Saxo 1.1 nearly stalling

[akabreak]

Hi all, I'm new here. From Croatia, just bought me a Saxo 1.1, MY 2002. Car seamed in perfect shape, ran great. So I bought it.
I went for a more serious test now, highway up to 130kmh doing fine. Hill, second gear, throttle to the floor, rpm goes up from 2k to 3k and up, seems like it has it covered. Then suddenly rpm drops 500-1000rpm, then quickly picks up again, then drops again and so on, untill I change the gear, doesnt really matter to higher or lower, then it goes normal again. But this happens every time on a full throttle hill, didnt try in 1st gear due to not wanting to stick around with broken car on such a hill (those roads are very narrow). Any suggestions? Car has all the service done. Most recent change was fuel pump and thermostat replacement last week. Gonna visit a garage next week but would want to have some idea about it.

[CactusJack]

Hi from Croatia, also :-)

Well my first guess would be, perhaps the pump may be leaking somewhere (since it has been replaced, maybe one of the fuel lines isn't as tight as it should be). Maybe to try and run the car and check for fuel leaks. Anyway it's a great car and when this is fixed you'll have a lot of fun with it. No better car for snow than the good ole saxo. :y:

[akabreak]

I love the car already, great feeling driving it, no servo no abs, small, feels great for what it is. I am just a kind of guy who has to have all important bits of everything he owns in perfect shape, I dont care if paintjob is bad, mechanics have to be top. I hope they will be, gonna have to check with a specialist I guess.

[stevo67]

When was it last serviced?

[akabreak]

5 months ago, usual only oil and filters. Fuel filter seems to have been changed with the pump, looks new.

[akabreak]

Sorry for double post, forgot, timing belt and all that goes with that "major service" was 4 years and 30k km ago. This most recent replacement of fuel pump (and I think filter too) and thermostat looks new, was last week due to car not starting in the morning, ex owner took it to service and thats all they changed. She only drove it around city from then till now. I drove it in the city too today and it was fine. Only in the hill it was happening, goes strong in 2nd from 2k rpm lineary to about 3.5 or so, then 500rpm down, then pulls 200-300 back up, then 1000 down and 500up and so.. that makes me slow down and have to change gears. Once I changed just to test to higher gear, from 2nd to third and it was fine with full throttle on 2k rpm, but I was on easier part of hill then already.

[CactusJack]

hm maybe, the spark plugs might be the problem. Don't know about 30k if this should be too long or not, i changed mine every 10k km.

[akabreak]

Wont start at all today, now fuel tank doesn't say 1/2, it says about 10% or so, and nobody touched it since yesterday.. On ignition it picks up and shuts down after a second. Gotta get some fuel and try again.

[CactusJack]

Look underneath the car, maybe you have a fuel leak somewhere. Btw. was the fuel filter changed together with the pump ?

[Manu]

test your battery, then plugs/coil pack.

Might also do this if you go uphill on an empty tank. My idiot brother once got stuck up a motorway hill that way.

[akabreak]

I got in touch with previous owner, plugs gonna hve to be changed on next service or before since they are 4 years old. Coils were never changed in 13 years of car existance. Problem was it had no fuel, thats why it reacted on the hill where fuel went away from the pump. I just put in 20 liters and it works great now. Well, I didn't test on the same hill because I didn't wanna get stuck, but it was a hill and it ran fine from 2k rpm to 4.5 no issue. Fuel filter was changed every year and so it was half a year ago.
Previous owner will contact the shop where pump was replaced and see if they will fix if for free now, if not I might aswell drive a bit like this, full tank, 400km-500km, then full tank again..

[CactusJack]

Nice to know if only the small amount of fuel was the cause of trouble. If it is the pump, they should do it for free, because it's basicaly a recall.

[akabreak]

They should, and I think since actual pump works, it might be possible to just replace the housing on which fuel meter is? If the guy gonna want to do just that..

[Manu]

thats why it reacted on the hill where fuel went away from the pump.

What I thought because of how you described it. If it splutters only going uphill then it's fuel not going in... Also it could make the car run a little rough as you always get some shit at the bottom of the tank. Drive on it for now and see what happens, or most likely doesn't happen.

[akabreak]

It looks like the pump that replaced original broken one, bought from junkyard is although functional in terms of pumping, it does not want to show correct fuel level because the codes dont match since its from a peugeot 106. We figured that out since we replaced it with another of unknown origin, and it was pumping but meter is crazy. We called some citroen service and guy told us that model needs to be from saxo 1.1 and only from saxo, not 106, for fuel meter to work. We luckly found a junkyard now willing to take 106 pump and give saxo 1.1 pump (with meter) and gonna replace that monday evening.