Technical High fuel consumption and power loss

[Jimmy23]

Hello!
My father's Fiat has been using a lot of fuel lately.
He even said that every now and then the engine would lose power for a second like it doesn't get fuel.
He drove the car to a shop to check the exhaust and they replaced a part of the pipe but the problems continued.
I connected an OBD2 scanner and found these codes:
P0130
U1601

Is it just the O2 sensor and what does this bank 1, sensor 1 mean?

 

[judderbar]

Hello!
My father's Fiat has been using a lot of fuel lately.
He even said that every now and then the engine would lose power for a second like it doesn't get fuel.
He drove the car to a shop to check the exhaust and they replaced a part of the pipe but the problems continued.
I connected an OBD2 scanner and found these codes:
P0130
U1601

Is it just the O2 sensor and what does this bank 1, sensor 1 mean?

Bank 2 would be on a different engine type. You only have one bank on the punto. These codes are generic for all car types. Sensor 1 means its the sensor before the gas goes past the catalyst - the top or first or only sensor.

What does it mean? The ECU is at the other end of the wiring to the sensor. At the ECU end, the ECU is seeing something it not right with the voltages it is measuring on that circuit.

It could be just the sensor. Possibly there is some general wiring fault that is creating the sensor code and the network code. Checking you have a good earth connection to the ECU is worth doing at a minimum.

The car will still run without the sensor so unplugging it might give you some ideas of what is wrong.

 

[Brendan W]

Is the thermostat OK ?

 

[Jimmy23]

Bank 2 would be on a different engine type. You only have one bank on the punto. These codes are generic for all car types. Sensor 1 means its the sensor before the gas goes past the catalyst - the top or first or only sensor.

What does it mean? The ECU is at the other end of the wiring to the sensor. At the ECU end, the ECU is seeing something it not right with the voltages it is measuring on that circuit.

It could be just the sensor. Possibly there is some general wiring fault that is creating the sensor code and the network code. Checking you have a good earth connection to the ECU is worth doing at a minimum.

The car will still run without the sensor so unplugging it might give you some ideas of what is wrong.

Thank you.
The O2 sensor is somewhere on or past the exhaust manifold right?

What's the second code?
Every few months the car won't turn on, or better said, turn over because the crank position sensor. After the contacts are moved around a little bit, the problem goes away for quite some time. I don't know if the contacts are oxidized or what.

Would contact cleaner spray help?
Could that cause that error code?

Is the thermostat OK ?

As far as I know, no problems.
That being said, the car is being driven on short distances.
The last 100+ mile trip was a month ago.

 

[Brendan W]

Thank you.
After the contacts are moved around a little bit, the problem goes away for quite some time. I don't know if the contacts are oxidized or what.
Would contact cleaner spray help?
Could that cause that error code?

This is a strong pointer to a wiring problem at or near the sensor. Inspect it carefully and spray contact cleaner.