Hi all, looking for a diagnoses or suggestion

My Punto 1.2 8v recently developed horrific fuel economy (18-20mph), judders while travelling, sometimes loses power and struggles up hills at 15mph in second, and struggles to do 60mph on the motorway...
It also leaves a nice black patch on the drive on startup, smells strongly of petrol when I pull up and get out... oh and has a beige like coloured gunk in the oil cap

We performed a full service (sparks, air filter, oil filter and oil) but had no luck
A local mechanic had a look and diagnosed a misfire in cylinder 2, compression test came back fine so spark and leads where put back in to continue checks and the misfire went away...

We concluded on an intermittent misfire so replaced the ignition coil for cylinder 2 and all ignition leads but have had no luck still...

Can any help...?

well when i had misfires i changed both coil packs and it went away, smell of petrol? did you check your fuel pump below rear seats if it leaks, dont know what that black smoke out of exhaust is

hi, and welcome,
Beige gunk is a mix of water and oil, (condensation) so is common in cars that never get HOT in everyday use -( also common in head-gasket failures)

lack of power = engine is not burning fuel efficiently ( that's what the black smoke is)

finding the reason for this is a matter of deduction,
normally if severe a warning light should come on..,
this will store a fault code, the code points towards a failure of a part / sensor.

bottom line we need more info..,
puddle under car is NOT a good sign, try and soak some into kitchen towel, then see what the fluid may be..,

oily,
BLACK , brown..or lightly yellow..??,
Charlie - Oxford

Hi,

I received an engine management light at the beginning of one journey but this soon went away...

There's no fluid under the car, the black patch is just where the exhaust points to...

Rob

RobWoodward4 said:

Hi,

I received an engine management light at the beginning of one journey but this soon went away...

There's no fluid under the car, the black patch is just where the exhaust points to...

Rob

Click to expand...

SOOT - from overfuelling,

the light will have left a fault code.., cheap and easily read,

Charlie

flisko said:

did you check your fuel pump below rear seats if it leaks

Click to expand...

Just checked it and no signs of leakage....

varesecrazy said:

SOOT - from overfuelling,



the light will have left a fault code.., cheap and easily read,



Charlie

Click to expand...

Okay, I'll try and get that done, any recommendations of where?

Also, I got told to check the injectors which I'll do today, any tips on what to look for/how to test them?

Rob

RobWoodward4 said:

Okay, I'll try and get that done, any recommendations of where?

Also, I got told to check the injectors which I'll do today, any tips on what to look for/how to test them?

Rob

Click to expand...

its a punto - they have super rare failures, tbh there quiet bullet proof

But Autodata lists the resistance as been 14.5ohms

But i wouldnt worry if there all say like
15.5 - 16 - 15.76 - 15.5, as there all pretty darn close, and it'd be classed as normal wear on them

If you saw like
5 - 15 - 15 - 15, then i'd be looking at cyl1 been a duff injector

but as i've said, punto's are known for solid injectors

----

Black emmissions out the exhaust and excessive, is related to overfueling, which is bad bad bad for a car
Overfueling means neat fuel - since we have a misfire, is been dumped down the exhaust and the other cylinders are just burning badly
The cat doesn't like Fuel, and it don't like excessive carbon either

Ziggy

Ziggy

Ziggy122 said:

Black emmissions out the exhaust and excessive, is related to overfueling, which is bad bad bad for a car
Overfueling means neat fuel - since we have a misfire, is been dumped down the exhaust and the other cylinders are just burning badly
The cat doesn't like Fuel, and it don't like excessive carbon either

Click to expand...

Okay... Any ideas what could cause it...?

RobWoodward4 said:

Okay, I'll try and get that done, any recommendations of where?

Also, I got told to check the injectors which I'll do today, any tips on what to look for/how to test them?

Rob

Click to expand...

injectors- leave that for another day..

code reading..?
garages charge £30 to £50 apparently, where you can buy your own basic reader for £10 / £20,

where are you based?, a fair few on here use MultiECUScan

edit,
1 MORE QUESTION , DOES THE CAR WARM UP PROPERLY, HEATER BLOWS hot AFTER @ 1 MILE / 5 MINS OF DRIVING..? IF not, THEN THAT'LL GO SOME WAY TO EXPLAIN THE POOR mpg ( AND PERFORMANCE)

Charlie - Oxford

Morning All,

I stopped posting before as the problem went away... We had no idea why, we just took things apart again, clean crank position sensors, pull out and blew at the MAP sensor, check and made sure HT leads were pushed on correctly and it disappeared... great!

Problem is it's come back. The problem isn't to the same extent though, now the symptoms are very low MPG (18 - 24 on motorway runs and anywhere between 18 - 35 urban... strange), I'm still leaving black patches under the exhaust end on start up and petrol is visible spraying out the end, also lack of power.

Any suggestions would be a god send as usually and thanks in advance :worship:

Update:

Today I drove a short 5 minute journey and after while the engine was still running I opened the bonnet to find a ticking sound coming from the back left, dipstick area of the engine....

Does this help diagnose?

RobWoodward4 said:

Update:

Today I drove a short 5 minute journey and after while the engine was still running I opened the bonnet to find a ticking sound coming from the back left, dipstick area of the engine....

Does this help diagnose?

Click to expand...

Ticking might be caused by a valve, valve follower or cam. Could your timing belt have slipped a tooth? This would also give you bad mpg and power loss.

RobWoodward4 said:

Update:

Today I drove a short 5 minute journey and after while the engine was still running I opened the bonnet to find a ticking sound coming from the back left, dipstick area of the engine....

Does this help diagnose?

Click to expand...

the fuel injectors "tick" as they operate..??

grapeman said:

Ticking might be caused by a valve, valve follower or cam. Could your timing belt have slipped a tooth? This would also give you bad mpg and power loss.

Click to expand...

The timing belt seems to be the most likely option from the area, is there a check for a slipped tooth?

ben said:

Been looking at the K&N induction kits now, at only £80 they seem a cheap way of giving more power, but really is it very noticeable and has anyone ever fitted one themselves?

thanks,

ben

Click to expand...

They do but you can't hear them without some sort of listening tool to conduct it to your ear

RobWoodward4 said:

The timing belt seems to be the most likely option from the area, is there a check for a slipped tooth?

Click to expand...

I think you have a 16v engine so you can't check any marks for alignment as there aren't any. I would look at getting a compression test done or buying/making some timing tools to check the pistons are aligned with the cams.

I've got the 1.2 8v engine

RobWoodward4 said:

I've got the 1.2 8v engine

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Oh my apologies - must have misread. Have a quick search on the forum for timing mark alignment for an 8v. It's been asked about many times. Good luck

Try here: https://www.fiatforum.com/showthread.php?t=19733