Fiat Cinquecento idling problem

From East Sussex, 1 post

Hi,

I have just bought a fiat cinq for my daughter. It has developed an idling problem. the idle revs hunt up and down and on odd occasions the revs pick up at idle. If you give it a bit of gas it goes for a short while then starts again Also the injector light has come on on the dash. is it the fuel pump, lambda sensor or is it something else completely???

From Gillingham, 1 post

Hi what u need to try is resetting the ECU. You have do this in this order:



1) Start the engine and warm it up till the cooling fan has come on, gone off and come on again. If the engine cuts out restart it! (The cooling fan operates around 90 centridge.)

2) Once the fan has come on for the second time turn the engine off and disconnect the Negitive cable of the battery (furthest away from front of vechicle) and leave it disconnected for 45secs. (it will be easier to take the cable off beforhand so it will be loose.)

3) Once the 45secs is up replace the cable and start the engine giving it a heavy rev as it will struggle to start as it has now forgotten how to idle and start. After a few seconds it will learn how idle. Leave it running for 2mins. Then i suggest you take it out down some kind of duel carridgeway or for a 10min drive!

4) Fill petrol tank up with fuel and add some petrol additive to clean the fuel system. This should then in effect either clean the injector or show there is somekind of fuel system failure. You must get this checked out immediatly as the repairs could cost more than £200.00



My aunties car has got this problem. The injector light is now off and it idles perfectly! If this doesnt work the you might have to take it to a fiat garge to be checked over and test the ECU for around £80.00. Hope this helps!

From Glasgow, 2 posts

Originally posted by jhandy on 23 Dec 2005 4:27 PM
Hi what u need to try is resetting the ECU. You have do this in this order:



1) Start the engine and warm it up till the cooling fan has come on, gone off and come on again. If the engine cuts out restart it! (The cooling fan operates around 90 centridge.)

2) Once the fan has come on for the second time turn the engine off and disconnect the Negitive cable of the battery (furthest away from front of vechicle) and leave it disconnected for 45secs. (it will be easier to take the cable off beforhand so it will be loose.)

3) Once the 45secs is up replace the cable and start the engine giving it a heavy rev as it will struggle to start as it has now forgotten how to idle and start. After a few seconds it will learn how idle. Leave it running for 2mins. Then i suggest you take it out down some kind of duel carridgeway or for a 10min drive!

4) Fill petrol tank up with fuel and add some petrol additive to clean the fuel system. This should then in effect either clean the injector or show there is somekind of fuel system failure. You must get this checked out immediatly as the repairs could cost more than £200.00



My aunties car has got this problem. The injector light is now off and it idles perfectly! If this doesnt work the you might have to take it to a fiat garge to be checked over and test the ECU for around £80.00. Hope this helps!

From Glasgow, 2 posts

Hi there.
There is also a possibility that you could have an arc which is causing the injector light to come on and cause the engine to run roughly.
Try this
1.look at the air filter housing.Check the clips.
2.Sometimes they pop loose and if the one near the distributer pops it will lie near the distributer lead and it will arc.
3.The only way to check this is to start the engine and look at the distributer (DO NOT TOUCH IT WHILE THE ENGINE IS RUNNING).Fasten the clip back and just start the engine.

Hope this helps.