circolo
Member
My otherwise reliable 19k miles Panda Twin air, became jerky, hesitant and refused to allow the car to accelerate off ecomode without stuttering.
It culminated in falling into "limp home" mode last weekend. Which reset itself once I'd switched the ignition off 3 times.
However the stuttering off ecomode continued, and when on ecomode felt "different". Not quite stuttering but almost.
In consideration of getting the car to Fiat, and the money/time I'd loose. I went for the "having a go myself" at it. I'd read on here a couple of others that had had similar problems. Pointing towards eventual diagnosis of premature failure of the spark plugs, whereby the electrodes had almost burnt through.
The job is easy, remove the engine cover, and remove the coil packs which are bolted in. Then undo/remove spark plugs with a 16mm thin walled tool. Some tools will be too thick walled to fit the aperture where the plugs are deep in the engine. As the hole is only really 21mm at most in diameter.
Once I'd removed the plugs, I was astonished that the engine was even running. The first plug removed was just a bit dirty/worn. Something I'd expect on a 19k mile plug. The other plug, had almost all the electrode frazzled away! How the little twin air even kept going is beyond me.
Anyway, I've replaced the spark plugs. And interestingly they appear a different ngk number, they're correct as I've cross referenced this with a number of sources. It does suggest to me maybe there's an issue with the "long lifeness" of these Iridium units.
Of course, I'm aware premature failure of spark plugs could be an inherent issue with the engine itself. So we'll see how things go.
Currently, however the car feels better than it's ever felt.
It culminated in falling into "limp home" mode last weekend. Which reset itself once I'd switched the ignition off 3 times.
However the stuttering off ecomode continued, and when on ecomode felt "different". Not quite stuttering but almost.
In consideration of getting the car to Fiat, and the money/time I'd loose. I went for the "having a go myself" at it. I'd read on here a couple of others that had had similar problems. Pointing towards eventual diagnosis of premature failure of the spark plugs, whereby the electrodes had almost burnt through.
The job is easy, remove the engine cover, and remove the coil packs which are bolted in. Then undo/remove spark plugs with a 16mm thin walled tool. Some tools will be too thick walled to fit the aperture where the plugs are deep in the engine. As the hole is only really 21mm at most in diameter.
Once I'd removed the plugs, I was astonished that the engine was even running. The first plug removed was just a bit dirty/worn. Something I'd expect on a 19k mile plug. The other plug, had almost all the electrode frazzled away! How the little twin air even kept going is beyond me.
Anyway, I've replaced the spark plugs. And interestingly they appear a different ngk number, they're correct as I've cross referenced this with a number of sources. It does suggest to me maybe there's an issue with the "long lifeness" of these Iridium units.
Of course, I'm aware premature failure of spark plugs could be an inherent issue with the engine itself. So we'll see how things go.
Currently, however the car feels better than it's ever felt.