General Jerking/ loss of power while driving

[fluffyowl0]

Hello I am a girl, and I haven't yet got my haynes manual, but I would like to save myself about £1,000,000 at the garage, so am prepared to get my hands a little dirty. My uno had a problem that it cut out at the lights unless revved, which appears to be solved after head gasket change and removal of gunk from pipes. However the jerking and strange loss of power every now and again seems to be getting worse, so I don't know what to do. I mean the mechanic did say it needs a service (I don't think the previous owners loved it enough) which is fair enough, but after spending more on fixing the car than the car itself I'm reluctant to get all that done if this problem isn't likely to be resolved.

Any thoughts? So far I have found out that it could be: the fuel filter (cheap, poss do myself?) , fuel pump (eek!), modulator (some kind of weird dance?!), distributor (simple?). It seems to be a little better when it has more petrol in it, if that means anything? If nothing else, if I look at the problem and decide I can't do it, at least when I say lots of technical jargon to the mechanic he'll be less likely to rip me off (I hope!). My alternative plan is to get some redex and just accelerate a lot.

 

[Martiny10]

Sounds like dirt in the carb - or if the head gasket was changed I would bet that the gasket between the carb and the engine block was not replaced when they removed it. This would result in leakage and consequently weak mixture/failure to run at idle.

If you look at the engine, on top of it should be a large plastic box held on by a nut. Unbolting and removing this (note: how the piece of foil hose attaches) will show the carb - the thingy responsible for mixing fuel and air. It itself is bolted onto the engine block, a gasket betwen the two should provide an airtight seal.

Your local reliable FIAT dealer should be able to supply a new gasket. I don't think it is more than £15.

Before doing that, it would be worthwhile squirting it with carb cleaner (available at all good automotive stockists) and checking for loose hoses, loose spark plug cables etc.

 

[polecat]

Hi and welcome to our forum
The first thing to do is give the car a service, then you will know where you are starting from in finding any faults that are still there afterwards.
It is quite easy to do if you are willing to get your hands dirty. A Haynes manual is a good investment.
At the very least I would change all filters, oil and plugs and then anything else you feel comfortable about from the Haynes. Then get back to us if you still have any problems.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[Morty Mort]

Hei.

The catalyzer might have gone to the eternal hunting fields. IF it has a cat.

Morten.

 

[joecinq]

Ok lets start by saying i know nothing about the mechanics of cars....

butttt i had this exact same problem with my cinq, i thought i had broken my car. it may be may be worth a pushing in the leads that go into the ecu, because this was the only thing wrong with my car but it meant that the car would lose loads of power and stall unless i revved it like mad.... i had to drive home from school in 2nd! :bang:

It was only when i took it a friends garage, that he solved this.. but he said some garages would of told me it was the ecu or something like that and they would charged me loads for it.

On mine it was caused by the little pipe, which goes to the k&n, that had pulled it out slightly... my bros mate just pushed it in and 'voila', it was working normal.

I think this is definately worth a try before you take it to the garage.

I hope it is something silly like this anyways,

Joe

 

[fluffyowl0]

Thanks everyone I will go ebay myself a Haynes and then get cracking.

 

[Louie Bee]

Hi there and welcome to The FIAT Forum,



Not sure which model you drive. I have had this problem with 2 MK1 903 engines and with Mk 2 999 IE (FIRE) engines with slightly different symptoms and cures. If you haven’t found the problem yet post a bit more info on engine size and its age. Its not fun kangarooing down the road and it could be simple to fix.



Look at Bushboy’s “Got a problem with your Uno?” thread for a nice link.



If your car is a late version (after 1992), you get a lot of extra info in The Porter Manual (Official FIAT Part # 46000980) compared with The Haynes manuals. I had it on order for 2 years from FIAT Urmston with no success. The garage tells me it is out of print. I found a seller on ebay and won it for £3 + delivery on Saturday. Turns out the guy rescued “them” from a skip at work – was in mint condition. He may have more to sell on ebay soon. I could try and e-mail him to see if he has more to sell with a “buy now” price – save everyone bidding against each other later. I can’t post his email address for obvious reasons.



Copy and paste into address bar for £13 + delivery form Amazon but you may have to wait 4 weeks.



http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1899238239/qid%3D1098903728/202-1310079-8221457

 

[chrisunoman]

It seems that Unos with problems similar to these are fixed by changing the ignition advance unit.

 

[andre79ge]

What type of engine do you have? Is it a carb model or does it has an electronic fuel injection? I think it's an important difference! However you have a similar problem to you: my car sometimes cuts out at idling (for example if I turn ON lamps or fan or similar) when it's not completely warmed up. I pointed out that it's a mixture problem (it runs lean during warming up and also when lambda sensor is not active) but in i.e. models it is not possible to regulate mixture, or pheraps it could be a faulty temp sensor. However communicate if your car is with electronic injection (it's simple to discover: do you have to pull some lever inside the car when you start from cold? If not, your car is with i.e. system and without carb). Bye,
Andrea.

 

[F R O S T Y]

I'd say firstly check your spark plugs, i had this problem on my Uno Turbo a while back. Change of spark plugs and it was fine. If not then it could be your carb as someone has suggested, (if its the carb model) if its the fuel injected model then it may be something to do with the automatic choke.
Let us know how you get on

F R O $ T Y

 

[fiatunolover]

Ive had this problem with my uno before - Twice it has been the head gasket.

One time was different. There is a saucer shaped thing on top of the distributor cap, a rubber hose attaches to this. My problem turned out to be a hole in this rubber pipe, I removed it, cut the end off (the bit with the hole) and reattached it - hey presto! Worth a look at least?