Hi All
Haven't posted in ages. Ever since my work blocked this site!
Anyway. I have a Panda 4X4. Now at 45k miles.

Tonight, traveling back from work, I lost power. Pulled over and the engine was idling smoothly but when I pressed the throttle down the revs only went up a couple of hundered revs even with my foot to the boards. The ECU warning light was on.
Being a computer support analyst, I switched the ignition off and back on again. The warning light was still on but the engine reved OK. I set off again. A mile or so later it went into limp mode. I pulled over. Switched it off and back on again and it got me home running fine. Warning light still on.

This summer, while on holiday, the same thing happened. It just so happened that I was passing Inverness on the way to Applecross so I called in at the Fiat dealer there. They were very helpful and told me it was the throttle sensor. They cleaned it and cleaned up all the earths. It's been fine ever since.

I wonder if it's the same thing. When they said throttle sensor I wasn't sure if they meant the throttle pot, throttle position sensor or stepper motor though.

Looking though some other threads I see that disconnecting the battery will re-set the ECU.
Does anybody think this is a good idea or not?

It will have to go to my local dealer in Consett but I would really appreciate any thoughts anyone might have.

Many Thanks for reading
Tim
45K miles of happy pandering. A few issues but nothing I would blame our lovely pandy for.

As this sounds like a genuine fault rather than an ECU glitch then resetting the ECU won't resolve the problem. I don't have specific knowledge of this fault on the Panda but from experience of the Fiesta I think the garage were talking about the throttle position sensor and it is quite likely to be the source of the problem again.
Now if it was me in this position, I would remove the air filter box and have a look for something like a throttle position sensor which must be easy to remove and clean up. You may not be as confident to tinker about but, hey, anything to avoid visiting Consett!

Here is the best picture I can find of a throttle position sensor, it is on the right of the throttle body.

'Throttle sensor' could also be the accelerator pedal position sensor as it's all fly-by-wire.

Thanks for the replies.
It has done the same thing again. A friend was supposed to be coming round with a fault code reader but apparently it's faulty so my poor little panda has gone up to the dealer in the windy city. (poor little wallet more like)
Does anyone have any experience with these hand held EOBD readers and has anyone tried one on a Fiat? Geniscan 400 etc.

Think that's the same one I have, 4 line LCD display?

Always worked very well on both live data and fault code reading/descriptions. Holds the freeze-frame data telling you what the running conditions were when the warning light came on and it allows you to reset it if the fault has cleared. Tested it and it reads the Panda just fine.

I picked the car up from the dealers tonight. The connector to the throttle body had come loose.
A big thumbs up to Travelwise in Consett. They didn't charge me a penny.
I'm still interested in a fault code reader though so I can sort this sort of thing out myself. I think it's the Geniscan GS500 that you must have. That does live readings and it's only £15 more than the GS400.
Once again, thankyou all for your help.

Sorry, got mixed up. Mine's this one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/OBDII-OBD2-Tr...ryZ30921QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Really, really easy to use. Plug it in and it tells you what to do in plain English on the display!