Hi guys,

I hope you aren't panicked from this stupid conspiracy that wants to take our liberties away and remove all our human rights as George Orwell predicted in his 1984.

Some 10k miles back I got hiccups / misfire when car is idled for more than 1 minute. Now, in the last 3-4k miles I am getting hiccups 3-4 seconds after being idled. When engine is cold, they are not that bad, but when it gets warm then hiccups are worsening.

Spark plugs are new and OEM. Tried with 2 different types of HT leads and nothing has changed. I am not planning to waste more money until I find the issue. Local mechanics say it is nothing to worry about but it bothers me and I wouldn't like to drive a car that has clearly some fault.

Just not to forget, car has a new fuel pump and scan tool showed nothing, electrician was 100% sure that everything is correct with the car. Sometimes car has longer cranking, and very rarely dies immediately after being started. Not sure if these things are related to the hiccups.

Muffler is not in perfect condition as it showed some signs of wear and has a small leak.


What are your thoughts beside plugs and wires? Maybe injectors, coils, wiring loom, ecu?


Best regards

Crank Angle Sensor

Wasgehabendas said:

I hope you aren't panicked from this stupid conspiracy that wants to take our liberties away and remove all our human rights as George Orwell predicted in his 1984.

Click to expand...

You mean the double ungood kung flu. :dead:

DaveMcT said:

You mean the double ungood kung flu. :dead:

Click to expand...

doubleplusungood kung flu from the "Newspeak"

varesecrazy said:

Crank Angle Sensor

Click to expand...

I suspect on that one too. Do you know how I can be sure that it is crank angle sensor? how to test it in order to get correct results?

Crank sensor would normally throw up a eml wouldn't it?
Worth a quick look to check the electrical connection is ok and there isn't any crap stuck to it.

I would suspect coil if it's related to temperature myself.

dac69er said:

Crank sensor would normally throw up a eml wouldn't it?
Worth a quick look to check the electrical connection is ok and there isn't any crap stuck to it.

I would suspect coil if it's related to temperature myself.

Click to expand...

I have read that it doesn't throw up a eml.


So when engine is cold hiccups are not that bad, but once it gets to its normal operating temperature then hiccups are getting worse.

dac69er said:

Crank sensor would normally throw up a eml wouldn't it?
Worth a quick look to check the electrical connection is ok and there isn't any crap stuck to it.

Click to expand...

Early motors have no upper timing signal..

So cannot detect rotation

Wasgehabendas said:

So when engine is cold hiccups are not that bad, but once it gets to its normal operating temperature then hiccups are getting worse.

Click to expand...

Pathognomonic for failing crank sensor. It's a hall effect transistor that may work adequately when cold but fails when hot. ECU does not record a fault because stopping the engine gives the same signal.

I was sure when my cooling fan chopped through the sensor cable on my cinquecento I got a code to tell me it was that. Perhaps I was wrong, it was a while ago!

DaveMcT said:

Pathognomonic for failing crank sensor. It's a hall effect transistor that may work adequately when cold but fails when hot. ECU does not record a fault because stopping the engine gives the same signal.

Click to expand...

Thanks a lot Dave! I will try to fit a new OEM sensor and check the results.

are you sure there's a fault to fix.


they all don't idle totally smooth. Its not really noticeable and doesn't show up on the rev counter.


If you have the radio on you probably would not notice it.


But some people can notice a small fluctuation in the idle. Both my 1.1 and 1.2 do this and have done so for the last three years. I "think" its just the ECU constantly correcting the RPM. Almost feels the engine pauses for a fraction of a second

Wasgehabendas said:

I suspect on that one too. Do you know how I can be sure that it is crank angle sensor? how to test it in order to get correct results?

Click to expand...

Let us know when youve used the new one

koalar said:

are you sure there's a fault to fix.

they all don't idle totally smooth.

But some people can notice a small fluctuation in the idle.

Click to expand...

Our old 1.1.. no issues from 6k to 95k..

No coilpack issues etc..

It ran and idled fine..
Possibly a tad 'uneven' when warming

But when we first bought it
6 months old 6k on the clock..

We had a cinq sporting..and a punto 55

So 3 x 1108's they all ran the same

If youve noticed it running poorly.. its well worth investigating

Wasgehabendas said:

I suspect on that one too. Do you know how I can be sure that it is crank angle sensor? how to test it in order to get correct results?

Click to expand...

There is no test for an intermittently faulty electronic sensor. All you can do is replace but at £15 they are not silly money. The test is to prove everything else is ok, leaving the one culprit.

can you hear the hiccup from the back of the car


so there a smell of petrol from the exhaust after the car been out for a run.

where's the leak in the exhaust ?

koalar said:

are you sure there's a fault to fix.


they all don't idle totally smooth. Its not really noticeable and doesn't show up on the rev counter.


If you have the radio on you probably would not notice it.


But some people can notice a small fluctuation in the idle. Both my 1.1 and 1.2 do this and have done so for the last three years. I "think" its just the ECU constantly correcting the RPM. Almost feels the engine pauses for a fraction of a second

Click to expand...

Yes mine has been doing this for the past 2 years and nobody is interested to fix the issue. They tell me: "It is from the poor petrol we have in our country, just drive and don't think about it".

varesecrazy said:

Let us know when youve used the new one

Click to expand...

Because of the Corona virus almost everything is closed and I can't do anything.

varesecrazy said:

Our old 1.1.. no issues from 6k to 95k..

No coilpack issues etc..

It ran and idled fine..
Possibly a tad 'uneven' when warming

But when we first bought it
6 months old 6k on the clock..

We had a cinq sporting..and a punto 55

So 3 x 1108's they all ran the same

If youve noticed it running poorly.. its well worth investigating

Click to expand...

Yes, it's definitely well worth investigating cause it is getting unpleasant.

DaveMcT said:

There is no test for an intermittently faulty electronic sensor. All you can do is replace but at £15 they are not silly money. The test is to prove everything else is ok, leaving the one culprit.

Click to expand...

hey Dave you remember my thread about head gasket leaking oil? I've heard those hiccups could be from head gasket issue.

koalar said:

can you hear the hiccup from the back of the car


so there a smell of petrol from the exhaust after the car been out for a run.

Click to expand...

Muffler is rattling, but I guess it is from the accident I had and it isn't connected to this issue.

Smell of petrol from the exhaust is only at startup. After a few minutes there isn't any smell.

koalar said:

where's the leak in the exhaust ?

Click to expand...

One part of muffler is leaking. Maybe it's normal.

You will not know the true cause of any intermittent fault until everything else has been ruled out. Your head gasket has failed so should be replaced. There is no other way and as stated on your other thread the risks of doing nothing are high.

It's highly likely you have the oil leak because the head gasket has recently been replaced - badly. You will not have any chance of fault finding while the engine has significant mechanical faults.

DaveMcT said:

You will not know the true cause of any intermittent fault until everything else has been ruled out. Your head gasket has failed so should be replaced. There is no other way and as stated on your other thread the risks of doing nothing are high.

It's highly likely you have the oil leak because the head gasket has recently been replaced - badly. You will not have any chance of fault finding while the engine has significant mechanical faults.

Click to expand...

I suspect also that it has been replaced badly. Not sure how is the situation in UK but here so called "mechanics" have poor knowledge about cars. "Awful" is a mild word about their skills. Only reputable dealers work fine because they have to in order to give you a warranty. But...


Do you believe me that this is 3rd set of water pump + tensioner + belts + camshaft and crankshaft seals in the past year?

52000 miles: crankshaft seal was leaking and I got replaced everything I mentioned above. The very next day after a 300 miles trip the crankshaft seal was leaking again! Maybe it was made from a cardboard? Obviously not, surely poor instalation was done. It was sorted out immediately by the dealer.

58000 miles: water pump started leaking. After 6000 miles? I guess it was leaking already before I noticed it on the ground. Poor instalation again by the same dealer? Bought a new set of water pump + belts + seals and went to other local mechanic to change it. While replacing all these things he noticed the crankshaft seal was leaking again! A few days after everything was changed water pump started leaking again. He won't admin its his fault rather bad part quality. After 50-100 miles? I mean, really? Paid 70 pounds more for a new top quality water pump as he says and job was done.


Frauds are deeply ingrained in this society, especially in the past 2-3 decades. Repairing a car is becoming a nightmare as you see from my case. The previous owner didn't say anything about doing such a job on the car. We will see if she badly lied about it. I am surprised because I bought the car with literally no faults if we don't count the battery.

Sorry for this long post, I just wanted to explain you how hard is car servicing in my country.