Hope ive posted in the correct place! I'm after advice on my 2012 fiat punto miltijet lounge.
Just had it recovered from the fiat dealers who have quoted me a whopping £1900 for 4 faulty injectors. Been told that 2 are dumping fuel while the other too aren't letting enough through. I'm concerned that this may be an ecu fault rather than injector.
The car has been regenerating every week for a few months. While regenerating, i need to accelerate hard to move, the revs drop dramatically and if I stop in traffic, stop start cuts out the engine and turns it back on while beeping and flashing the start stop signal. Took it to local garage who couldn't read the ecu, stating that it told him there was an ecu fault and so he couldn't read it. Took it back again after calling the AA out due to the car trying to regen, and the engine cutting out. Garage couldn't diagnose the fault so I took it to fiat. Fiat says no fault codes and advised me of the injector faults. Advised me that it is constantly trying to regen when the engine is turned on. The garage, AA and fiat have all gave me different readings of the amount of regens and how full the dpf filter is. But no fault codes. Worried about spending a fortune on it if this is an ecu fault. I've already had a new battery and relay fitted trying to get to the bottom of this. Anyone had anything similar?

Re: Fiat punto regeneration problems

Injectors over or under fuelling I think may not be affecting frequent regens. The DPF will require a regen when nearly full, and the ECU will control when. Overfuelling may of course produce excess soot, which will clog the DPF quicker.

The Fiat dealer has access to Fiat specific diagnostic software, whereas independents probably won't so can't read the faults. The Fiat dealer is of course the most expensive solution.

MultiECUscan software (search this forum) is a wonderful thing, available to us all for the cheap cost of €50, plus connecting cables and a windows pc. Might be the way to go to gain a better diagnostic.

Injectors are not plentiful among the usual suppliers, but those that are listed are around £250-300 each. From Fiat they'll be more money of course, so easy to see where the quote came from.

Somewhere near you should be a Bosch service specialist. Seek them out and see what they say. Better diesel expertise, and probably a better price too.

Meanwhile, drop a bottle full of injector cleaner into the tank, might be all it needs.

Icklet said:

Hope ive posted in the correct place! I'm after advice on my 2012 fiat punto miltijet lounge.
Just had it recovered from the fiat dealers who have quoted me a whopping £1900 for 4 faulty injectors. Been told that 2 are dumping fuel while the other too aren't letting enough through. I'm concerned that this may be an ecu fault rather than injector.
The car has been regenerating every week for a few months. While regenerating, i need to accelerate hard to move, the revs drop dramatically and if I stop in traffic, stop start cuts out the engine and turns it back on while beeping and flashing the start stop signal. Took it to local garage who couldn't read the ecu, stating that it told him there was an ecu fault and so he couldn't read it. Took it back again after calling the AA out due to the car trying to regen, and the engine cutting out. Garage couldn't diagnose the fault so I took it to fiat. Fiat says no fault codes and advised me of the injector faults. Advised me that it is constantly trying to regen when the engine is turned on. The garage, AA and fiat have all gave me different readings of the amount of regens and how full the dpf filter is. But no fault codes. Worried about spending a fortune on it if this is an ecu fault. I've already had a new battery and relay fitted trying to get to the bottom of this. Anyone had anything similar?

Click to expand...

Not quite the right place so I moved thread to Punto 2012+ section.
The problem you are having needs proper diagnostics as @portland_bill says a Bosch specialist would be good start as might a independent mobile diagnostic service.
Multiecuscan or Fiat's examiner will tell the user how much fuel the ECU is requesting what the airflow is and the lambda readings. This will tell you a lot. Also look at temperature s and pressures a faulty reading can give lots of issues. With a DPF equipped car rather than generating lots of smoke out of the exhaust it just gets trapped in the DPF and you get more regenerations. This need s experience and a logical approach, unfortunately thing in short supply at many garages.


Where are you located?


Robert G8RPI.

North East England. Just seems like garages can't get to the bottom of this problem. Hopefully when the injectors get inspected, they show something which could be causing the problem. I have a full diagnostics print off from the fiat garage and the only thing that seems wrong to them are the injectors. All 4 they said.

I think there maybe multiple issues going on confusing the diagnostic process.

The biggest issue is why is the car constantly trying to regenerate the DPF? this is only done when the car is sensing that it is getting blocked.

I note in the other thread on this topic, you say the car has 31k miles on the clock and is 6 years old.
What leaps out at me about this is that 31k Miles is a very low mileage for a 6year old diesel and these engines with DPF filters need to be used and well warmed up to keep the filter clear this mileage equates to about 100 miles a week which if your going out 5 days a week and the car takes a good 5 minutes to warm up (5 miles on 60mph roads, much longer in town) then the car is only just getting warm by the time it completes its journey.

It is quite possible that the car is trying to regen towards the end of your journey but the DPF not getting hot enough as it’s just not getting used enough and so it’s stuck in a loop of trying to regen, the DPF may have partially cleared and so is not showing as blocked, but the car thinks it still hasn't completed the regen and so its going to keep trying.

The car will overfuel to heat up the exhaust to be able to do the regen, so in this case is the constant attempts at trying to regen making it look like there is an injector problem.

Finally the stop start playing up is not unusual on fiats, however confusion between the stop start wanting to do its thing and the car wanting to clear the DPF, could be the cause of the "haywire" symptoms you report.

My advice would be to stick a bottle of DPF cleaner in the fuel and take it for a very long run, maybe for an hour or two with some “spirited” driving to really get the engine and exhaust temperatures up nice and hot (this engine loves some 3rd/4th gear country road action) and give the car a chance to run a full regeneration.
Then you might be able to have a better idea about what’s going on.


I’ve just bought a 1.6 multijet punto and had it on the computer last night to see if there are any codes, there is a lot of stuff you can do and a lot of things you can see associated with the DPF and regeneration cycles there is so much information it’s quite possible you are being given different numbers depending on what they are looking at, at the time. The ECU records everything in KM so someone’s dodgy maths converting it into Miles can also be to blame.

good info Andy.

their mention of the S/S bugbear makes me think it's being used for commuting around town.. the last thing a troubled diesel needs.

Sorry for the late reply. Dpf fluid is in and that's when the problem got worse! Yes I drive mostly around the town and I now know, that this isn't the best car for what I need. Unfortunately, im stuck with it for a while yet. Car is STILL in the garage waiting for the injectors to be tested. Hoping they are the problem because everyone is scratching their heads. 3 weeks with no car is a nightmare.

Forgot to mention that I don't use stop start. It's more hassle than it's worth. But it flashes and beeps when the engine cuts out and thats why i mentioned it.

Although the car needs a good run, often, for a thorough regen to happen, it does 'mini' regens while i drive around town. This was happening weekly. I never turn the car off while it's doing it's thing until the last one. When i stopped to let a car pass, the engine started turning on and off on its own accord and I did try to accelerate when it switched on for 2 seconds but itjust turned back off. My car is very obvious when it regens in town. The car vibrates in a pattern, my revs fluctuate between 10-15 but when I stop, at a junction, they drop off completely. The stop start beeps and the engine turns off. Then turns itself back on in a few seconds. I need to accelerate slightly harder to move it so I look like a boy racer moving through crawling traffic or a town centre. And I get the usual slight smell of fuel and sometimes black smoke. I don't know it is doing a mini regen until I stop the car. This is where I have the problems. After having the sensor and valve cleaned, the car smelled awefull. I took it for a 20 min run down the motorway at 50mph in 4th gear and did the same back. This is what i was advised to do to force a regen. I did notice a slight lag but because I didn't stop the car, I don't know if it actually did a regen. This is my first car that regens and it will be my last! Ha ha ha.

The car has just came back from the 4th garage and still no one can pin point the fault. Injectors came back ok and it's had a forced regen. Seems to be running ok for now but it usually does for a week then has a heart attack. Any more ideas anyone? Oil and filter are getting changed on the weekend.

If things have improved following the forced regen then it may well be thats where your problems laid. Oil and filter change won't hurt see how it goes and do some more 'spirited' driving to get exhaust temps up at least once a week to hopefully keep everything running.

Icklet said:

The car has just came back from the 4th garage and still no one can pin point the fault. Injectors came back ok and it's had a forced regen. Seems to be running ok for now but it usually does for a week then has a heart attack. Any more ideas anyone? Oil and filter are getting changed on the weekend.

Click to expand...

I'm guessing this wasn't a Bosch service outlet.
Find your nearest and go speak to them. Only them!
Your problem is most likely either, too many short runs (which should have been a problem almost as soon as you got the car), or leaking/overfuelling injectors causing excess soot, which will block the DPF very quickly.
A Bosch specialist will be able to test the injectors properly, off the car, which the Fiat dealer almost certainly will not have done. They can then tell you correctly whether they are good, or bad, and may be able to service them.

Without new or more information, this thread cannot offer more help.

portland_bill said:

I'm guessing this wasn't a Bosch service outlet.
Find your nearest and go speak to them. Only them!
Your problem is most likely either, too many short runs (which should have been a problem almost as soon as you got the car), or leaking/overfuelling injectors causing excess soot, which will block the DPF very quickly.
A Bosch specialist will be able to test the injectors properly, off the car, which the Fiat dealer almost certainly will not have done. They can then tell you correctly whether they are good, or bad, and may be able to service them.

Without new or more information, this thread cannot offer more help.

Click to expand...

It wasn't a Bosch garage that tested them. They have been taken out the car and tested. All 4 are showing within range. The problem is that it is an intermittent problem. They can't be tested properly while in the car. But I do have the reading that were taken while it was being driven. I think the issue here is that my revs drop off completely while the regen is taking place. That causes the car to stall. What could cause this? Electrics have been checked and injectors tested. Still no further forward. Maybe a blockage somewhere?