I have been registered for quite a while here but not really needed to post anything until now.

When I start the engine these days the engine revs up without me touching the accelerator at all. It does it when hot more than when cold.

It never used to do this, (I have had the car over 2 years).
I also can feel a bit of a misfire when cold and my MPG is not so good, although not terrible.
The car is a 1.2 eco petrol. Yes I know that does not sound right, but it is a 1.2 not 1.1 eco model (£30 pound tax).
The spark plugs are less than a year old, filters clean, never failed to start, it's just not quite right any more.

Can anyone give me some pointers other than take it to the dealers. I am bit skint at the moment.
I am pretty good with the spanners on my motorbikes, so not afraid to get my hands dirty.

Thanks for reading,
Ivy.

Hi Ivy.

Ok being worse hot than cold is kinda normal.

I suspect it is the idle control stuff.

Ok.. easy things 1st..

Check for hoses connected to nothing (air : vac leaks.)

Then undo the battery negative lead overnight.. ( should be a cam yype fitting.. so easy) this drop in power will let the ECU 'forget' what it has adapted to.. and once back on the factory setting might be a lot better.

Has it had some decent runs.. to get HOT .. ?

Charlie

varesecrazy said:

Hi Ivy.

Ok being worse hot than cold is kinda normal.

I suspect it is the idle control stuff.

Ok.. easy things 1st..

Check for hoses connected to nothing (air : vac leaks.)

Then undo the battery negative lead overnight.. ( should be a cam yype fitting.. so easy) this drop in power will let the ECU 'forget' what it has adapted to.. and once back on the factory setting might be a lot better.

Has it had some decent runs.. to get HOT .. ?

Charlie

Click to expand...

Thanks Charlie,

I will check out all the vac hoses etc. in the morning and disconnect the battery tomorrow night.
I know it's not a good thing but most of my journeys are on minor/unclassified roads and lanes, not very often is the engine working hard.
I will have to try to make a point of going further and faster now and again. Haha,that makes me sound a bit sad but driving for the sake of it is not something I do.

Do not only check all vacuumhoses, but all other possible places unmetered air could get into the intake as well. Carefully spraying a little brakecleaner on suspicious places with a running engine could help determining where a leak is.

gr J

can you describe the starting with High revs

how High
how long

for example does it start at 2K and slides down to 1.2K after a few seconds

Ok, I have discovered that the short piece of rubber joining the throttle body to the airbox is a very sloppy fit.

I don't know if a jubilee type clip has disappeared or not.
It doesn't look big enough to have a clip onto the throttle body and another on the airbox.


And to Koala.
I don't know if you are old enough to remember when we had chokes and carbs, but it's like when you had to give a little blip of throttle to start. Just a brief "bruum" and then it will idle.

The hose you have found is the engine breather. It's not a tight fit on the filter box pipe. But its there for the engine to draw through any blow by gasses so no worry reg'ds your problem.

My suspisons fall on the MAP sensor that the engine uses to judge how much air it's pulling in. The throttle position sensor could be another.

Do you have a drive by wire or a throttle cable at the throttle body?

Hi Ivy, there are no clips attaching the airbox to the throttle body on my 1.2, the airbox outlet slides over the TB inlet. It's not loose on my car though, is your air fillter housing cracked?

It may not be related to the issue you're having, but I would always start by removing (3 torx screws on my car) and cleaning the TB, adding some injector cleaner to a tank of fuel, then find a quickish road and give it full beans in 2nd & 3rd gears. It's probably worth doing anyway, it's cheap and can't do any harm.

I did this when I first got my Panda, the TB was pretty mucky and I'm sure it ran smoother afterwards. I had the impression previous owners hadn't driven it hard, and if you're not using many revs it might be sooted up a little. Cars like to clear their throats from time to time

Also check the throttle cable & pedal have free movement. I once had a problem with a sticking throttle and found out the carpet was fouling the pedal! I know, I know...

rmjbn1 said:

I did this when I first got my Panda, the TB was pretty mucky and I'm sure it ran smoother afterwards. I had the impression previous owners hadn't driven it hard, and if you're not using many revs it might be sooted up a little. Cars like to clear their throats from time to time

...

Click to expand...

I think this is the trouble.
I have owned the car for 2 1/2 years and since driving it home it has never been on the motorway.
The car is driven almost every day on country lanes.

The TB is pretty mucky on the out side, but my experience with bikes tells me not to tamper with it, so injector cleaner added to the tank and a damn good thrashing it is then.

It's definitely not the breather but the air inlet I meant.

Had a possibly similar thing, on a 2014 panda. On starting revs would start normally then after a few seconds rise to 1500 revs. I checked hoses, nothing found, posted here as had a maf sensor code, car doesn't have a maf sensor. Was advised to buy carb cleaner 4.99 Wilco and clean butterfly flap in carb this was a bit gunky but fault returned after a few days. Removed MAP sensor 2 minute job and found this was fouled by oil and gunk from condensation, sprayed with carb cleaner and left to dry, replaced and no more problems in last 2 weeks.
May help in your case may not worth looking at butterfly under air filter and MAP sensor not hard to find there are fiat videos on you tube which show it on similar fiats

eliminate the MAP, just temporary disconnect it.

Never tried on the Panda but a Punto certainly starts fine with it disconnected

usually it the ambient temperature part of sensor that fails which is easy to see in a scanner that can read data.

varesecrazy said:

Hi Ivy.

Ok being worse hot than cold is kinda normal.

I suspect it is the idle control stuff.

Ok.. easy things 1st..

Check for hoses connected to nothing (air : vac leaks.)

Then undo the battery negative lead overnight.. ( should be a cam yype fitting.. so easy) this drop in power will let the ECU 'forget' what it has adapted to.. and once back on the factory setting might be a lot better.

Has it had some decent runs.. to get HOT .. ?

Charlie

Click to expand...

would be my guess. Unfortunately the idle control valve is on the underside of the throttle body. So do the easy first.

Ivy said:

so injector cleaner added to the tank and a damn good thrashing it is then.

Click to expand...

I don't want to give you false hope, it may or may not have any effect, but it's worth doing anyway. You can pick up a bottle of Redex or Wynn's for £5, even some large supermarkets sell it.


It may be a case of eliminating possible causes, and there is other great advice on this thread. Sandeel999 & Koalar's advice to disconnect the MAP sensor (plug on right rear of TB), then remove and clean it (2x torx screws on side of TB) sounds promising. This video (in Italian) shows the procedure on a 1.2 Panda

As Koalar says, do the easy first. Good luck!

I had a Seicento 900 with 40,000 miles of slow town driving. 900cc and 40hp will never be fast but that car was so slooow and not very economical. 45mpg at best.

A few motorway journeys which were foot to the floor to keep up quickly free'd off the engine. It was soon like a different car and 50 to 55mpg became normal.

My wife's Panda was similar. Again some quick motorway use soon sorted it out.

not too convinced by the Italian Tune up with modern fuel and oil.

I drive my car like your granny. Have done since I got the car. Still always average over 60 mpg on mixed driving and mid 50s if only town driving.

gone are the days of carburettors which didn't deliver the correct fuel mixture under all condition.

gone are the days of having to de coking the cylinder heads by hand.

in fact the last couple of cylinder heads gaskets both High mileage cars although not Pandas have had very little carbon on the head or pistons.

I believe the problem with my cars being slow was over-gentle use when brand new. That leads to tight piston clearances and a slow engine. Get that first period right and the car will go on to a long life with good fuel economy.