It is the 1.2 petrol version and runs briefly (~30s ) rough in the evening when cold but not always (three times in total). Recovers afterwards when revs start to drop. Panda is three years old and made 30k miles.

I am sure experts have an explanation, plugs,coils etc. It would be great if you can help. Many thanks.

Evening..?

Run in the day.. or 'stone cold'??


If halfwarm its probably a sensor..

Our twinair is bad for this.. when parked from 16:00 to 18:00

Half an hour drive in the morning mainly on the motorway, half a minute relocation of the car within the work's parking lot three hours later and while going back home in the evening another six hours later, rough start.

Makes sense, maybe a sensor not quite coping with the engine warmth.

Has it had the spark plugs replaced? If it's done more than 15,000 miles on them I'd be changing them firstly.

Best to start with the obvious. Spray some WD40 on HT leads and coil pack. See if that improves it. Then change spark plugs if old and new HT leads. Faulty coil packs tend to give trouble all the time.

Would expect the early morning start to be worst if it was plugs:sparks..or damp

It it the same if left idling..or just under load?

If its only happened 3 times..you may not have figured it out.

Charlie

Thanks for all the replies.

Yes, in the morning it seems to be fine. It is rough when it is idling after starting the engine. Under load it is OK and seems to go back to normal.

As you said, only three times until now. It is too soon to have an understanding.

It is probably a good idea to replace the sparks etc, it has 30k miles already.

Spark plugs.. yes..as relatively cheap

But other electrical items should be perfectly servicable for ANOTHER 30k

If it does it again.

Disconnect the batterys BLACK : negative lead overnight ( 1 hour +..)

That will wipe any 'self learnt' settings

It will then revert to the ' factory settings' stored in the ECU.

Good luck.. and keep us informed
Charlie

If its on original spark plugs at 30K you are doing extremely well to not have had misfires or poor starting before now.

Fitting new plugs will improve running and economy if they are at that mileage.

Leads can be checked for damage and if you have a multimeter checked for resistance (they are resistance leads to reduce ignition interference) any that have gone open circuit or wildly above the resistance of the rest should be replaced.

Our 312 lounge has been like this for a while. Eventually the Engine Management light came on. It s code said Air seepage in let manifold. It goes in tomorrow as its under guarantee. They have said its a canister thing underneath at £243 for the part plus fitting. I will let you know what they change and if it works i due course. Small amounts of air ingress upsets the MAF sensor readings and cause the problem apparently its not that rare on this engine. This is a 2014 1.2 engine.

Hi again. They changed the evaporation canister and its solenoid. Apparently the parts are £243 from Fiat and I guess they spent 2 hours doing it judging by when the call came to collect. Its certainly better and revs more easily but I will let you know about starting in a day or two when its had a chance to misbehave. It did start well enough last night while the snow and hail were falling so a good sign. As my daugters 169 is similarly badly behaved I suppose it may need the same. Both cars went / go fine once up and warm.

Hooray it seems to start right too!

A little update, my garage claims that the spark plugs are long life ~60k and do not need replacing @ 30k.

Thanks to the info I have here now I think this is a little too optimistic. I will leave ? at the garage for a replacement soon.

PoorTom said:

A little update, my garage claims that the spark plugs are long life ~60k and do not need replacing @ 30k.

Thanks to the info I have here now I think this is a little too optimistic. I will leave ? at the garage for a replacement soon.

Click to expand...

So you are supposed to tolerate it for another 30k..

Did you remove battery power..?

Or has it not run badly ..
since your 1st post??

varesecrazy said:

So you are supposed to tolerate it for another 30k..

Click to expand...

I think the garage does not appreciate how much I like the ?. Just because it is cheap does not mean that I want it to suffer.

Iridium coated spark plugs are recommended I guess, is that correct?

I use Denso IXU22 in my 1.2. They are Iridium and last up to 60,000 miles.

The standard NGK Plugs are NOT long life and it's known they have a rather short life.
Buy a set of the irdium ones and fit them yourself.

varesecrazy said:

Did you remove battery power..?

Or has it not run badly ..
since your 1st post??

Click to expand...

I missed this, sorry, no I wasn't brave enough to disconnect the battery but it did not run badly since the last post.

With the previous Fiat I was using a portable starter every time and I simply didn't want to go back to those days by fiddling with the battery.