General Cold start rough idle and white smoke

[Stolee]

Hello fellow Fiat Punto drivers, i need help,

My Punto (2012, 1.3 multijet 84hp) was expiriencing very bad engine shaking and light white smoke for a couple of weeks now. The shaking starts every time when the car Is cold (left overnight), and stops after about 30 seconds. I went to a mechanic and to a surprise he diagnosed it with fuel injector problem. All four fuel injectors went to a Bosch service. When car arrived from the mechanic it was way worse than before. Anyways when the engine Is running for about 30 seconds, shaking and smoke stops and it goes quiet like the day i bought it. Weather Is mostly cold at about 2-4°C every day. Exhaust smoke smells awful (after 30 secs Smells goes away)

I uploaded a video so you can se and hear what im talking about.

If anyone could help i would be very gratefull!

 

[bugsymike]

Hello fellow Fiat Punto drivers, i need help,

My Punto (2012, 1.3 multijet 84hp) was expiriencing very bad engine shaking and light white smoke for a couple of weeks now. The shaking starts every time when the car Is cold (left overnight), and stops after about 30 seconds. I went to a mechanic and to a surprise he diagnosed it with fuel injector problem. All four fuel injectors went to a Bosch service. When car arrived from the mechanic it was way worse than before. Anyways when the engine Is running for about 30 seconds, shaking and smoke stops and it goes quiet like the day i bought it. Weather Is mostly cold at about 2-4°C every day. Exhaust smoke smells awful (after 30 secs Smells goes away)

I uploaded a video so you can se and hear what im talking about.

If anyone could help i would be very gratefull!

Check heater plug operation first, if they are working fine then usually white smoke from cold, possibly smelling of unburnt diesel is an indication of low engine compression.
As I have mentioned on Forum before, another name for a diesel is a CI engine which stands for Compression Ignition, so low compression= poor ignition/starting.
Hopefully it is a heater plug fault .
No way would I have gone for injectors.
You also have an exhaust type leak at engine.
Incidentally are any of the injectors leaking where they fit in cylinder head as that is common fault on the 1.3mj although mostly the earlier version.

 

[Stolee]

Check heater plug operation first, if they are working fine then usually white smoke from cold, possibly smelling of unburnt diesel is an indication of low engine compression.
As I have mentioned on Forum before, another name for a diesel is a CI engine which stands for Compression Ignition, so low compression= poor ignition/starting.
Hopefully it is a heater plug fault .
No way would I have gone for injectors.
You also have an exhaust type leak at engine.
Incidentally are any of the injectors leaking where they fit in cylinder head as that is common fault on the 1.3mj although mostly the earlier version.

God bless you, i also started noticing that when in 1st and 2nd gear, the car will accelerate till 2k RPM and just wont accelerate anymore. So it must be poor compression then?

Thank you again kind soul!

 

[bugsymike]

God bless you, i also started noticing that when in 1st and 2nd gear, the car will accelerate till 2k RPM and just wont accelerate anymore. So it must be poor compression then?

Thank you again kind soul!

Don't think low compression would stop engine revving above a certain figure once running.
It may be worth investing in MES diagnostic tool that many on Forum use and can give advise based on, so it will show any error codes and also may give a guide as to which if any heater plugs have failed etc.
Engine did sound lumpy/missing on that cold start video, but I assumed it ran OK once warm?
Excessive oil use and "blue" smoke can indicate piston wear/low compression also.
However I would point out there are many things that can cause problems, so a good diagnosis before throwing money is important.
Incidentally injectors are coded so if serviced and fitted in different positions etc. it can effect smooth running, did your garage do that as it involves a good diagnostic tool and entering the figures written on the top of each injector into the cars computer.
Note this is not a magic cure , it just smooths the running a bit in my opinion, so good practice to follow.

 

[Stolee]

Don't think low compression would stop engine revving above a certain figure once running.
It may be worth investing in MES diagnostic tool that many on Forum use and can give advise based on, so it will show any error codes and also may give a guide as to which if any heater plugs have failed etc.
Engine did sound lumpy/missing on that cold start video, but I assumed it ran OK once warm?
Excessive oil use and "blue" smoke can indicate piston wear/low compression also.
However I would point out there are many things that can cause problems, so a good diagnosis before throwing money is important.
Incidentally injectors are coded so if serviced and fitted in different positions etc. it can effect smooth running, did your garage do that as it involves a good diagnostic tool and entering the figures written on the top of each injector into the cars computer.
Note this is not a magic cure , it just smooths the running a bit in my opinion, so good practice to follow.

When i took my car to the mechanic, he used i don't know which diagnostics and he said one of fuel injectors was faulty (Which i did not belive since the engine was running just fine when warm). So Is there any way to know which injector Is for which cylinder? And yes engine Is working perfectly fine when warm even with serviced (and maybe placed in wrong spots) injectors.

Attached a video 40s after a cold start

Also other mechanic told me it could be a dirty EGR valve for not delivering enough air when cold

Thank you in advance!

 

[bugsymike]

When i took my car to the mechanic, he used i don't know which diagnostics and he said one of fuel injectors was faulty (Which i did not belive since the engine was running just fine when warm). So Is there any way to know which injector Is for which cylinder? And yes engine Is working perfectly fine when warm even with serviced (and maybe placed in wrong spots) injectors.

Attached a video 40s after a cold start

Also other mechanic told me it could be a dirty EGR valve for not delivering enough air when cold

Thank you in advance!

Even if injectors were marked before removal, once stripped and rebuilt you have to rely on the details written on the replacement injectors.
However it is more for fine tuning and smoother running over all so may not make much difference to your cold starting problem.
I would test the heater plugs and heater plug relay, ideally using diagnostic to identify the problem.
Good diagnostics would also give information about EGR valve etc.

 

[cyb0r]

I had a similar issue
would idle slightly rough from cold whilst in high revs once revs dropped idle beacame horrendeous until engine warmed up.
turned out it was a loose electrical connector onto the throttle body.
easily came off rather than having to really push and pull it. anyway i cleaned the connections and held tight with a couple cable ties.
job done no more rough idle from cold. runs great again.

 

[Stolee]

I had a similar issue
would idle slightly rough from cold whilst in high revs once revs dropped idle beacame horrendeous until engine warmed up.
turned out it was a loose electrical connector onto the throttle body.
easily came off rather than having to really push and pull it. anyway i cleaned the connections and held tight with a couple cable ties.
job done no more rough idle from cold. runs great again.

Thank you for your response, but i see you are talking about petrol version of Fiat Punto, i have a diesel so it's a bit different

Still, thank you for time

 

[cyb0r]

Thank you for your response, but i see you are talking about petrol version of Fiat Punto, i have a diesel so it's a bit different

Still, thank you for time

Hi there,
No i have a fiat Ducato 2.3 diesel euro 5 with electronic throttle
Running in limp to 2000rpm before fix

 

[Stolee]

Hi there,
No i have a fiat Ducato 2.3 diesel euro 5 with electronic throttle
Running in limp to 2000rpm before fix

Wow I didn' know that, i thought only petrol engines had air controlled throtle, i looked up and my Punto has it too

Thank you, i will check it out