FIAT Panda 4x4 (2005 - ) - 1.2 petrol, Rough running in freezing weather

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
View Threaded
Fri 14 Dec 2007 03:34
1.2 petrol, Rough running in freezing weather - doctorchris
I'm now entering the third Winter running my Panda 4x4 with the 1.2 FIRE petrol engine. Whenever the temperature drops below 0C. the engine will not rev properly for the first few seconds running the car from cold. It's nothing more than a minor irritant. I've posted on the Fiat Forum and the best explanation there is that it's due to a mapping fault on the ECU,a design fault and not remediable.
Has anyone else experience of this on what is, after all, a very common engine in the Fiat range? I don't really need a cure, just interested in the cause, that's all.

Edited by Dynamic Dave on 14/12/2007 at 12:35

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 14 Dec 2007 09:21
Rough running in freezing weather - Kingpin
Hi Chris. I had the same car for 2 years until I swapped it in August, although a 2WD 54 plate 1.2. Previously a 2001 Punto with the same engine, it's been used for years as you say and very smooth and reliable normally. When you say it runs rough is it like it's running on 3 cylinders for a few seconds then clears? I sometimes had this with my Panda, felt like a spark plug was fouled up then cleared itself. Are the spark plugs original issue and gapped OK? It could be a fueling issue due to ECU regs being a touch too lean like you say or perhaps petrol issue? Have you tried using different fuel brands as an experiement.
Nice car though, the FIRE engines seem to get smoother and better running with age.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Fri 14 Dec 2007 18:55
Rough running in freezing weather - Another John H
My Punto has what must be the same, or virtually identally tuned, 1.2 and it's feels "not quite right" on cold mornings - as you say it doesn't last any length of time.
It has had a proper 2 year service in the last couple of months, including plug change, and it isn't any different to last year when it was a year old.

It would appear to be a feature of the model.

The thing which really does confuse it is to drive a few hundred yards on a cold morning, stop for five minutes and then restart.
Once it gets a sniff of warm air off the exhaust manifold into the air intake it's OK, but before then it's probably a bit flooded.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link

Looking for a garage you can trust? Honest John's Good Garage Guide has thousands of reader recommended garages, plus how-to guides and tips on servicing.

The Good Garage Guide

Real MPG enables you to register the fuel economy you are actually getting against your make and model of car, its engine and type of transmission.

Every time you enter an average consumption figure against your car, the overall average automatically adjusts to reflect it.

Real MPG