Technical Car ran 'funny' and now won't start at all

[Tempest]

Hi all,

Have a Stilo JTD 1.9 115 3 door. Was running fine other than a small flat spot around 2500ish rpm that no one could bottom for me and only me and my other half seem to be able to pick up on because we're used to the car. Basic opinion on it from my usual guy was it was all in my head! Seemed to start after he changed either the cam or crank, he can't remember which he did and I didn't get an invoice so I don't remember which he said either :S.

Went out for some Christmas shopping and the car started to idle rough coming up to a round about and then stalled out on me. I got it going again and got it round the roundabout at a snail's pace. Then it kicked back in and was ok for about a mile, then it did the whole no power 'I'm going to stall' thing again. I took it straight down to the guy I normally use for repairs rather than have it strand me somewhere. He had it a day, told me it never acted up for him and had no fault codes. He test drove it again before he handed it back, checked faults again despite no rough running or obvious issues and found a fault for turbo boost pressure. He cleared it and told me to see how I got on.

Very next day, went out in the car. Was fine for a mile or two, then did the whole lack of power thing for about a mile. The power came back in like a rocket ship, and it was fine for the rest of the day. This went on for several days, would have that five minute period where all wasn't well but then fine for the rest of the day until the next morning.

We took it round to family's house for Christmas. It was parked up for a few hours then the in-laws just asked me to reposition on the driveway. It started, seemed ok in reverse but as soon as I put it in first and tried to pull up the drive, it died. It would not restart. We pushed it up the drive and left it over night. I tried to get it going again today to see if I could nurse it home out of their way but it ran long enough to back up a short distance and then died again. I'll have a few hours to go tomorrow and try some things to get it running/get to the bottom of it but I'm a bit at a loss and my usual guy seems either without ideas or just isn't interested.

Anyone with any suggestions, or anyone with a recommendation where they know their Fiats in Leeds? I'm pretty tech savvy, I'll give anything you can do with basic tools with the car on the ground a go but I need some ideas where to look. From reading some other people's issues I'm thinking maybe MAF, MAP or EGR but I don't want to purely guess :S. Turin Motors was one suggestion for a specialist. Anyone in West Yorks able to recommend them or someone else just in case it needs to be recovered in somewhere? I work with Ferrari techs but I really don't see any of them knowing much about a Fiat diesel or wanting to learn either, lol.

Thanks in advance and I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

T

 

[Chris017]

Have u tried disconnecting the battery for a couple of hours and re connecting it?
Also give the egr a quick clean and the Maf sensor with electrical contact cleaner.
I had the turbo boost pressure fault before and just cleared it with computer and all ok.

Give that a go but I'm sure that will solve the flat spot problem with ought disconnecting the battery. As that is what I did, plus clean the air filter

See if that helps, also other people will have a opinion on how to fix

 

[tonymackenzie@btinternet.]

This could just be a choked fuel filter

 

[cledan]

Is the car smoking? I had a heap of starting and running issues recently and I found the EGR was sticking open and a little blocked up. There is a good guide on here for cleaning it. Even if its not the problem its a dead easy job and will be a good idea to do anyway.
I have also found the MAF playing up on cars, if you pull the plug out see if things improve-if so get a new MAF if no change reconnect it and try something else.
MAP sensors and boost solenoids also seem possibles here, do a search though as I have no experience of these myself

 

[Tempest]

Ok, can I do the fuel filter, maf and egr with car on ground and basic hand tools? If so will grab a fuel filter and some contact cleaner and give those a try to try and rule out turbo issues or map. But would the car flat out refuse to run on turbo issues? The lack of power I'd understand.

 

[cris1117]

Sounds like egr to me it take about 15 minutes to blank it off, do a search plenty of how too’s on this forum.
Cut a blanking plate from a baked bean tin to test it, if that cures the problem then you will need to get a thicker blanking plate, I think I have seen them on eBay for a few pounds.

 

[A3jeroen]

Make sure there is no air trapped in the fuelsystem.

gr J

 

[Chris017]

Just clean the egr first to see if that makes a difference, yes it is simple enough go to do.

 

[Tempest]

Well, just to let you all know, deffinitely was the EGR valve. For the time being it is blocked off with a large washer. Proper plate ordered from Ebay and shipping tomorrow. But the block off did get it running as per normal with no obvious side issues. It was dark when I drove it home so I'll be sure to keep an eye out for abnormal smoke on the way to work in the morning. Thanks for all the help, I think this has even cured the elusive flat spot so much appreciated!