Fiat Panda Cold Starting Problems

Cameron1590_2

Hi All,

We have a fiat Panda 1.3multijet deisel (2006), the car has only covered 65k miles but is starting very rough in the recent cold weather.

When starting it on a cold morning the car idles very rough and almost has a slight misfire, the exhaust gives off a light bluish white smoke but after a few seconds of gentle reving it idles as normal.

I have changed the glow plugs to no avail and the car also had a new egr valve last year.

Any ideas? Looking online at the 1.3cdti engine it appears that if the egr sticks open it can cause the above symptoms.

Thanks

Cameron

sourcrates

Not been through any floods of late have you ?

and the head gasket is ok ?

White smoke, and rough starting, is a classic sign of water in the engine !!

Strider590

Does it do low mileage? If so it's probably choked up with carbon deposits, etc. Diesels burn cool, so it requires even more mileage to keep them in good health.

Give it a bit of an "Italian tune up" and then see how it behaves.

Cameron1590_2

Thanks for the replies.

No, not been through any floods nor has the coolant level dropped.

I have given it a real good thrashing the last through days and still no luck, it is a city car we live in Nottingham and it only does about 4miles each way to work.

Thanks

Strider590

Cameron1590 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

No, not been through any floods nor has the coolant level dropped.

I have given it a real good thrashing the last through days and still no luck, it is a city car we live in Nottingham and it only does about 4miles each way to work.

Thanks

That's going to cause problem for most cars, let alone a diesel.

bigadaj

Cameron1590 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies.

No, not been through any floods nor has the coolant level dropped.

I have given it a real good thrashing the last through days and still no luck, it is a city car we live in Nottingham and it only does about 4miles each way to work.

Thanks

Why have you got a diesel?

Mr.Generous

EGR valve will be gummed up with that kind of use, it won't warm up properly in 4 miles. I'd also suggest you change the oil far more than the service schedule, at least twice a year. Put some injection cleaner in the fuel and change the fuel filter too. Poor starting and running on diesels are usually fuel or injector issues.

EGR valve cleaning isn't on the service schedule so main dealers won't do it. You can do it yourself with a can of carb cleaner but it takes a couple of hours to strip it off, clean and re-assemble. You'd be much better served with a small petrol engine for that kind of use.

Cameron1590_2

We used to live out in the sticks and do 25mile commute each way to work so bought a diesel. We moved to a city and now do a very small mileage around the city but normally travel home once a month which is a 200mile round trip.

I change the oil and filter every 6months or 6k miles which ever comes first. I am more then happy to take egr off and give it a clean I know they are a pig to get at on this car.

Do you think we would be better getting a small petrol car such as the fiat Panda petrol or a skoda Citigo etc.

We were looking at changing it soon as we need something with more room.

Thanks

wgl2014

Cameron1590 wrote: »

Do you think we would be better getting a small petrol car such as the fiat Panda petrol or a skoda Citigo etc.

We were looking at changing it soon as we need something with more room.

Thanks

I would try cleaning the egr and running a decent fuel system cleaner through (miller's, bg and archoil all good). If you are going to need a bigger car soon then no point changing for a petrol version of the same model.

Consider not using the car for your commute if you have other options, diesel or petrol a 4 mile run isn't ideal for them.