I have had my Fiat SX Bravo 1242cc off the road for three weeks and it appears to be a none starter. We gave it to the garage who picked us up on Green flag and he was slow and nothing was urgent and he really couldn't diagnose the problem as to why it won't start. He first thought it was the crankshaft sensor and it wasn't and then he said it was the ECU which he wanted to charge us £600 for a new one. But he wasn't sure if that would work, but it would be at our expence. Sod that, I had found a site in Nottingham that repairs and reconditions ECU's and the garage sent it there. It was sent back as they couldn't find anything. The car at this point was going when it was cold and then when warmed up would not start.

Fed up we have taken it to the small garage we always use and from there it won't start at all, so we were lucky to get there. They say its the ECU as well and have sent it back to Notts and they said now that it has gone completely it should now have a fault code. Its been with this place in Notts for a week and they cannot find anything wrong with it the ECU. We are a loss as to what the diagnoses is. We live in West Wales, no public transport, no near nieghbours and miles from most places. I have to go to the docs as I live on morphine and live in constant pain, the car is vital to us. So if you have any thoughts that could assist us in our plight we would be most gratefull

So just to state that it won't start now and it was periodically starting when the fault appeared, but when it got hot stopped and now it won't start. The engine does turn over and there is petrol.

Many thanks

Tony

Tonyphotoplus said:

I have had my Fiat SX Bravo 1242cc off the road for three weeks and it appears to be a none starter. We gave it to the garage who picked us up on Green flag and he was slow and nothing was urgent and he really couldn't diagnose the problem as to why it won't start. He first thought it was the crankshaft sensor and it wasn't and then he said it was the ECU which he wanted to charge us £600 for a new one. But he wasn't sure if that would work, but it would be at our expence. Sod that, I had found a site in Nottingham that repairs and reconditions ECU's and the garage sent it there. It was sent back as they couldn't find anything. The car at this point was going when it was cold and then when warmed up would not start.

Fed up we have taken it to the small garage we always use and from there it won't start at all, so we were lucky to get there. They say its the ECU as well and have sent it back to Notts and they said now that it has gone completely it should now have a fault code. Its been with this place in Notts for a week and they cannot find anything wrong with it the ECU. We are a loss as to what the diagnoses is. We live in West Wales, no public transport, no near nieghbours and miles from most places. I have to go to the docs as I live on morphine and live in constant pain, the car is vital to us. So if you have any thoughts that could assist us in our plight we would be most gratefull

So just to state that it won't start now and it was periodically starting when the fault appeared, but when it got hot stopped and now it won't start. The engine does turn over and there is petrol.

Many thanks

Tony

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Hi Tony sorry to hear of your problems mate, you've not mentioned anywhere about a spark, is there one? could be the coil pack or timing out (cam belt sliped).
With 'turns over' and 'petrol' with a 'spark' it should at least try to start even if the timing a bit out it should try to start.

It sounds just like a crank sensor, did the guy replace it (lets not assume he did)
the other culprit is a cam sensor, tucked behind the cambelt. Which is fitted to your car as it is a mk2 the mk1's had just a crank sensor only!
It times the spark. Similar to a crank sensor, when faulty they usually fail when hot then fail completely. As above do you have a spark, easy to diy test or for your garage to see, and will shed some light.

As far as I know there is a spark and the crank shaft sensor was the fist thing that got changed. So its not the crankshaft sensor, but not sure about the coil. The management system light keeps coming on and thats why the garages have focused on the ECU. But, the company that tests these in Notts says its OK.

As for the other ideas I shall certainly chase those up as I didn't know about those sensors.

Great stuff thanks

Tony

Tonyphotoplus said:

As far as I know there is a spark and the crank shaft sensor was the fist thing that got changed. So its not the crankshaft sensor, but not sure about the coil. The management system light keeps coming on and thats why the garages have focused on the ECU. But, the company that tests these in Notts says its OK.

As for the other ideas I shall certainly chase those up as I didn't know about those sensors.

Great stuff thanks

Tony

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Management light is illuminated when a sensor reports back to the ecu a signal that is out of its normal parameters.

The ECU would be last on my list.

bridges said:

Management light is illuminated when a sensor reports back to the ecu a signal that is out of its normal parameters.

The ECU would be last on my list.

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Well, the garage man stated that he considers the ECU gone when the car won't go. But it seems that is not always the case.

Thanks

Tony

Maybe you should check the immobiliser unit before doing anythin with ecu. Ecus cost around 100 to get a refurbished one but i think you have to exchange your olds one. though the website i was just lookin at has them priced 200 pound.

Here i found this thread about ecu an checking voltages. Dont no how relevent this is to you but cant harm to check it out.

https://www.fiatforum.com/bravo-brava/184755-fiat-bravo-1-6-16v-ecu-failure.html