FIAT Airflow meters

Air Flow Meters are a common problem on most European cars at the moment and FIAT are no exception. Air Flow Meters measure the amount of air passing into the engine from which the computer can work out how much fuel to add to get the perfect mixture for that specific throttle opening, the computer does this by referring to a map in its memory.

The Air Flow Meter works by seeing how much current it takes to keep a wire at a specific temperature. The fault will often not be shown on diagnostic system as the meter will still be operating within the limits the computer believes are OK, but putting the correct amount of fuel in for idle when the throttle is fully open will result in a very weak mixture and thus a lack of power.

The air flow meters will occasionally fail completely which will bring up a light on the dash and the symptoms described here are only the usual ones, as we have known the fault to become apparent in other ways.
The easiest way to check if the Air flow meter is faulty is to unplug the wiring loom start the car if the car runs ok then the fault is with the airflow meter.
Luckily Airflow meters are very easy to fit and normally only take 5 minutes to fit you do not need any special tools to fit them and with a very small purchase price they are no major problem when there go wrong.

 Beware however as Lambda (or Oxygen) sensors in the exhaust can also give very similar symptoms to Air Flow Meters. Lambda sensor problems click here