General Stilo 1.8 cold running???

[Barry_M2]

Hi all,

My first post here, picked up our 1.8 (53 reg) Stilo last night and am very pleased with it, well, when its warm!

Having just spoken to my wife, she said that it was a little juddery when driving it from cold first thing this morning. Once it was up to normal running temp it was fine, as it was when we drove it home last night.

I'm just wandering if anyone else had experienced a similar problem, and what was done to correct it?

Just off for a look around your forum now....

 

[PNL]

Hi mate as your are a tinkerer have a look at the plugs see if their ok in fact why not change them they ain't that expensive ..also have a look to see if the inside [where flap is ]of the throttle body is all dirty ..just whip off the induction tube and you should find a mesh cover over entrance of the 1.8 throttle body whip that of as well [with circlip pliers] and have a look in there ..push flap up and clean around with some carb cleaner and cotton wool buds you also could have a dodgy coil but check out the plugs first and see how it goes

 

[Barry_M2]

Cheers dude.

My first thought was to change the plugs, but I think they are new anyway. The engine was replaced after the cam belt went and its only dont 1000 miles. But as you say, they are cheap and I'll do it as a matter of course just incase.

I just found the article on cleaning out the inlet control valve, so printed that off. Looks like a 5 min job so will do it when I get a few mins spare.

When I was driving it back last night, approaching junctions (clutch down), I'd notice the revs drop to 500, maybe a tad lower, but then pickup again. But I also let it idle for a few mins when it was warm, and it seemed fine, sitting at around 800.

I'll give the flap a clean over and see how it goes after that.

Cheers for your reply.

 

[1.8Stilo]

does sound like the inlet control valve, mine went a bit juddery on start up when i re-oiled my inuduction whilst having it serviced and use abit too much oil on it and a few deposits built up. Just clean it out and all should be fine! Let us know how you get on

 

[PNL]

does sound like the inlet control valve, mine went a bit juddery on start up when i re-oiled my inuduction whilst having it serviced and use abit too much oil on it and a few deposits built up. Just clean it out and all should be fine! Let us know how you get on

You not supposed to oil thos filters they are for dry use :bang: if you need a new one let me know and I can send you one

 

[1.8Stilo]

really? I didnt know that... ive done mine twice now as since its been on ive done around 18k? I obviously did the usual clean of the filter first? How are you meant to clean them phil or do you not bother If that has screwed it then yes that would be great..... Hmmm!

 

[PNL]

Dont clean them chuck them they cheap to replace

 

[bakano]

i had the exact same problem..(every time i started the car i got a message in the display, ENGINE FAILURE) actualy like two days after i bought the car (also a 1.8) i was afraid that there was something very wrong with the engine... went to the fiat dealer, and they advised me to clean the speed idle, otherwise replace it..it costs something like 200 euros (i live in the netherlands)..so i clean it, with brake cleaner... and problem solved... no more problems running cold, sounds like a swiss clock now..

Regards

 

[Barry_M2]

Re: Stilo 1.8 cold running - Rev's up and down...?

Well, I popped out this morning and gave the butterfly valve a clean up with some carb cleaner. Wasn't really to bad in the first place to be honest, but done it anyway.

Still have the same problem. Rev's bounce around when the engine is cold, stalls every now and then, but soon as the car's up to temperature, its fine, rev's sit as they should and drives perfect.

Now, would it be worth removing the battery to reset the ECU and let it learn the idle and stuff again?

Why would it only do it when cold and is there any other common problems that could cause this?

Cheers...

 

[Deckchair5]

Sounds like your car doesn't realise it's cold and compensate with extra fuel and higher tickover if it runs bad when cold but is ok when warm. Might be an engine temp sensor fault. Would expect a fault code if it's out of limits but who knows it may not have gotten that far

This is a 1.6 and I think it's here on the 1.8 too but it won't be far from the thermostat. Just pull the connector off and use some contact cleaner for starters and see if that makes any difference as some extra resistance through a poor contact here will throw everything out


If you're keen you could check the sensor resistance when cold but it's not so easy to get at. Here's the resistance chart for the engine temp sensor


If you're really keen you could follow my guide on testing the radiator cooling fan by connecting a variable resistance to the engine temp sensor connector and see if you can get a good tickover when you input say a typical resistance for normal cold engine

 

[Barry_M2]

Thats great, I'll give that a try. I do all engine work myself anyway, my hobby is building and tuning bike engines, but I've also re-built a few car engines too.

I'm just not familiar with the Fiat unit just yet, so if anyone has any more idea, keep 'em rolling!

 

[Barry_M2]

Bit of an update....

Changed the plugs yesterday, also gave the inlet valve another clean for good measure!

Anyway, problem is still there, only its not quite as I put in my first post. Having driven it a little more now (the wife usually drives it), ive noticed is does the following......

Starting from COLD - Absolutly no problem at all, ticks over at just over 1k rpm, sounds fine, engine doesn't miss or anything.

However, once you start to drive and things start to warm up, it feels like its missing and is 'kangaroo's' when you slow down (lift of the throttle). Then when you press the clutch the revs drop right down and it wants to stall, most of the time it picks up again then settles as it should, BUT, until it's totally warmed up it runs really rough, sounds and feels like its missing. Tickover is around 800, maybe a little lower, but you can really feel the engine juddering and shaking the car.

Then, once everything is up to normal operating temp and you done 5 miles or so, it sounds and feels absolutly fine, but you do notice the revs drop slightly below 800rpm before they settle, but nothing like when it does it when cold!

So now I'm thinking either.... inlet valve motor or coil(s)?

Any idea's???

 

[volxstu]

Could be a problem with the Lambda sensors or something. Dont suppose you have access to a code reader that might shed some light . Is it still under warrenty then they would do it for free.

 

[Barry_M2]

I'm just waiting for software to turn up in the post, I have an OBD2 connector so I can plug in my laptop. I used it with a bit of freebee software and that didn't show up any codes.

Once the other diagnostic software arrives I'll give that a try.

It's starting to bug me now!

 

[PNL]

I had very simular on my 1.6 and that turned out to be No4 injector ..but just thought of some thing have a look at the inlet manifold gasket ..check if all the bolts are tight or the gasket damaged ..could be sucking air until the manifold get some heat in it and expands a little :chin: that was also another problem that was found on mine

 

[Barry_M2]

Just a quick update on this problem:

The car was jumping and stalling when cold, cleaning the inlet butterfly valve didn't fix it.

I brought an OBDII socket so I could plug in my laptop. Done this a couple of nights ago and the only fault it found was U1600 (key not recognised). I cleared this code.

Also, I'm quite sure one of the other programs I loaded up said it was resetting the ECU (I might have miss-read). But, after doing this, it seems to have cleared up the problem according to the Mrs, and has been fine for the past 2 or 3 days.

So all in all, I think it needed an ECU reset, or so it would seem!?