Fiat Cinquecento problem

[binboy]

Hi just saved a 1997 P reg 899cc cinquecento SX with only 26k from being scrapped. Its well clean with all 3 keys 2 owners history etc. Just drove it home 25 miles as it still got some t&t, drove really well for the first couple of miles then as it got warm the RPM was really up and down. It was worse when at a stand still or between gears etc. Anyone got any ideas as don't really want to spend loads on garage bills as the car cost very little. It has the 900cc pushrod engine and its only done 1000 in the last 4 years between MOT's.

Thanks Neil

[overrun]

Cleans plugs and airflow meter. Costs nowt but a piece of emery and a tin of carb cleaner.

 

Should help.

[PhilA]

Mine did that for a while then died completely. It turned out to be the crank position sensor. It got progressively harder to start, would stall a lot at low RPM (<1000).

 

That being said, does it have a clean tank of fuel? If the fuel's been sat up for ages it could just be stale. Not like a tankful is gonna break the bank (Mind you, it was 22 quid to fill mine from empty when I got it in 1997...)

 

--Phil

[PhilA]

Cleans plugs and airflow meter. Costs nowt but a piece of emery and a tin of carb cleaner.

 

Should help.

 

 

No airflow meter on the 899, the fuel injection is MAP sensor, crank position, coolant/intake temperature, lambda and and throttle pot controlled.

 

The plugs and leads do have to be good as it's wasted-spark ignition though. If one goes bad (short) it takes down another and you end up running on 2 pots. You might as well get out and push at that point.

[overrun]

Ah.

 

The man above makes a good point. CPS.

[binboy]

Thanks will change plugs and clean airflow meter at weekend, the RPM gets higher the warmer the engine gets and then drops back down. I only put £6 worth of petrol in so a load of fresh fuel would help. When the car was cold the RPM was normal.

Thanks Neil

[DSdriver]

Have you considered changing the engine for one of the original 500cc. This would be the true Autoshite solution. You'd probably have to put it in back to front if the new ones are fwd*

 

*showing my lack of knowledge about modern cars again.

[PhilA]

Ah. I'd say either the engine coolant temperature sender or the intake air sender have bitten it, leaving the engine too rich when warm.
 That'll cause it to freak out into limp mode with your foot off the throttle.

 

Coolant sensor (from memory) is in the thermostat housing (pop the bonnet, look at the engine, the pipe that comes up from the radiator on the right hand side of the engine, has a blue plug) and the air intake charge temperature sensor lives under thek hat on top of the throttle body. You have to pull it off to get at it, tiny little electronic doodad inside. I'd be looking more at the coolant temperature sender, that has wild swings of temperature in daily use, and the thermistors do go bad.

You can test them with a meter, but they're normally really cheap.

 

--Phil

[binboy]

Thanks il just change it as there quite cheap, had a similar problem with a Renault a couple of years ago that was the temp sensor.

Thanks Neil

[Station]

If it's temperature related, try the ignition coil or the coil amp, or 'ignitor' as our Japanese friends call them.

[Barry Cade]

Had loads of these, and my first port of call would be the temp sensor as said, then the Lambda sensor. Small Fiat engines are very pernickety about Lambda, and don't tend to ping up a management light. Will run fine on "open loop" then when they warm up and go "closed loop" they start to hunt badly.

[binboy]

Thanks for that il pop a temp sensor on tomorrow and see how it goes.

Cheers

[binboy]

Been using it loads today put a load of fresh petrol in and seems too of sorted itself out. The tick over seemed a little high after Id been sitting in traffic but not bouncing like mad. Going to give it a good clean tomorrow and il post some pics.

Thanks

[UmBongo]

My Dad was at a Fiat dealer browsing (ie wasting their time) some years ago, when an irate old geez turned up in a Chinkychenko.

The service guy asked how he could be of assistance and was met with a massive rant something along the lines of, ''You can help by giving me a refund on that fucking piece of shit out there...'' etc etc.

I don't think he was too happy with his newly purchased Italian style-monster.

[PhilA]

Did 145,000 miles in mine. It broke 2 radiators, a head gasket, a thermostat, water pump, alternator, three batteries the the rear brakes stuck on once, boiling the system.

 

All in all, considering the abuse I gave that little car, it soldiered on. One advantage of having such a puny engine was it went to the scrapyard on the clutch it came out of the factory with..

 

--Phil

[binboy]

Done nearly 100 miles in it now and the idle seems to be normal now, I think it just needs using. Found some paperwork and it was serviced only 200 miles ago. 145k that's some miles in a little Fiat.

[PhilA]

That's a cheap fix then

 

I had mine off the end of the speedo (needle against the plastic) on the M5 headed into Birmingham once. Engine has a flat spot at 4500 rpm on the cam. Get it past that and it'll carry on accelerating. Book top speed of 87 accurate in fifth.. drop it down to 4th, pray like you never have before.. it's actually quite scary. Wouldn't recommend it with standard suspension though.

 

Someone bailed on me too, on the purchase of a nice refinement*.. I forget if the SX comes with a tachometer (rev counter). If it doesn't, I have a pod-mounted one adapted to work on a two-cylinder engine (which the tacho sees the engine as when connected to one coil). Let me know if you're interested, it's at my parents' house, not far from Bristol.

 

--Phil