Daz. I can confirm that using silicone to seal the little screwhole in the middle under the wipers is the fix for this problem. Since I sealed mine I haven't had any trouble like this at all. Much better than WD40!
Technical Multijet - loss of power after cold start
- Thread starter pulhamdown
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Technical Multijet - loss of power after cold start
im waiting for a dry day so that I can do this fix as the wd40 didn't work at all.
does anyone have any pics of the screwhole? has it got a screw in it already? thanks
thanks for help. i'm sorry to hear yours is not well. I have (hopefully) attached a pic - have I located the correct screw? thanks
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is your problem related to the above? How old is your Panda?
Mine is a 58 plate and had done 22000 when I bought it a year ago but in the last year ive nearly doubled that. As of next week though my commute goes from 70 miles a day to 7 so I cant wait, although it does seem silly to have such an economical car now.
My Panda is a 2005 Multijet with 83K miles on the clock. I've owned it since new.
Things went wrong last Saturday. I visited my father and when I came out, the engine light came on when I started the car. I re-tried and engine light was still on. It gradually faded on next attempt and I left it running a few minutes and switched the engine off and on again and the light went out. I therefore decided to drive home (26 miles) and by the time I got home, although no further warning lights appeared, the car sounded awful rough. The only place I could bring it to on Monday was the main Fiat dealer who plugged it in and the reading came up with timing chain, alternator and maf sensor. Apparently when they looked at it the sprockets holding the timing chain were bent causing the chain to jump and the alternator was knackered. I'm not so happy as I had the timing chain replaced in January last year (as a precaution against this type of thing happening). The dealer said that they would need to order a couple of parts to allow them to manually turn the engine. The parts only arrived today, but they had difficulty stripping things off the engine as some of the bolts had seized and they needed to heat them to get them off. I've been told that it'll be Monday before they will get to test the engine. I don't hold up a great deal of hope tbh. I think that with my luck there will be some valve damage. I currently researching a replacement.
After what has happened, I'll be avoiding the diesel if this is the case, although it was a great wee economical engine until now...
Not keen on the new Panda colours though (there's no yellow).
Things went wrong last Saturday. I visited my father and when I came out, the engine light came on when I started the car. I re-tried and engine light was still on. It gradually faded on next attempt and I left it running a few minutes and switched the engine off and on again and the light went out. I therefore decided to drive home (26 miles) and by the time I got home, although no further warning lights appeared, the car sounded awful rough. The only place I could bring it to on Monday was the main Fiat dealer who plugged it in and the reading came up with timing chain, alternator and maf sensor. Apparently when they looked at it the sprockets holding the timing chain were bent causing the chain to jump and the alternator was knackered. I'm not so happy as I had the timing chain replaced in January last year (as a precaution against this type of thing happening). The dealer said that they would need to order a couple of parts to allow them to manually turn the engine. The parts only arrived today, but they had difficulty stripping things off the engine as some of the bolts had seized and they needed to heat them to get them off. I've been told that it'll be Monday before they will get to test the engine. I don't hold up a great deal of hope tbh. I think that with my luck there will be some valve damage. I currently researching a replacement.
After what has happened, I'll be avoiding the diesel if this is the case, although it was a great wee economical engine until now... Not keen on the new Panda colours though (there's no yellow).
ok so despite doing the silicone fix 2 weeks ago (and not replacing the screw just leaving it out) my car has twice had the same symptoms which are starting fine but when you put your foot down you realise something is up and then it crawls along before kicking into life and is generally fine the rest of the time. The reason it has only happened twice tbf is because i can now park it under the car port so it doesnt get wet overnight.
anyway im at a point now where i have to take action. i am about to sell the car as im not prepared to risk my kids being in it when it has no power but before i do i want to take it to a garage to look at.I have called the 3 nearest official fiat service centres and they havent heard of the issue so im not taking it there. i have a reputable garage 2 mins from my work which i will use for the first time but can anyone advise what i say to them?? i dont want them to start replacing things and leaving me with a massive bill when they might not even fix it. do you guys even think they will find and cure the issue??
anyway im at a point now where i have to take action. i am about to sell the car as im not prepared to risk my kids being in it when it has no power but before i do i want to take it to a garage to look at.I have called the 3 nearest official fiat service centres and they havent heard of the issue so im not taking it there. i have a reputable garage 2 mins from my work which i will use for the first time but can anyone advise what i say to them?? i dont want them to start replacing things and leaving me with a massive bill when they might not even fix it. do you guys even think they will find and cure the issue??
Tell them what you've found out through here and what the common issue that causes it is, they should be able to backwards diagnose it from there then all being well.
so my panda went in today and the garage said that its going to cost north of £1000 to fix due to it running on 3 cylinders and a knocking noise which is a bent con rod. I think that ties in with what people are saying on here in worst case scenario.
I cant afford that fix so i have to get shot of it - hopefully sell it at a reasonable price to someone who knows what theyre doing. or p/ex it for something new on credit but not keen on that one as much.
The guy said dont drive it far (if at all), he sounded dramatic and said it sounds really bad but to my knowledge thats how its always sounded!
feel a bit rubbish now as i cant afford anything else above what i get back for the panda
I cant afford that fix so i have to get shot of it - hopefully sell it at a reasonable price to someone who knows what theyre doing. or p/ex it for something new on credit but not keen on that one as much.
The guy said dont drive it far (if at all), he sounded dramatic and said it sounds really bad but to my knowledge thats how its always sounded!
feel a bit rubbish now as i cant afford anything else above what i get back for the panda
I have experienced this problem on both my son's and my Panda 1.3 multi-jets.
On both, I removed the ECU (easy 1 minute job), sprayed some contact cleaner over the contacts in the ECU housing. Let it dry off. Replaced the ECU and sprayed the area with WD40 as an additional precaution.
My car has covered 22k miles since then with no recurrence of the problem and my son's car now has over 100k miles on it and has had no further recurrence in the last 2 years.
Of course, you can take it to Fiat and they'll empty your wallet for you without solving the problem!
On both, I removed the ECU (easy 1 minute job), sprayed some contact cleaner over the contacts in the ECU housing. Let it dry off. Replaced the ECU and sprayed the area with WD40 as an additional precaution.
My car has covered 22k miles since then with no recurrence of the problem and my son's car now has over 100k miles on it and has had no further recurrence in the last 2 years.
Of course, you can take it to Fiat and they'll empty your wallet for you without solving the problem!
This won't solve water ingress and won't unbend conrods though.
You're so right, it won't. However, the original post is nothing to do with bent con-rods it's to dowith erratic running after a cold start.
You're so right, it won't. However, the original post is nothing to do with bent con-rods it's to dowith erratic running after a cold start.
You didn't quote what your answer was in relation to though, so was assuming it was the post above yours.
****problem solved****
Hi, I am in a rush and do not have time to read the whole thread so not sure if my solution has already been listed but I would like to help so am frantically typing this out as I need to get off to work soon.
I had the same problem of my FIAT PANDA 1.3 Multijet DIESEL '57 plate cutting out and juddering shortly after starting followed by a loss of power when trying to accelerate. This happened for the first few hundred meters and if i tried to accelerate, even foot to the metal, there would be a lag of a few second then the power surged through. It was also very smokey on start up. The car would then normally run fine after about half a mile to a mile. This went on for weeks, months even and I could not fathom what the problem was.
I cannot remember where I read it, if it was on here, or if it was my own thought, however I decided to try the more expensive diesel (mainly Shell V-Power) and it immediately cured the problem. It is a bit more expensive but I have never had any of the problems that have been described on here again and moreover I do get a fair few more miles out of the tank. As an experiment I have even gone back to using standard diesel and cheap stuff and the problem came back again.
I would wait until your car is on the fuel warning gauge before filling up with V-power and once all the cheaper diesel is used you should start to notice a difference. I think the difference in fuel price can be justified with with the improved mileage and improved running of the car. It is a shame that the car doesn't just run well on the cheaper stuff.
This fix worked for me and it is not to say it will work for everyone but it is certainly worth trying. It has been running well for well over a year now.
Hi, I am in a rush and do not have time to read the whole thread so not sure if my solution has already been listed but I would like to help so am frantically typing this out as I need to get off to work soon.
I had the same problem of my FIAT PANDA 1.3 Multijet DIESEL '57 plate cutting out and juddering shortly after starting followed by a loss of power when trying to accelerate. This happened for the first few hundred meters and if i tried to accelerate, even foot to the metal, there would be a lag of a few second then the power surged through. It was also very smokey on start up. The car would then normally run fine after about half a mile to a mile. This went on for weeks, months even and I could not fathom what the problem was.
I cannot remember where I read it, if it was on here, or if it was my own thought, however I decided to try the more expensive diesel (mainly Shell V-Power) and it immediately cured the problem. It is a bit more expensive but I have never had any of the problems that have been described on here again and moreover I do get a fair few more miles out of the tank. As an experiment I have even gone back to using standard diesel and cheap stuff and the problem came back again.
I would wait until your car is on the fuel warning gauge before filling up with V-power and once all the cheaper diesel is used you should start to notice a difference. I think the difference in fuel price can be justified with with the improved mileage and improved running of the car. It is a shame that the car doesn't just run well on the cheaper stuff.
This fix worked for me and it is not to say it will work for everyone but it is certainly worth trying. It has been running well for well over a year now.
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I am not sure what his fault is, but I can definitely assure you that your suggestion would do absolutely nothing to help in the manner you intend. .
Sometimes one can get contaminated fuel from a source, it is not unknown, but thankfully rare. If you always fill up at the same pump, then changing garages / pumps may get rid of a source of contamination. But one type of standard automotive diesel over another will make absolutely no difference at all.
Sorry.
Sometimes one can get contaminated fuel from a source, it is not unknown, but thankfully rare. If you always fill up at the same pump, then changing garages / pumps may get rid of a source of contamination. But one type of standard automotive diesel over another will make absolutely no difference at all.
Sorry.
I'll disagree with you on one type of standard diesel versus another.
I usually use Maxol fuel but if I haven't been able to get to one of their stations, then I have maybe used Tesco. However once I used Sainsbury's diesel due to a 15p off per litre voucher when shopping. Hell will freeze over before I do that again! The drop in power was astounding and I had my own special smoke screen too! I thought something was wrong, however next tank was my usual supply and my car was back to normal.
