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Technical Punto not idling correctly/cutting out after reversing?

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Technical Punto not idling correctly/cutting out after reversing?

RickF

RickF

Shell V-Power FTW
Joined
Sep 22, 2007
Messages
82
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21
Location
Bristol
Hi,

Sometimes the car under-revs to the point where its almost cutting out (it does eventually cut out if you dont rev the engine).

It happend once or twice a few months ago but has been fine since, it has done it once or twice in about 3 years - whilst starting the engine, but since that its only done it after/whilst reversing into my drive... The problem usually continues if I try turning the ignition off and back on.

Once I recall disconnecting the battery as it just wouldnt idle properly the next morning, after doing this the idle went back to normal, but i was checking HT leads etc so it could have been due to something else I did as opposed to disconnecting the battery 'fixing' the problem.


Any ideas guys?
 
Last edited:
RickF said:
Hi,

Sometimes the car under-revs to the point where its almost cutting out (it does eventually cut out if you dont rev the engine).

It happend once or twice a few months ago but has been fine since, it has done it once or twice in about 3 years - whilst starting the engine, but since that its only done it after/whilst reversing into my drive... The problem usually continues if I try turning the ignition off and back on.

Once I recall disconnecting the battery as it just wouldnt idle properly the next morning, after doing this the idle went back to normal, but i was checking HT leads etc so it could have been due to something else I did as opposed to disconnecting the battery 'fixing' the problem.


Any ideas guys?
Click to expand...

Hi,are you also loosing coolant at all?
 
RB2009 said:
Hi,are you also loosing coolant at all?
Click to expand...
Hi, No there is coolant level is where it should be.

I thought of some other bits of info that might help.

Battery less than a year old, I use injector/fueltank cleaner every 6 months or so and use decent quality fuel (v-power). Car had a new clutch and cambelt done a year ago.

The ESP failure light has come on for the past week or two for a 10 seconds or so after turning the engine on, and the power steering light has come on and gone off a few times in the past year, although the steering didnt get heavier when this happened, restarting the engine got rid of the power steering warning light.

Sometimes there is a 'hot' smell after parking up, sometimes this can be smelt through the air vents in the car, but its not burning as such but just a hot kind of smell if that makes sense. This doesn't always happen, infact its maybe once or twice a month I notice this.

The fuel consumption seems to have got worse, as I used to get near 400 miles from a full tank now I get 300, 320 if I'm lucky...

Loads of potential problems here but I don't know if they're linked.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
RickF said:
Hi, No there is coolant level is where it should be.

I thought of some other bits of info that might help.

Battery less than a year old, I use injector/fueltank cleaner every 6 months or so and use decent quality fuel (v-power). Car had a new clutch and cambelt done a year ago.

The ESP failure light has come on for the past week or two for a 10 seconds or so after turning the engine on, and the power steering light has come on and gone off a few times in the past year, although the steering didnt get heavier when this happened, restarting the engine got rid of the power steering warning light.

Sometimes there is a 'hot' smell after parking up, sometimes this can be smelt through the air vents in the car, but its not burning as such but just a hot kind of smell if that makes sense. This doesn't always happen, infact its maybe once or twice a month I notice this.

The fuel consumption seems to have got worse, as I used to get near 400 miles from a full tank now I get 300, 320 if I'm lucky...

Loads of potential problems here but I don't know if they're linked.

Cheers
Click to expand...


wouldnt worry too much about the ESP failure light.
Sometimes it is attributed to engine faults.. because the ESP system needs full control of the engine throttle.

So any engine faults can trigger an ESP fault.
Poor fuel consumption usually means

1) eigther the engine is misfiring and not running on all 4 cylinders.
Or
2) headgasket has gone... but usually the reason for the poor fuel consumption is the water mixing with the fuel, making it run lean, so the ECU dumps more fuel in to compensate.
 
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I'm not sure if I have the exact same problme, but it is similar. The car starts of idelling at 11000 revs, but I think 7000 is the correct level. When driving the revs shoot down and up all the time. My 3 door year 2000 ELX had the head gasket done about 5 months ago, so presume it is not gasket related. Have put the car into two garages and they could not figure out the problem. Driving the car, especially recently in the cold or rain, is like driving in a rocking chair as the revs go up and down like crazy. I asked the mechanic to check the temp gauge and the air mass meter and he said they were OK, but I'm not convinced. I also get a smell in the car as describer in RB2009's thread.

Suggestions welcome.

Thanks.
 
Henry13 said:
I'm not sure if I have the exact same problme, but it is similar. The car starts of idelling at 11000 revs, but I think 7000 is the correct level. When driving the revs shoot down and up all the time. My 3 door year 2000 ELX had the head gasket done about 5 months ago, so presume it is not gasket related. Have put the car into two garages and they could not figure out the problem. Driving the car, especially recently in the cold or rain, is like driving in a rocking chair as the revs go up and down like crazy. I asked the mechanic to check the temp gauge and the air mass meter and he said they were OK, but I'm not convinced. I also get a smell in the car as describer in RB2009's thread.

Suggestions welcome.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

correct idle should be around 850rpm
will be higher when you first start up though, or on cold days.. maybe around 1000-1100rpm.. because the car will be effectively on "choke" or cold start... but after a while or when the engine has warmed up it should drop down again.

sounds like you have a misfire if the revs are going up and down.

what is your coolant levels like, is it steady or going down?
also check for symptoms of head gasket failure.. repeat failure is possible if it was not done properly the first time.
Do you know if the cylinder head was skimmed?

other things to check are the usual, HT leads if you have them, Spark Plugs, Coil Packs.

and apparently ECU on some models.

regarding smell, what kind of smell are you getting?

I cant remember writing about smell lol do you know which thread it was?
 
ha ha, i was going to say, 11,000 rpm - thats f1 type stuff, mine maxes out around 6,500 - 7,000 rpm

However, i also HAD this issue, pulling to a stop and clutch disengaged fine yet engine would die, only when both brakes & clutch where pressed. The issue has since gone, however a streak of brake fulid is stained on the vacume servo unit - turns out kwickfit over filled the system and it burst, when it burst it was under HIGH pressure so hey:D seems to work now, no issues(y)

Cam sensor was put into question by other people while i was trying to sort this out a few months ago, might be worth a look on yours(y)
 
Its just done it again tonight. I had to restart the engine about 5 times to get my car parked up in a half decent position cus it kept cutting out (again after reversing, before this the car was running perfectly normal) and during one of the start ups a noise that sounds like an electrical pop (i.e when you see a spark) was produced. Freaked me out a bit.

Also, I tested the battery and alternator yesterday and the outputs were good. The current sparks have only done 1500 miles... I replaced all 4 ignition coils at the same time due to two of them being cracked.

Any ideas? :bang:
 
Got the car back from the garage a few days ago. Said there was nothing wrong with it, but to bring it back in a few days and see what gets logged on the computer.

It ran for two days without a bother and now its back revving like mad again.:cry:

I don’t have the skills to check everything suggested, but I’ll extract the suggestions from the thread and give the list to a mechanic to check and see what happens.
 
When an engine is running weak it will tickover too fast but have no actual power - revs drop at the slightest whiff of clutch action.

When its at tickover spray some Easy Start around he inlet side of the engine. If the revs change find where easy start is being pulled into the manifold. If there are no leaks the spray wont have any effect.

Suspect the engine breather and brake servo pipes and gasket behind throttle body.
 
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No visible leaks(?) most likely head gasket, but it could be a pinhole in the radiator.

As you've had some running problems I'm pessimistic about that gasket.
 
No visible leaks no. Only small amount has gone, checked it a few months ago and it was at max marker, and the other day noticed it was at the minimum marker. I have topped it back up to the max mark so will keep an eye to see if it goes down again.. might of been cus of the cold and not having a decent mix of water and coolant.

But I'm suspect of the gasket aswell and its common for the engine :(

What are the general symptoms of gasket failure?
How can the gasket be diagnosed or ruled out?
What happens if you keep running with a bad gasket, cus this has been ongoing for like a year :eek:

Cheers
 
Going on for that long its probably not the head gasket.

They are actually not really unreliable but they are intolerant of poor maintenance and people who drive without ever checking the coolant level so their leaks drop the coolant and the HG blows.

My mothers old VW Golf had a leaking head gasket - leaking to the outside so coolant was vanishing with no visible leak. The cylinder seals were fine and Barrs leaks cured it. The car ran for another 2 years before she sold it.

Some say its a bad idea but I would put in some Barrs leaks or Radweld and see if the coolant level stays put. Absolutely, dont use the souped up "Ultraseal" stuff just a little £5 bottle.

If the coolant quality is suspect dump it out and refill with proper stuff and add the leaks additive at the same time so it mixes well.
 
Hmm. Dont head gasket problems usually cause stuff to form in the coolant funnel?

Can a garage check for HG failure? How can I tell if im down a cylinder?

Its wierd as i dont have a constant problem, more a intermittent array of issues...
 
RickF said:
Hmm. Dont head gasket problems usually cause stuff to form in the coolant funnel?

Can a garage check for HG failure? How can I tell if im down a cylinder?

Its wierd as i dont have a constant problem, more a intermittent array of issues...
Click to expand...


Hi, not always, depends

Symptoms can include any of the following

Cream coloured oil
Regular loss of coolant
misfiring
white exhuast smoke - or basically steam
high fuel consumption

depends on how the head gasket fails.. ive done a few where theres no signs of oil contamination.

found sniff tests to be unreliable, but thats just my personal experiences lol

best check is a pressure test on the cooling system and compresion test on the cylinders.
 
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Sorry for the late follow up. Only recently got someone to look at it. Anyway, the guy who looked unscrewed each spark plug, put 150lbs of pressure into to the engine and eventually found that air was leaking from cylinder head 2 into 3. He said it was not leaking from 3 into 2, which is supposed to be unusual. The head gasket was done in July and intermittent problems started in September, so either that was not done right or its blown already or there is a crack in one of the heads or so the mechanic says.
 
Sounds about right. The head face should always be crack tested and skimmed and bolts oulled down in correct pattern & tightening procedure
 
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