Just been reading another thread "Getting older, not nice to drive anymore." I'd like to say that my experience with FIAT dealers has been, er, patchy, but of course it's the front desk staff who are to blame. The FIAT technicians on here are a mine of information.

Anyway, a while ago I posted a thread about a hiccup during acceleration. There were a couple of replies (including one about breathing into a paper bag but never mind) but I thought I'd post again as it's getting more noticeable.

It's a JTD of March 2000 vintage, 56,000 miles; I notice a definite drop in power at a particular point during acceleration, feels like the same revs each time, and mainly noticeable in second gear. As I said, recently it's got a bit more pronounced, but the engine does recover quickly and rev to the limit quite nicely.

Worth worrying about? I'm asking because soon I'm going to take her over to Belgium with four people and lots of luggage and wonder if she'll need looking at before we go.

Cheers.

Has engine light ever came on?

Is the EGR valve operating correctly?

Symptoms are a loss in power but if you floor it, it magically recovers (temporarily) often accompanied by a big black cloud from the exhaust. Mine got so bad that turning into side streets became dangerous as it would just about crawl across the other lane.

Other places to look are airflow sensor and the turbo itself.

Thanks for the replies. Never noticed any abnormal lights coming on, and not noticed any black soot either, but I'll keep my eyes and nose open.

Had the same with our 2000 JTD. Injection light was intermittent as well. Apart from the flat spot it ran fine up until a few days ago when it started loosing power big time. Fiat Specialist reckons it is a known wiring fault with the electronic throttle.

Not really 'a known' fault but has been quite a few cases.Throttle is mechanical & electronic.

Troy McClure said:

Had the same with our 2000 JTD. Injection light was intermittent as well. Apart from the flat spot it ran fine up until a few days ago when it started loosing power big time. Fiat Specialist reckons it is a known wiring fault with the electronic throttle.

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Troy,
How many miles has your Multipla done? How long was the flat spot noticeable before it went bad?

It's done 52K. Noticeable ever since we bought it about 1k ago. Ran some redex cleaner through it which seemed to help, however came back about a week ago and then started losing power big time.

Update: It was the throttle wiring, now sorted (hopefully) @ £50.

Did they tell you what they done?

Wife picked the car up so I could not get a full de-brief, however receipt states:

"Traced fault to pedal sensor. Carry out wiring modification to rectify"

All seems to be OK now and the dreaded red injector light is finally out

Big up for Melbury Motor Company in Shaftsbury as they squeezed us in and kept us informed

Troy McClure said:

"Traced fault to pedal sensor. Carry out wiring modification to rectify"

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I know it well.....all been ok since?

p.s.were you in the simpsons?

Yes thanks, all sorted. Seems to be going well now.

The Simpsons, Thats the one. You may remember me from other public information movies such as........

Troy McClure said:

The Simpsons, Thats the one. You may remember me from other public information movies such as........

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LOL