Hi, got a problem with my 1998 Fiat punto 1.4 GT turbo i recently bought this car and have not drove it much, when I did I put 30pound's of fule in and got 65/70 miles before i had to go fill up again this can't be right, can it? it was driving fine but the exhaust was poping from third gear into second, i think this is backfire? some could be put down to the exhuast but the odd time it was really loud like a gunshot almost. Its had a few modifications but nothing major. It has full service history and had mot 2 month ago and looks in very good condiction for its age what could be the problem?

Quite hard to diagnose a general misfire but here goes.

Does the car idle steadily?

Does the car only misfire once you get up to speed or is it worse at lower speeds?

If you are getting a major bang then the fuel mixture is very wrong or the timing is out. I would suggest the former.

As the man says.

I'm assuming that this is your first turbo car?

The GT3 is a tough old lump (has been described as prehistoric!) but all turbo cars require a little bit more looking after than N/A ones. Taking it to someone with experience of them is a good idea as issues tend to escalate rapidly.

If we knew were you were, someone might be able to make recommendations.

If its a magnex exhaust you have you had better get used to loud gunshot style bangs, that's normal :-D
If the car is tuned or running higher boost and you have a heavy right foot the mpg are not great with these cars

I've run Magnex on turboed cars and never had a pop or bang. Improper fitting?

gttam said:

the mpg are not great with these cars

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yes true but 65-70m miles on £30!! Thats too much unless you drive in such a manner that you should be banned from driving...

@ the OP: As mentioned already if you not a confident diy mechanic'er it really probably is best to get someone who knows these engines to look at it. Little things can become big problems pretty quickly. Are you getting the engine management light come on at all when driving about or idling, and have you done a blink test??

http://www.puntosports.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?31927-Blink-Test-Codes

fingers99 said:

I've run Magnex on turboed cars and never had a pop or bang. Improper fitting?

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on a GT?

Only has one silencer and is very loud.
Improper fitting I think not lol. you need to hear one with a decat to understand what I mean =)

gttam said:

on a GT?

Only has one silencer and is very loud.
Improper fitting I think not lol. you need to hear one with a decat to understand what I mean =)

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Ah, you mean one that's been illegally fitted? Or should that be fitted illegally? :bang: Sexy handcuffs you've got there, officer.........

60-70 miles on any GT is not satisfactory from £30. My old GT was running a hybrid turbo, chip, full stainless exhaust inc. decat (fitted by previous owner), front mount intercooler and higher boost and it would still return over 30mpg when driven carefully. If anything I find my current standard one worse as the exhaust obviously has quite a few restrictions in flow.

Unless he drives in 1st or 2nd gear on full boost for all of those 70 miles something is majorly amiss. As for the exhaust it could be the GT magnex as they are notoriously loud but there seems to be other issues there in my opinion. It is up to the original poster now though to confirm any more thoughts.

They are very loud even with the cat fitted.

I refitted my cat because I could not drive it with the noise it made on boost.

my magnex used to pop and bang even with the cat fitted loved the sound but prefer my quite mongose exhaust now.

oem zorst ftw! surely it can't last that much longer though lol.

dont think its a missfire, idles sweet all time even if ive been booting it and come to a dead stop with clucth in drops straight to 900rpm and stays there steady, sussd the pops and bangs its just the exhaust decat and mods thats on it just not use to the gunshot sounds on drop down my old GT was bad but not like this, its got a bigger turbo ive just found out, and got a seb 4 chips revs all the way i've tuk it just over 7000rpm but didn't wanna rish popin it yet, timing is fine. ive been told bcus it got all mods etc it needs a re-map to get em all working togeather, been recommended frank massey. sorry for late reply

also not done blink test. not had management light on, i took all pipe work off give it all a good clean took AFM to work cleaned that out with air line, clean'd all inlet and filter changed fuel filter cleaned fuel pump and its running alot smoother its been sat for a while for putting it down to age length off time its been sat and lack off re-map. and i dont drive like an **** but when your driving about late at night and 6 in morning to work bit off speed on quite roads hurts no1 better then sitting at a Mcdonalds reving my engine with 5 other cars there ment to be driven, why do up a performance car to drive round at 30mph

not to bad mouth the seb chips, as they are widely used to good effect - but one will never work as well as getting the car properly mapped, cars with the same spec will still be different. The ecu is fully mappable though so just get it booked in for some rr time with a reputable place. Sounds like you potentially have a little monster there.

your not wrong pal i didnt expect the power it has like i say i've had 1 before and spent alot off money on that and fought it was a rocket ship till i drove this dont know what the guy did to it before (apart from ruin all wireing) but its a gooden just needs abit off time to get it all mint and working properly, i'd post pics but dunno how. Have you heard off Frank Massey?? he has a place near me in preston there ment to be good for re-map. I still cant get bloody sidelight and halo back on tho!!!

get some pictures up so we can see.