Panda 2012+ Confused.com

[sillyoldfart81]

Hello everyone. I am so pleased to join you to see if anyone out there is able to help me with my immediate problem. By the way my real name is Ray. Now let me cut to the chase. I have just taken delivery of a brand new Fiat Panda 1.2 in Easy trim. I am happy with it in most respects but have hit upon a snag which is causing me a great deal of concern. Let me explain. When starting off on a slight upward incline and upon releasing the clutch, the engine appears to momentarily hesitate and I feel it is going to stall. However once I pass this point it then picks up and all appears to be normal. I tested it on the flat and if I put it into 1st, without accelerating and just using the idle speed, it moves off without that horrible dead spot coming into play. I then tried a similar test but in reverse this time. Without any acceleration and just releasing the clutch it literally flew across the car park. It was a good job no-one was behind me. I have been back to the dealership and they test drove it and agreed there was a problem. However after diagnostic test all appeared normal and there was little they could do to help me. Where do I go from here? I understand many people have had similar experience with the 1.2 engine. Apparently the problem started when fiat went from eco 5 to 6. If anyone can throw some light upon this problem I would be eternally grateful. Thanking you in anticipation of a positive result.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hello everyone. I am so pleased to join you to see if anyone out there is able to help me with my immediate problem. By the way my real name is Ray. Now let me cut to the chase. I have just taken delivery of a brand new Fiat Panda 1.2 in Easy trim. I am happy with it in most respects but have hit upon a snag which is causing me a great deal of concern. Let me explain. When starting off on a slight upward incline and upon releasing the clutch, the engine appears to momentarily hesitate and I feel it is going to stall. However once I pass this point it then picks up and all appears to be normal. I tested it on the flat and if I put it into 1st, without accelerating and just using the idle speed, it moves off without that horrible dead spot coming into play. I then tried a similar test but in reverse this time. Without any acceleration and just releasing the clutch it literally flew across the car park. It was a good job no-one was behind me. I have been back to the dealership and they test drove it and agreed there was a problem. However after diagnostic test all appeared normal and there was little they could do to help me. Where do I go from here? I understand many people have had similar experience with the 1.2 engine. Apparently the problem started when fiat went from eco 5 to 6. If anyone can throw some light upon this problem I would be eternally grateful. Thanking you in anticipation of a positive result.

Newly ordered vehicles should be fine..

Read the euro 6 thread in the 500 section for the ECU adaption options

Charlie .Oxford

 

[smc4761]

I took delivery of my new Panda 2 weeks ago now, it was a pre registered job with 8 miles on clock although 7 months since registration. It the 1.2 popular.

I have a sort of similar situation. When moving off in first on flat, it feels like its about to stall, so give it slightly more revs and all of a sudden it shots off, its a bit like a turbo lag on some cars. I have been driving for over 30 years now and consider myself to be a careful driver. I have never burnt so much rubber in my life, the amount of times I have screeched away from traffic lights, or if stopped at a roundabout.

Any thoughts

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

To SillyOldFart, does your Panda have the Hill Holder option? (Not sure which models get this) - if so, then read on!

It sounds like you might be experiencing hill holder 'doing its thing'. If you come to rest on an uphill slope and apply the foot brake, when you take your foot off the brake and move it to the accelerator, the brakes remain 'on' for a second or two, until you release the clutch. When the car starts to move forward, the brakes are released - but for a split second the car is trying to move off with the brakes on. This will feel a bit like its about to stall, and you might feel it 'tug down' a bit, as if the handbrake is on. The system lets you do a hill start without using the handbrake, and is supposed to be 'a help'. Hill Holder only works uphill in first gear, or backwards up a slope in reverse. And, the hill holder is cancelled if you put the handbrake on and do a 'proper' hill start, or if you are very slow in getting going, then it can roll back. On my 4x4 (a diesel), it did feel odd at first, as if it might stall, but now I'm used to it, its something I miss on our other car.

 

[varesecrazy]

I took delivery of my new Panda 2 weeks ago now, it was a pre registered job with 8 miles on clock although 7 months since registration. It the 1.2 popular.

I have a sort of similar situation. When moving off in first on flat, it feels like its about to stall, so give it slightly more revs and all of a sudden it shots off, its a bit like a turbo lag on some cars. I have been driving for over 30 years now and consider myself to be a careful driver. I have never burnt so much rubber in my life, the amount of times I have screeched away from traffic lights, or if stopped at a roundabout.

Any thoughts

Hi. Sounds like the same ECU Mapping...

There was a LOT of conversation ..along with the BBC Watchdog piece

See the 500 section..

Charlie

 

[gar074]

My hill holder works fine, without any sense of grabbing or hesitation when you start off. This sounds like the engine mapping problem.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Ignore my earlier post about hill holder - this is only available on Pandas with rear disc brakes (Trekking, 4x4 and Cross models)

And to gar074, it only catches me out on the pretty steep hill in central St Albans, and even then, only sometimes seems sluggish to release.

 

[Panda 4x4 TA Antarctica]

Hill-hold is a brilliant invention - I have had it on the last 3x cars we've bought and it has worked brilliantly on each. That said, I wonder if a hill-start on modern driving tests requires the student to do it in a car WITHOUT hill-hold? It should. As with all these devices/features (ABS, ESP, TC etc), they're extremely practical in the real world, but drivers should not be solely dependent on them - what if they buy a car without these (many first cars being older/cheaper models).

PS - sorry OP - I can't help on the initial query, but it does sound awfully like the fuelling issues that were flagged up a while ago on the 1.2.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hill-hold is a brilliant invention - I have had it on the last 3x cars we've bought and it has worked brilliantly on each. That said, I wonder if a hill-start on modern driving tests requires the student to do it in a car WITHOUT hill-hold? It should. As with all these devices/features (ABS, ESP, TC etc), they're extremely practical in the real world, but drivers should not be solely dependent on them - what if they buy a car without these (many first cars being older/cheaper models).

PS - sorry OP - I can't help on the initial query, but it does sound awfully like the fuelling issues that were flagged up a while ago on the 1.2.

THREAD now CLOSED