General Fiat Panda Mylife 2011 - Engine problem

[EstherRuth]

I am interested to hear if anyone else is having problems with the engine of their Panda Mylife. I purchased a brand new vehicle in June last year and currently the Euro 5 engine has a fault. When the car is in first gear it can be very jumpy/jolty, the revs of the engine sound odd and when creeping forward it can just jolt forward - a saying we would use where I live is - It has kangaroo petrol! I have logged a case with Fiat (around 5 weeks ago) and I am being updated weekly on the progress of the Fiat warehouse in Italy. They know of this fault in many Fiat Pandas and are trying to sort it (well thats what they say - although the lady I am dealing with has not really been of any help). Is there anyone else out there that has the same issue with their car, wether you have reported it or not. My local garage has 3 demo cars and 1 other customer with the problem, but are waiting for people to go to them rather than contacting their clients. It is getting rather anoying now and just wonder if they will ever find a way to fix it.

 

[deeyup]

Wouldn't be surprised if an ecu update will sort this out.
Be glad that so many cars are experiencing the same.

 

[Sheepy1209]

Interesting - we have the same car, bought new in January - I've noticed a couple of things that have happened occasionally but not all the time:

• After starting from warm, e.g. following a toilet break at motorway services, there's a bit of kangaroo behaviour - it seems to stabilise pretty quickly, but can be embarrassing
• Sometimes if I give it a lot of welly in first it can suddenly lose power and then pick up again - a bit like hitting a rev limiter, but driven a bit less aggressively it'll happily rev higher

The issue doesn't last for long, but my wife bought the car hoping to use it for driving instruction (got her part 3 in a couple of weeks) - the engine will often be started from warm, and it's not acceptable for it to behave in this way with a learner driving.


We haven't reported it yet because it's unpredictable and doesn't last for long - we know what dealers are like with faults like this but if there's a body of owners with the same issue then we stand more chance.

 

[jrkitching]

I purchased a brand new vehicle in June last year and currently the Euro 5 engine has a fault.

Wouldn't be surprised if an ecu update will sort this out.
Be glad that so many cars are experiencing the same.

If the car's 9 months old and you've only just started noticing this, then I don't understand how updating the ECU software is going to fix it.

If this is a common problem, what's puzzling me is why the 500 hasn't suffered - that had the Euro5 1.2 long before it went in the Panda.

 

[Jerseywurzel]

I bought a brand new Panda 1.2 Dynamic last May and mine suffers from this problem. I thought it was just getting used to the different clutch from the Seicento but even now, 9-10months later, I still get it, but not as often as it did.

BTW OP, I live next door

 

[Pandabloke]

Hi there. I have two friends who have just bought new Panda Actives with the new engine in.

I drove the first one when it was brand spanking new and to be frank it was bloody awful! It wouldn't rev properly, it was very lumpy, it didn't want to pull, it seemed dreadfully uneconomical to me and it basically felt faulty. I mentioned this to the salesman, who I know very well and he said that the ECU's don't let the cars run 100% until about 1200-1500 miles - a sort of running in period, if you like.

This friend (ex-girlfriend) does a lot of miles and I recently jumped in to the same car 9000 miles and six months later and now it drives like a little sports car! It revs freely, it pulls like a train and over a 1 mile stretch of A road, I got nearly ton out of the bloody thing! At idle and around town it appeared smooth and well behaved and to be honest it seemed like a different car.

Now my other friend (another ex-girlfriend....) bought another Active from new from the same dealer and she says hers has behaved impeccably straight out of the box and she has had none of the issues seen in the other car from new. Curious?

I haven't driven this second car yet and I have to say neither of the girls pay particular concern to fuel economy so they have been unable to comment on the economy except 'seems alright..'

I do feel and have heard that this is an ecu related issue. I'd be interested to hear further comment as I may be buying a Mylife myself very shortly...

Panda.

 

[AB100]

Hi there. I have two friends who have just bought new Panda Actives with the new engine in.

I drove the first one when it was brand spanking new and to be frank it was bloody awful! It wouldn't rev properly, it was very lumpy, it didn't want to pull, it seemed dreadfully uneconomical to me and it basically felt faulty. I mentioned this to the salesman, who I know very well and he said that the ECU's don't let the cars run 100% until about 1200-1500 miles - a sort of running in period, if you like.

This friend (ex-girlfriend) does a lot of miles and I recently jumped in to the same car 9000 miles and six months later and now it drives like a little sports car! It revs freely, it pulls like a train and over a 1 mile stretch of A road, I got nearly ton out of the bloody thing! At idle and around town it appeared smooth and well behaved and to be honest it seemed like a different car.

Now my other friend (another ex-girlfriend....) bought another Active from new from the same dealer and she says hers has behaved impeccably straight out of the box and she has had none of the issues seen in the other car from new. Curious?

I haven't driven this second car yet and I have to say neither of the girls pay particular concern to fuel economy so they have been unable to comment on the economy except 'seems alright..'

I do feel and have heard that this is an ecu related issue. I'd be interested to hear further comment as I may be buying a Mylife myself very shortly...

Panda.

Oh my, you have many ex-ladyfriends Mr Panda. We assume that you must do like the real 'active' Panda: Eats shoots and leaves (feel free to add the missing comma)

 

[Pandabloke]

Oh my, you have many ex-ladyfriends Mr Panda. We assume that you must do like the real 'active' Panda: Eats shoots and leaves (feel free to add the missing comma)

Ha ha, not quite! I went out with one for over a year and the other for nearly six years. I am obviously still very good friends with them since they let me drive their brand new cars (or will). But, so many women, so little time, lol......

Incidently, the current girlfriend has a Vauxhall Meriva - horrible thing. Give me a Multipla or a Panda any day.

 

[activemotion]

My Panda Active motion 1.2 Euro 5 is 13 months old with 16k miles. Never missed a beat and averaging 49mpg.

 

[ivantate]

All of the euro 5 panda hire cars I have had out here in italy have had some strange flat spot when getting on the throttle.

I always though it was something I couldn't really live with on my own car especially after the first 2 or 3 showed the same issue. They go far better the the euro4 generally though so an acceptable trade off on a hire car.

All the 500 1.2 I have had have been duologic so not noticed any problems.

 

[takai]

I have for three years owned a Panda dynamic eco 1.2 a nippy little car that’s left many a throttle blipping boy racer in the rear view mirror when leaving traffic lights, obviously its always paid to ease back after about 30mph, just to keep within the speed limit, close all windows and prepare for the cloud of white smoke that tends to accompany an overtaking 4 inch diameter chromium plated exhaust megaphone with its ageing Citroen Saxo attachment, however all this excitement came to an end when in December I part exchanged it for a brand new Panda Mylife
A wait at traffic light now came with a feeling of apprehension somewhat similar to that experienced prior to a bungee jump. I could sit at traffic lights now and the throttle would blip itself automatically with no input from me, and when depressing the clutch to engage a gear the engine would race away in anticipation until the lights went green then anything could happen, a long delay, a sudden surge but the one thing that was always absent was a notable acceleration. I then became the member of the club that annoys me no end, the motorist that filters into a stream of traffic and accelerates with the urgency of a tortoise on a Sunday jaunt, its quite a sizeable club you know.
The Panda was returned to the dealer after 4 weeks where it still remains. It was fitted with a new ECU to no avail and is now apparently awaiting a software update to its brain,
I would prefer it received colonic irrigation with nitroglycerine where acceleration would no longer be the issue only the direction it travels and I’m sure its power steering could deal with that (however that’s another story).

 

[EstherRuth]

Thanks for everyone's comments do far - still no fix from fiat after reporting the problem around 7 weeks ago. Just reading some comments, the problem has been going on for quite a while but I didn't report it straight away - I just thought it may have gone away. I've done around 22,600 miles since I got the car and the max speed here in Guernsey is 35mph on some roads 25mph on others so can't really get unto that much of a speed here. When I take a drive around the island at the weekend it runs beautifully because I'm not starting and stopping much. It's during the week when driving short distances, or when in traffic just creeping along when it's all jolty and embarrassing. I will receive my weekly call from Fiat tomorrow with regards to my case - lets hope they have some news rather than the usual - sorry no update I'm afraid.

 

[Panda moanium]

Yep I'm having the same problem, the car has 1200 miles on the clock after 5 weeks. It verges on dangerous sometimes if I'm trying to nip across roundabouts or pull out on to a main road. I'll be contacting the dealer and would ask anyone who hasn't to do so.
I'm getting about 42 to the gallon with a 50/50 mix of town and country driving, about the same as the Peugeot 205 petrol I had 20 years ago, so much for progress.
Moaning over, I love my Pandas and had a 1.1 active before which if this problem can't be fixed was a better car.

 

[MintSauce]

Interesting - we have the same car, bought new in January - I've noticed a couple of things that have happened occasionally but not all the time:

• After starting from warm, e.g. following a toilet break at motorway services, there's a bit of kangaroo behaviour - it seems to stabilise pretty quickly, but can be embarrassing
• Sometimes if I give it a lot of welly in first it can suddenly lose power and then pick up again - a bit like hitting a rev limiter, but driven a bit less aggressively it'll happily rev higher

Mine does this also. I've had the power loss thing twice that I've noticed - and only when it's foot-to-the-floor in first. The other day it was pulling out onto a dual carriageway from a side road - a situation where you definitely don't want the engine to decide to have a snooze for a second...


At some point I mean to find a quiet bit of road and see if I can reproduce it reliably...

 

[Sheepy1209]

There's definitely something not right here - the sudden loss of power during hard acceleration is a serious issue. I've had it several times - my wife claims it's never happened to her, but then she's into second pretty quickly.

As it's her car I need to demonstrate to her that it happens, otherwise she's not convinced - it's possible she's come across it but assumed it was wheelspin - which it most definitely is not.

 

[JTD_Liam]

This all seems very odd given how many of these latest 1.2 FIRE engines are in circulation. They're fitted to thousands of 500s and Punto Evo's too, yet it's only the last of the Mk3 Panda's that seem to be suffering.

Even more odd is that the 500 is produced alongside the old Panda - surely that means it's a component unique to the Panda that's causing the problem, otherwise how can it be that all the dodgy engines have ended up in only the Panda?

 

[Oattam]

I have just bought new a 1.2 Active (69bhp) (mk2) and it feels lumpy in any gear at low revs. I don't have a rev counter to report exact figures but comparing it with our 1.4 kia ceed it is nowhere near as smooth (incidentally it has a similar power/weight ratio). At speed it's fine, nice and revvy and feels like all the horses are there, which makes it more annoying. Is this because it is new or is this a fault with the engine? It's only done 200 miles so I guess it needs to be run in a bit, although the dealer said there was no need to run it in at all. I had a go in a demonstrator with the 1.2 and I don't remember it being unhappy at low revs. Has anyone successfully resolved this with fiat?

 

[Sheepy1209]

Ours felt incredibly underpowered at that mileage, but it should significantly improve over the next few hundred - I would never have described at as lumpy, just a bit flat.

Now - with 2 - 3000 on the clock, it's a perky little thing and loves to rev - apart from the glitch I've mentioned above it's fine. I came to it from a Kia 1.5 diesel so the way the engine behaves is pretty much opposite so it could just be that I've got used to it - but then I ride a motorbike and feel comfortable with high revs.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the engine management software effectively does the running in for you by restricting output / revs etc - I don't know how true that is but it makes sense.

 

[Jerseywurzel]

My Dynamic is coming up to a year old and has 5,300 miles on the clock. It does seem to be a lot more responsive and smoother. I still get the occasional "judder" but it seems to be when just starting off, ie, when revs are low and the clutch is just catching. Maybe I need to have higher revs (above 2000) before engaging the clutch? I`ll be trying that over the next month or so and see if it makes a difference.


I love the car though, it`s better than the Seicento - holds the road just as well ut more comfortably

 

[MintSauce]

My old 1.2 Eleganza was a cracker - I always reckoned there was 'half a ferrari engine' under the bonnet ;-) Willing to rev and suited the car really well.

I guess these Euro5 engines have fly-by-wire throttles? Certainly feels like it - like the throttle is connected with elastic rather than a cable. I've found this on other fly by wire cars also (and spoken to others who generally agree). So I'm guessing a programming issue in the ECU is causing this occasional problem.

Is there any way to approach Fiat directly rather than having to go through the long drawn out process of your local dealer insisting that there's nothing wrong?