Technical 1.9 HGT JTD Overfuelling?

[chevychase]

I hoping there might be some HGT JTD owners still about, or ex owners even. I need to bounce some ideas about. My 05 HGT JTD is in pretty good condition and has been my daily driver for years and i'd like to continue to keep her going. But ever since I've had her she has belched out a big puff of black smoke on hard acceleration, and even a sprightly blip of the accelerator around slower roads give comments from people that there is a strong smell of fuel.

After 19 yrs the injectors could be fouled and maybe if I get them pulled they could be reconditioned and fix the issue?

The car was obviously a target for modification when with previous owners. There is a faint imprint of an 'Angel Tuning's sticker on the back of the hatch and after speaking with the tuning company they confirmed they have worked on it but can't tell me more due to GDPR. Maybe it is a bad map causing the Overfuelling?

My thoughts is to get a new ECU, I've seen one available from Italy which is brand new so as a virgin ECU should hopefully marry up with the body computer with no problems and give me a stock map. Would the 'tuned' ECU still work if I swapped it back after?

If anyone else has a suggestion to look at please do let me know. But due to her age I don't really want to drop massive amounts on a specialist to look at her. (Unless you know somewhere that would be worth it)

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I would look at the turbo first, if it’s getting old then it could be in the early stages of failure, if the turbo isn’t giving the engine enough air then it could be over fueling.

Also these engines tend to choke up with thick black gunge (a mixture of oil from the crank case breather and soot from the egr valve) this takes up space in the inlet side, which the engine’s sensors see as a certain volume and actually the amount of air is greatly reduced buy the gunge.

A damn good clean up of the intake side, EGR intercooler etc might be a massive benefit as it’s a nearly 20 year old car now

 

[chevychase]

Hi Andy, a keen MOT man fizzed me for having the EGR blanked off a couple of yrs ago (and high emissions). So whilst I was fitting a new valve I gave her copious amounts of magic cleaner and cleaned out the inlet manifold and butterfly valve. She still didn't really pass the particulate test but the fella was so impressed with the effort he nursed the throttle to give a good enough figure. I've a blob of strategically dropped sealant that obscures the figure on the VIN plate now so easily passes the default limits.

The next weekend I have some time I'll get the intercooler off and see if it holding something. But again in the summer of '22 I had all this out and cleaned and the turbo seems happy, engines not losing lots of oil. When my Coupe turbo went the exhaust plume was very acrid. Where as now the Punto just smells fuelly.

On another note I've finally pieced your online presence together, been watching a cracking Punto YouTube channel and saw a familiar Red HGT.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

On another note I've finally pieced your online presence together, been watching a cracking Punto YouTube channel and saw a familiar Red HGT.

Aye it was a lovely little car, though had many issues in the time we owned it, gear cable issues (I think you had the same) dual mass flywheel, clutch, the cambelt tried to escape when the tensioner failed. Still a lovely car mind.

Sadly met its end when my wife drove it into the back of an Audi and it was written off.
I had its more modern counterpart the 1.6 multijet Evo which was 130hp and equally well equipped.

given the issues with the previous MOT, it may be something to do with the remap, it may have deliberately been over fuelled to try and gain more power. It may be interesting to know how much power it is producing now.

 

[chevychase]

Well I thought I'd update this thread for other users and for reference for me in the future.
After thoroughly checking the turbo and induction pipework I just bit the bullet and ordered a new ECU.

Slaved it in and was immediately presented with a flashing eml! Turns out a new ECU requires the injectors coding to it. No problem I think and fire up MES but the codes just don't stick.

Info on the forums reveals MES and ELM cable just can't complete the coding operation. So I now also have a cheapo KKL cable expedited by Prime.

Injectors coded and all is good, can boot it full throttle and no big plume of black soot! So confirmed it had a pretty environmentally unfriendly map, though the MOT was more relaxed back then. It's a shame as the previously remapped ECU was a damn bit quicker but in this cars old age the std map is no slouch and might help her live a little longer on the fitted clutch etc.

So for those interested (though can't be many as only 9 HGT JTDs left in UK) the PT.no. was 71786477 an alternative for 55199898 from https://www.bebmeccanica.it they don't charge vat and by paying with a Starling or Revolute card came to £97 delivered, definitely cheaper than getting remapped to std.