely.
The other thing I find is cold and damp weather can cause little misses, this goes if you get some alloy air intake tubing and remove the air cleaner box inlet pipe and swap it with the tubing and carefully bend it to suck in some warm air from the exhaust manifold/exhaust.
Ideally these need a thermostatic air intake, cold for hot days and hot for cold and damp days just like many cars were in the old days.
My 1.2 is now a really quick little car, feels totally different to what it was a year ago.
Oh And I have Iridium plugs too.
 
Hi.
In addition to my last post I forgot to say that the fuel consumption on mine has gradually improved over the last few months, I'm surprised that in this cold weather it is still improving, I would have thought it would have dropped.
I have found that the catch tank catches a fair amount of water no doubt from condensation in the cold weather, just makes me think this could be detrimental to the oil and cause more engine wear.
 
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