Hi All.

Back again with more problem with the engine in my Stilo 1.6

Few of you who have been helping me in the past might remember my tale of woe about how the head gasket went, garage who repaired it caused more damagae than they fixed, and its never run right since.

So basic desription of issue is rough idling, rev's rising falling on idle, occasional engine cut out.
Once the engine rev's over about 1000rpm the world seems rosy, but idling is a mess.

Tried all sorts of fixes, cleaning ICV, throttle relearn and a bunch of other stuff.

So when I had some new problems with the passenger door and my remote key stopped remoting, I thought sod it and chucked it at the local Fiat dealer.

Well £90 for diagnostic check plus £40 to reprogram my keyfob (which worked) I'm still none the wiser about the engine trouble. The problem with the passenger door miraculously fixed itself.

They mechanic told me that there may be some problems caused by low compression in the 1st cylinder. He says thay are running at 14 16 16 16 bar.
Sounds like an expensive job to fix.

They also gave the following info and fault codes.

Parameters
Engine Status - Stalled
Engine speed - 0 Rpm
Intake pressure - 294 mbar
Air Temp - 79 Deg C
Water Temp - 78 Deg C
Atmospheric Pressure - 1024 mbar
Engine Startup - Allowed
Lambda sensor intergrator - Open Loop

Errors Detected by the Control Unit
P0530 - A.C compress. press. high - S.C. to Ground / O.C. Intermittent
P0460 - Fuel level sensor - Signal not feasible Intermittent
U1600 - Electronic key - no code received Present
P0443 - Evaporation control valve - S.C. to Ground Present

So I guess there a couple of things shorting out and a problem with the fuel level sensor.

Can anyone tell me what kind of cost are involved in reapiring these things?
Do I really need to fix them or can they be lived with?
And could they be related to the rough idle, revs going up/down on idle problems I have been having?
Is the low compression on Cyl 1 possibly causing the rough idle?

Any advice would be more than welcome.

Cheers

Andy

Re the head being skimmed. I asked for it to be checked when the gasket was replaced and was told it was ok.

Fiat were shrugging their shoulders a bit on what to do about the rough idle. They told me that it might be the low compression in cyl 1 but I suspect the ECU is not working correctly.
Either because it is faulty itself or off balance because it is being fed dodgy info by a faulty sensor.

Which is why I could do with knowing what those fault codes mean exactly, fuel level sensor and a couple of short curcuits, I'd really like to know what that could be doing.

Anyway, Fiat recommended...
Changing sparks
Replacing ECU
and then if neither of these fix it then rip the engine apart and investigate the low compression.

Thats a big expensive job that I'd like to avoid if possible. Think I might be selling soon so don't want to shell out too much to get it running right.

Hi! The redcued compression on your number one would not cause rough idling, at worst it would cause a small powerloss.

If is most likely not related to you headgasket change, as a powerloss due to that would mean that your headgasket was not sealing and you wold either get pressure build in your coolant, water in your oil etc. Low compression is normally due to worn piston rings or leaking valves. Anyway your loss is not significant.

The problem si as you have already deducted, the garage that did the job. The cambelt on the 1.6 is notoriously difficult to get right, and they have not fitted it properly. It is out by a tooth or two. it will still run, but it confuses the sensors and the ECU which try to compensate i.e. the rough idling.

Go back to the garage and have them refit the cambelt properly.