Panda Engine Management Light Flickers

[PaddyPanda]

We have a 2009 Fiat Panda 1.1 Active Eco has a recurring problem that the Engine Management Light Flickers for a second and the car looses power for an instant. This first happened last summer and appeared to happen when going over speed bumps. The problem re-surfaced in the last month and in addition the engine cuts out completely when driving, even very slowly, over our lowered kerb into our drive way (happens as soon as the driver tyre hits the kerb). An independent garage service the car (new plugs etc) and check for registered faults and found nothing. As the revs at idle (too high) have been an ongoing problem that no-one could address for me, I took advantage of a deal and replaced the throttle body and both coils and put new spark plugs leads in. I also removed all the electrical connects cleaned and reconnected them. I also checked that all the fuses were properly inserted. Although the car no longer cuts out, the Engine Management Light and loss of power still happens going over bumps. The Fiat dealership want £600 to trace the fault through the wiring and an auto electrician has quoted me £50 + vat per hour. I'm going to attempt to trace the problem which now sounds like a wiring problem down the loom. Any advice on how to tackle this methodically or known areas of weakness to start the search would be very much appreciated. Many thanks

 

[Trimdoner]

Remove and clean the earth connections (a couple of locations in front of battery). A dirty connection here threw up regular misfires on daughter's 1.1 and engine management lights flickered but didn't show any stored codes.
Local garage couldn't find the fault but still changed coil packs twice then wanted to replace ecu

 

[irc]

Earth connectors definitely a good place to start.
Also, did you use proper contact cleaner on the multiplug connectors? Normal WD40 is great for some things, but I don't think it's good for these.
(I use WD40 Contact Cleaner or a product from RS which both seem to work well.)

Couple of other questions...

When you get the EML flicker, is it only the EML or do any other dash lights flicker too?

When you get the EML flicker do the headlights flicker too?

Did the garage just use a "simple" OBD reader, or one which can interrogate everthing (including the body computer) too? If simple, may be worth trying to get codes read at a fiat dealer, or getting hold of MultiECUScan (MES) (or finding a local FF member with it) in case the car already knows what's wrong with itself. MES can be a real time (and money) saver.

And the old chestnut... how old is your battery? A slightly weak battery can cause all kinds of strange symptoms, and human nature normally tends to overlook the possibility. Been there, got the T-shirt. And the spare coil packs. Etc.

 

[varesecrazy]

We have a 2009 Fiat Panda 1.1 Active Eco has a recurring problem that the Engine Management Light Flickers for a second and the car looses power for an instant. This first happened last summer and appeared to happen when going over speed bumps. The problem re-surfaced in the last month and in addition the engine cuts out completely when driving, even very slowly, over our lowered kerb into our drive way (happens as soon as the driver tyre hits the kerb). An independent garage service the car (new plugs etc) and check for registered faults and found nothing. As the revs at idle (too high) have been an ongoing problem that no-one could address for me, I took advantage of a deal and replaced the throttle body and both coils and put new spark plugs leads in. I also removed all the electrical connects cleaned and reconnected them. I also checked that all the fuses were properly inserted. Although the car no longer cuts out, the Engine Management Light and loss of power still happens going over bumps. The Fiat dealership want £600 to trace the fault through the wiring and an auto electrician has quoted me £50 + vat per hour. I'm going to attempt to trace the problem which now sounds like a wiring problem down the loom. Any advice on how to tackle this methodically or known areas of weakness to start the search would be very much appreciated. Many thanks

Hi,
the mention of cutting out was worrying.. but you seen to have improved that,
an old battery is the only issue we've had in 12 years and 80K miles,

personally,
I'd go through the earth points again,
then get an auto electrician,
anybody who's worth the title should have it sorted in less than 2 x hours.. so not all that expensive in the long run..,

the short loom sections from the coil packs and injectors would be my 1st port of call..,
all been mentioned on here over the years..,strangely NOT on the oldest of the breed:chin:
Charlie - Oxford

 

[PaddyPanda]

Many thanks to all who responded so quickly.

I can confirm that a Main Fiat Dealership did the full diagnostics check and zero fault codes were identified.

I also used the proper Contact Cleaner as recommended by you.

I'll start with the earth leads as these are easy to access and clean.

Many thanks again all, and I'll hopefully be back with some good news.

All the best.

 

[koalar]

Wow that a tricky one.

You could move a wire to clean a connection and think its fixed for it to come back months or years later.


Best to try and narrow it down before moving to much.


Someone inside the car would help. Go round gently wiggling the wires till the fault happens.

If there is no one to help you could set up a camera to record the dash.


Are you sure it the engine check light? The passenger airbag light is known to come on over rough ground?

Try the HT leads just a gut feeling.


Really need to narrow down yourself save that hourly rate if possible.

 

[PaddyPanda]

Thanks Koalar,
I have a willing helper to keep an eye on the dash for warning lights while wiggle!
Also in response to others, no other warning lights come on.

Cheers

 

[PaddyPanda]

All,

I am happy to report that there have been no further problems with the Panda since I cleaned the earth connections onto the body. Fingers crossed that's the mystery solved.

Thanks all for your input.

 

[koalar]

That's good. Well done.

 

[PaddyPanda]

The problems returns. After a few weeks of behaving the Panda has returned to its old ways and not only is the engine management light periodically flickering but the engine is now prone to cutting out completly. Lady time it wouldn't start again and had to call out the AA. The guy was great and traced the problem to what the Fault code suggested, the camshaft sensor. He found a part and fitted it for us and everything was good for 3 days.....now same problem. At my wits end now and thinking best course of action now is to remove the ECU and send for diagnostics. I'm loathed to jump into dashboard removal and wiring loom strip out which is the Fiat dealership recommended course of action or the auto electricians approach which is fit new ECU. Any thoughts on ECU diagnostics at £35 as first course of action and any tips on removal f said ECU.... Need to instruct my 16 year old on the procedure. Thanks

 

[TobiasBB]

Buy ecu from a yard... it will do just fine if you must have a newer one

 

[koalar]

Twice the sensor been replaced and twice it fixed the problem for 3 days.


Got to be a clue in there somewhere



I'd be concentrating on the sensor, how It fits and connection.



Might be worth just unplug and reconnect and see if that temporary fixes it next time it fails.