I have a fiat brava 80 sx petrol(2000 plate).i have been reading the related forums and there seems to be some confusion on this red hair dryer like symbol.(depending on year and model).is it an injector warning or an engine management warning light.unfortunately i didnt get the owners handbook when i bought the car.i have tried to look for the other orange square engine management symbol but can not see it although the dash symbols are quite hard to make out when not lit up.other problems are temp gauge not working very well. Heaters blowing in cool air.losing a small amount of coolant each week(half a litre)but can not spot any leaks.looked at similar problems on the forum and found out it could be the thermostat.could some one please clarify about the sybols please and advise wether a thermostat could be the solution to my problems.

Injector light, management light, ecu light, all basically the same.

Something in the management system doesn't add up, the ECU is receiving information outwith its normal range so is indicating this by putting the light on.

It may also restrict performance, to save the engine running at high speed outwith the set parameters.

It is possible your coolant problem is related, but whatever, you must resolve that issue very promptly.

Make sure you bleed the coolant system every time you top it up.

If there is no visible leak you may need to get the system pressure checked, but you must locate the leak, and resolve it

A lack of coolant will result in poor heater performance, its the cooling water that heats the car. No water = no heat.

Report back

Cheers

SPD

hammersmith said:

I have a fiat brava 80 sx petrol(2000 plate).i have been reading the related forums and there seems to be some confusion on this red hair dryer like symbol.

Click to expand...

Only red dashboard symbol that resembles a hair dryer that I can think of is a turbo-charger failure or over boost symbol. As the Brava 80sx doesn't have a turbo-charger I'd suggest you post a picture of the light.

Dave.

Hi, have just suffered quite possibly same problem. I have the same car (only 1999) I bought it with a sympton similar to yours. To quote from the book 'When there is a failure in the injection system. When the ignition key is turned to the MAR position, the light comes on but should go out after a few seconds. If the light stays on or comes on whilst the vehicle is moving this means that the fuel injection system is not functioning perfectly causing possible loss of performance, poor drivability and high consumption levels.'

I bought my car off of Ebay and the reported problem was that the car was being driven and the light came on and the car lost power, abit further down the road hen the guy came to a roundabout and had to stop the car the engin cut out. It started ok, but again had reduced performance. To cut a long story short the guy ended being recovered to his home address.

When I got the car to my house I did some normal checks like it was sparking and the cambelt had not slipped. I then checked the water system andnoticed that everytime I turned the car over the water level in the filler tank on the radiator came up alot, so I filled it up to the top and then turned it over, it all came out thus telling me he head gasket had failed between a water way and a cylinder. I proceeded to remove the cylinder head and my diagnoses was confirmed.

I believe the loss of water you are experiencing maybe the start of your head gasket failing, as the system monitors every stroke from evry cylinder it will be able to know if the burn in a cylinder is incorrect due to the Lambda reading versus the amount of fuel delivered through the injector thus lighting the light.

Hope this helps.