Hi there,

I'm new to this site but not to Fiats having owned a number of MK1 and MK2 variants including an HGT (why did I sell it!!)

I recently purchased a 2004 1.2 8v Punto for my Son as he wanted the same car as his Sister, I love them as they are great value and (usually) easy to work on and service.

His car is suffering from a starting problem that I need help with......the car turns over well but struggles to fire, and when it does fire runs a bit lumpy for a minute or so. There is a strong smell of fuel while trying to start it as you need to stab the pedal quite a bit when it does fire. Once it is running it runs fine, like a sewing machine, smooth with no loss of lower and pulls through all gears fine.

So far I have replaced the following:

Air Filter
Spark Plugs
Crank Sensor (Camshaft Sensor is dated within 6 months so left this)
Water Temp Sensor

I have checked batter voltages before and during start up, seems to be reading fine and doesn't slow cranking.

There are no dash lights on and I have plugged in my OBD reader and found no faults.......any help or advice would be greatly received as I'm getting a bit stumped!

When I had starting issues, mine turned out to be the battery. Battery was charging fine when running, but the actual boost for cranking wasn't there. AA man only found it on a whim .... I think the amps where have what they should be.

As for running lumpy - if its taking a few turns to start, expect its just a bit flooded / rich

consider an air pocket by water temperature sensor
a bleed would cure this, ideally by means of a pressure tester