Technical Misfiring & engine light every few months

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Technical Misfiring & engine light every few months

hannahh182

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Hi,
Wracking our brains why this has been a problem for the past year or so. My 13 plate 500 goes to set off and suddenly engine light comes on, stop/start disconnected (never worked anyway) and it's misfiring badly. I have to pull up and leave it off for an hour before it starts fine. (Obviously a problem in December commute!!). It's had 2 new coil packs and still reading as intermittent misfire cylinder 4. Any ideas??
 
Remember misfiring does not always mean a lack of spark, it can also mean a lack of fuel, like a sticking injector? Our 59 plate 1.2 suffered No.4 plug lead failure, you could clearly hear and see the spark jumping across.
 
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Agree with above, but at the moment, the OP hasn't really provided us with much info to go on, no idea of service history, 1.2 or 1.4, who has been swapping out coil packs etc. As always, armchair diagnostics from folks who have absolutely no idea of the history of the vehicle, is just that, armchair diagnostics.

I know people sigh whenever I mention it, but when was the last time the vehicle saw the back end of a Fiat dealership or a good quality independent garage? Sadly, most of the Fiat 500's I now see/drive/deal with on a daily basis, haven't had any proper maintenance, usually within the last two years and most of them that come in to where I work, arrive with engine management lights on etc.
 
Hi. What engine is in this car?

Who diagnosed two coil pack faults?

How many miles has the car done? Have the plugs been changed?

Hi, really sorry this was me half asleep this morning!!
My dad is a mechanic (30 years in the business) and diagnosed/fitted them. Very well looked after car, 1.2 but 24,000 miles. Plugs been changed. Was considering swapping injectors to see if that's the problem as it's always been cylinder 4?
 
Agree with above, but at the moment, the OP hasn't really provided us with much info to go on, no idea of service history, 1.2 or 1.4, who has been swapping out coil packs etc. As always, armchair diagnostics from folks who have absolutely no idea of the history of the vehicle, is just that, armchair diagnostics.

I know people sigh whenever I mention it, but when was the last time the vehicle saw the back end of a Fiat dealership or a good quality independent garage? Sadly, most of the Fiat 500's I now see/drive/deal with on a daily basis, haven't had any proper maintenance, usually within the last two years and most of them that come in to where I work, arrive with engine management lights on etc.

had dash pod changed by fiat dealership in Jan last year, been serviced etc by experienced mechanic and very well looked after car which is why we're left a bit confused! When faults been cleared then it works fine again until the next time.
 
Hi, really sorry this was me half asleep this morning!!
My dad is a mechanic (30 years in the business) and diagnosed/fitted them. Very well looked after car, 1.2 but 24,000 miles. Plugs been changed. Was considering swapping injectors to see if that's the problem as it's always been cylinder 4?

Thanks for the update.

Well to be honest, if your Dad is a mechanic and has been in the business that long, then I really can't see there's much all of our armchair diagnostic team can offer. I'm sure they'll be plenty of suggestions about what you might try, but it really is just guessing at the end of the day.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of folk out there who will chase a problem like yours for weeks, months, or as in your case, a year now and that seems a tad odd to me but at the same time, understandable. But of course it's your car and ultimately, your money if you have to spend out. I can only go from experience, but I had an injector problem on my own car (diesel) though at the time I didn't know it was an injector fault. I spent about 4 months asking for advice on other forums until a mechanic friend of mine offered me a simple leak back test and discovered the problem. It was fixed within the space of two hours (new injector) and cost me £200, but the problem was dealt with like it should have been months before and I've never had an issue since.

The way I see it is, you're going to have to spend some money anyway, so why don't you book the car into your local Fiat dealership for a diagnostic session only. It'll cost you, upwards of £60, but in the space of an hour, they will most likely diagnose the issue and give you options. You don't have to get the problem fixed with them, your Dad can do possibly do that. Alternatively, you can buy your own diagnostic kit for just over £100 and get your Dad to run diagnostics himself, but it's still going to cost you money. The following link is just an example of what is available, there are more vendors out there:

https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FESPKG.html

What I'm ultimately saying is, is it worth continuing to muck about guessing or seeking answers to questions from others who can only offer advice from a nice comfy chair but can't actually fix the issue? (y)
 
Frupi is SO right here... if an engine management light is come on, the first thing you do is to connect a fault code reader (generic gadget) or - better - the specific software, such as MultiECUScan.

I'm guessing this may have already been done and the result was the coil faults/replacements, in which case you now have to wonder about the coil wiring or the compatibility of replacement coils (if not genuine). Make sure the spark plugs are the correct, original type, too. Problems like this have resulted from spark plugs that are not resistor type.

-Alex
 
Well they didn't produce the 1.4 in 2013 so by process of elimination it's a 1.2

1.4 still available here in NZ or Australia or Asian markets and has been all years :) Wonder if you get 'grey import' 500s in England from Japan or Singapore etc. - guessing probably no-one would bother :p even though they do for old Jap cars like Imprezas and Skylines. We get all types here, including 500s from Japan.

-Alex
 
We had this not on a Fiat but on a Mini, kept saying misfire on no1 cylinder, reset the fault and it would keeping back....turned out the head gasket was blowing by no1
cylinder head :(
 
We had this not on a Fiat but on a Mini, kept saying misfire on no1 cylinder, reset the fault and it would keeping back....turned out the head gasket was blowing by no1
cylinder head :(

How did you find this out? Was it self diagnosis or did the dealer diagnose it?

I realise it's Christmas and hannahh182 is probably busy, but it would be nice if she returned to let us all know how she's going to proceed with this.

Diagnostics on most modern cars can be a headache for most owners. I also think it's more than fair to say, that as soon as an EML light appears, or any other diagnostic notification, owners can often initially go into panic, some owners will go straight to a dealership and get the issue investigated and sorted, and some will seek advice from forums or friends and that can take time and just string out the issue for weeks or months.

By far the biggest issue, are owners that don't want to pay out to get the problem fixed, and there are plenty of owners out there who will absolutely refuse to bite the bullet until they're left with no choice, either because it's coming up to MOT time and the car will fail with diagnostic lights illuminated, or, they will shove the car on and buy another. I was speaking to a mobile mechanic just the other day who doesn't own a garage, just goes out to owners, fixes issues and moves on. Even he said that a lot of the time, he recommends to his 'customers' that they just get rid of the car once a diagnostic issue becomes problematic. Personally, I find advice like that a bit odd.

Dealership diagnostics aren't cheap and I can vouch for that. I once had to pay £60 for just half an hour's laptop time to reset my car's immobiliser system after the previous owner had had it disabled, but once it had been done, I never had another issue with it. I can honestly say now, if I got a diagnostic issue on either car that we now own, I wouldn't muck about, it would be straight to the dealership, I'd pay the cash, get it fixed and get over it. And that would be my advice to any owner out there, if there's a long standing issue you have no idea about how to resolve, stop wasting your time and sort it out.
 
And you can always pay the dealer to diagnose the fault and then decide who/where fixes it?

Exactly!

The only issue might be, is if the dealership isn't completely upfront about what the issue is, i.e. uses technobabble to confuse the customer and skirt around the exact problem, and there one has to be quite clear with them that they divulge exactly what their diagnosis indicates. I'm not saying that a dealership technician/service manager would be deliberately evasive about the exact cause, but they should at the very least provide the customer with a printout of their findings and a written quote of the cost of repair, especially when you're paying for a diagnostic session, then as a customer, you can make the decision about who does the work.
 
How did you find this out? Was it self diagnosis or did the dealer diagnose it?

I realise it's Christmas and hannahh182 is probably busy, but it would be nice if she returned to let us all know how she's going to proceed with this.

Diagnostics on most modern cars can be a headache for most owners. I also think it's more than fair to say, that as soon as an EML light appears, or any other diagnostic notification, owners can often initially go into panic, some owners will go straight to a dealership and get the issue investigated and sorted, and some will seek advice from forums or friends and that can take time and just string out the issue for weeks or months.

By far the biggest issue, are owners that don't want to pay out to get the problem fixed, and there are plenty of owners out there who will absolutely refuse to bite the bullet until they're left with no choice, either because it's coming up to MOT time and the car will fail with diagnostic lights illuminated, or, they will shove the car on and buy another. I was speaking to a mobile mechanic just the other day who doesn't own a garage, just goes out to owners, fixes issues and moves on. Even he said that a lot of the time, he recommends to his 'customers' that they just get rid of the car once a diagnostic issue becomes problematic. Personally, I find advice like that a bit odd.

Dealership diagnostics aren't cheap and I can vouch for that. I once had to pay £60 for just half an hour's laptop time to reset my car's immobiliser system after the previous owner had had it disabled, but once it had been done, I never had another issue with it. I can honestly say now, if I got a diagnostic issue on either car that we now own, I wouldn't muck about, it would be straight to the dealership, I'd pay the cash, get it fixed and get over it. And that would be my advice to any owner out there, if there's a long standing issue you have no idea about how to resolve, stop wasting your time and sort it out.

Hi everyone,
So after having my email hacked, I've finally seen your posts!
The problem was solved after we checked all injectors and noticed that actually number 2 was broken (not 4 as scan told us). Injector replaced and problem solved, runs a lot better and has more power. :)
 
Re: Misfiring & engine light every few months

Hi everyone,
So after having my email hacked, I've finally seen your posts!
The problem was solved after we checked all injectors and noticed that actually number 2 was broken (not 4 as scan told us). Injector replaced and problem solved, runs a lot better and has more power. :)
Wow , which bit of injector was broken ? Was it visibly broken ?
Huge well done tracking down fault especially when computer telling you different cylinder faulty.
 
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