Fiat Punto - Sudden Power Loss

Is it running roughly? - sounds like it's not firing on all cylinders?

Common problem on these engines is one of th coil packs fails - they're about 30 quid and 1/2 hour to fit.

You mean the Spark Plugs may need changing??

I guess it rough be described as rough.

No - the coil packs provide the power to make the spark plugs, erm, spark.

I _think_ they're mounted at the front of the engine bay.

Easy way to work out if this is the cause is to take off plug leads (whilst the car is running - use a set of well-insulated mole grips / pliers for this). If it gets worse, then trace the plug lead back to the coil, and you can eliminate that 'pack'. If it stays the same, trace the lead back, and replace the 'pack' it is attached to.

(There's 2 coil packs - each one feeds 2 plugs).

It's not hard to do - I had the problem diagnosed by the AA when it happened to me, but did the repair myself.

With the warning lamp lit it means there is a serious electronic problem such that the ECU has entered limp home mode, which is why performance is serverely reduced.

You dont mention whether the engine is misfiring at all, if it is its most likely a coil pack problem, if its running on all 4 cylinders but just wont go much, then its another problem, With the warning lamp (called a MIL) lit there will be fault codes present in the ecu which any garage worth half their salt will be able to retrieve and more than likely get you going again with minimal outlay.

Note that fuel injection engines do no need "re-tuning"- your car has a fault. Not sure where you plan to take it, but trusted local garage or specialist fuel injection garage would be best in this instance.

This is more than likely a simple fault- either a wiring or failed sensor problem and thus easily rectified- if the garage starts wanting to replace this and that and the other and hopes to fix it in a camacazie approach, go somewhere else!!

Tim..

Well my dad took it in for a last minute booking to the same place and they changed 2 ignition coil packs and spark plugs, etc.

Now he says it runs really well, in fact very fast.

Inital check was £50, £68 for two coils about £3.50p for sparks plugs, etc but with finaly VAT and labour charges the whole thing came to £225, Labour was of course the biggest charge.

Aparently the computer thingy gave a read out for coil pack problem .. well that's what it seems to say on their report .. and the garage have given back all the parts they replaced.

Thought so.....

How much!!!!!!!

Probably only needed one coil replacing (they don't often go both at the same time), and I certainly wouldn't have replaced plugs and leads.

You could easily have saved £190 doing it yourself..... or getting a more mechanically minded friend to do it for you.

I have been following this (since i have a 5 year old Punto). But i can't figure out what a coil pack is? Is it something like the pack between the head gasket? Can anyone describe it a little more? (my english has its limits).

It's the 'pack' of electrical bits that turns the low voltage signal from the engine management computer into a high-voltage current that makes the spark plugs spark.

There's 2 of them mounted on a plate on the front right hand side of the engine bay (as you look at it).

Ah yes, i recognize the thing you describe, thanks !

trace the plug leads back fro mthe spark plugs !

I'm sure that's very true but it's the same with anything you need to have someone with that knowledge... I build PC's and say the same thing when I see people going to PC world to buy their desktop PC's.

I once saw this thing for a Barter club where people exchange their skills instead of money ... the only thing about it was the people running the club wanted money in order for you to join!!

Well that's the only thing that's gone wrong with the car since we bought it

5/6 years ago and my mother never had it properly serviced - apart from the very first service from Fiat.

My three year old Punto sporting has had way more things go wrong with it, power steering failure, crack in the air con, etc. An it's got approx 6,000 on the clock cos I bought it just before starting work in Londona nd taking the train to work.

That is the same yes (i work in the computerstuff also)

Here in Holland they started something like this...but there are not many people who joined that system (no money required).

Ah, but your newer Punto has a lot more electrical stuff, power steering, aircon, you don't have them on the old one. What you don't have can't break down.

Somehow that never seemed to work for mark1 escorts :-(

But with the Mark 2 Punto they introduced so many things but didn't eally test them durability.

BTW it was my dad that asked for the Spark Plugs to be changed - at a few quid each I think it was a good thing to do.

He knows a lot about cars but car pre fuel injections days - he's 66 and give him an old car and he'll work on it fine - he replaced my exhaust on my old Punto no problem - but with the new electronics and stuff he was less sure - and without a car it was real hassle having to drop my mum off to work at 7am and pick her up in the afternoon. Now the only thing that needs doing is tightening the handbrake cable which I'm sure he can do himsef.

It's the 'body computer' that gives problems on those. It controls _everything_. And it's the reason I didn't buy a MkII Sporting this year.

Possibly.

To be honest, he could probably have done the coil pack himself - he must be familiar with replacing coils on older cars.

Something to remember if it happens again.

I had a problem with my 1997 55s a couple of weeks back. It was losing power, getting difficult to start and then misfiring on acceleration. I though water in the fuel or possible blocked injector. When it died at a road junction and would not start again, I had to find out! It turned out to be something really simple. The coil packs on this engine are mounted on the gearbox end of the engine, at the end of the cambox, and the low tsnsion leads are connected by a nice plug and socket arrangement, with a clever gasket to keep it all dry. Some idiot had routed one of the ht leads around this plug on one coil and it had moved the plug half out of the socket. A quick re-route, push all wires and plugs firmly home and it was cured! Worth a check if anyone gets this sort of trouble, and its free.

All I can say to that is, some photos would be handy.

What Fiat owner's websites are out there?

These news groups are fine for text based information but something more graphical would be nice.

Else I'd be happy to do a free website Forum using PHP if there was enough interes

something similar to the forum on this website