2007 Fiat Panda Throttle Problem

[B_anderson4]

Hello,

I’m new here and I’m not entirely sure this forum is made for this kind of discussion, but I was hoping someone may be able to help me with a problem with my little 2007 Fiat Panda 1.2.

Basically, a few months after I bought it it started to idle quite strangely, but only (usually) on the first drive of the day. By strangely I mean after a few minutes of driving it will start to idle at ~1200rpm - even when it’s warmed up. I would be able to live with that, however it’s almost always accompanied by the revs sticking to whatever rpm I accelerated to whilst changing gear. Say you’re going from second to third at 3000rpm, when you lift of the throttle and dip the clutch the rpm will not drop whatsoever; sometimes if I push it past about 4000rpm and go to change gear the rpm will continue to increase even with the throttle closed and the clutch disengaged. Both make for some pretty amateur-looking and cringeworthy gear changes, as every time I’m having to slip the clutch more than I would like to in order to not send a jolt through the car. The idle and gear change problems will usually go away completely if I switch off the engine and restart it after a couple of minutes, only to then return on the next cold start.

In the time that I’ve had the car I have tried the following things to fix/find the problem, to no avail:

- Check the condition of the throttle valve, return spring and cable; all of which appear to be perfectly fine and functioning as they should
- Clean the throttle body and idle intake valve with carb cleaner
- Replace the entire throttle body with a second hand one in hopes of isolating the problem as either the idle control valve or the throttle position sensor
- Replaced the spark plugs and leads (although this was to fix a misfire the car had when I first got it)
- Take it to my local garage who ensured there were no vacuum leaks and no fault codes stored

In my head I would have thought that the idle control motor would be faulty, but considering I have tried fitting a second hand throttle body that now seems incorrect (surely it’s very unlikely that a second hand one bought off the internet would have the exact same issue, right?).

Either way, if anybody could advise me as to what this problem may be, or methods for how I could find the culprit, it would be greatly appreciated.

[Nigel_O]

Try an ECU reset - disconnect the battery for half an hour or so, reconnect and then take it for a hard drive - use all of the rev range and give it full load.

[B_anderson4]

I had the battery disconnected for at least 20 minutes when I swapped the throttle bodies over but I didn’t run the car for very long immediately afterwards, so I’ll try that.