General BIG croma problem...help!!!!

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General BIG croma problem...help!!!!

ADELE1

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hoping you nice folks might be able to give me some advise i brought a croma eleganza 1.8 56 plate just before xmas from a private seller. 31,000 on clock nice tidy car, different looking perfect...or so i thought!! yesterday whilst travelling on the M1 the car died on me lost all power in the fast lane, warning about coolant fluid levels low flashed on dash but 'thank god 'it powered up again so i was able to get to a service area and calm down abit. when trying to start the car up again it would not start and on dash this time 'get power steering checked' i had to be towed to the nearest garage. Now this is where i need the advise... the garage has told me after running it on the diagnostic machine, the main ECU and the wiring loop has badly corroded they have never seen a problem this bad on a car that is 3 yrs 4 months old, and im facing a bill of over £1000 to get it fixed :cry:ive contacted fiat direct today and asked if this is a manufacturing prob and they have told me to take it to my local dealers to be checked and they then might run a investigation on it. I really dont know what to do for the best, the garage has charged me £125 and now ive got to pay an extra £100 to get it towed to the main fiat dealer has its not running still!!! i really cannot afford to be shelling out that kind of cash on a car thats got low milliage and no age to it and ive been informed by the garage its at at the minute that fiat will probably do the work, charge me a fortune and come back with no liability because the car is 4 months out of warranty...what are my rights if any and can anyone out there advise me on the best course of action. Thanks a very stressed lady :bang:
 
I am sorry to hear about your problems, and unfortunately I can offer little comfort. Because you bought the car privately you have no comeback on the seller I am afraid (unless he is a trader posing as a private buyer).

Your only hope is if it is a manufacturing fault and you can prove. That way you may have a case to take Fiat.
 
I can only suggest you contact your local Citizens' Advice bureau to find out your rights, and possibly contact the AA or RAC for further advice. Hope you get it sorted to your satisfaction.
 
From what you say the vehicle had no warranty on it when you bought it, and as you bought it from a private seller then it would seem you have very few possibilities. CAB may be a cheap way of getting good advice, contacting local dealers to find out if they have worked on the vehicle recently, I presume your only way to make a claim against the seller would be to prove the vehicle was faulty when it was sold, a dealer may be able to help you prove that if indeed the seller did know.
 
By all means try the CAB, but unfortunately you don't have much recourse in law. Cars advertised for private sale must be 'as described' and that is all. This will mean you will have to prove that not only did the fault exist when you bought the car, but that the seller also knew about it too.

If the car has been dealer maintained your only hope is that the service record will show that this fault has been recorded or worked on. This can be obtained from any dealer and is yours for the asking - don't let them try and tell you otherwise.

However, even if you can prove this, it is only the the start, as you will probably end up in the civil courts, and as the likely repair work will take you over the £1,000 threshold you may not be able to take this to the small claims court. If this is the case it could cost you many thousands of pounds - even if you win as you do not necessarily get your costs back.
 
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I dont think dealer/independent/fast fit maintence is of any consequence here as checking every inch of the wiring loom is not part of any service schedule.

As mentioned if recent work was carried out then the cause could be down to this? Also how bad is the corrosion, how about a picture.

One other point and I mean this with no malice but this is your first post, how do we know the seller never said to you it has a intermittent fault etc...maybe the seller genuinally didn't know...have you contacted him since.?
 
Sorry to see you're in trouble. The fact that it went well for 2 months would suggest the seller didn't know of an imminent problem. And they can always blame the exceptionallly salty roads.
Did the previous owner have it a long time? Do you have any history of the car?
HPI check? A lot of Cromas were Fiat contract cars, and were sold off at 2 or 3 years old, mostly to Fiat dealers, and often took a long time to sell. Mine was advertised by a Fiat/Alfa dealer for over 3 months.
I don't have the cost of the ECU here, but with a section of the wiring loom and the ECU I can see a cost of £1000 easily, and in a Fiat dealership a lot more.
There could be remanufactured ECU available. Also a good auto electrician specialist might be a bit cheaper.
Not much help really.
 
... the garage has told me after running it on the diagnostic machine, the main ECU and the wiring loop has badly corroded they have never seen a problem this bad on a car that is 3 yrs 4 months old:

Main ECU AND wiring loom?

This seems to suggest to me that it is the ECU socket and cable socket that are badly corroded implying water ingress and corrosion at that interface.

Given this then the situation may be readily recoverable without having to replace the ECU and cable loom. I would have to see the so called corrosion damage (pictures?) before finally commenting but over time all connections can corrode and as long as there is some metal left then they can be cleaned and contacts adjusted. This can be very time consuming for sure which is why many dealers will opt for the new ECU and cable loom. This also means that they are unlikey to be called upon again for the same problem within 12 months.

If you have time on your side then you could investigate and potentially resolve this yourself.
 
Thanks to all of you that replied to my post. Firstly i purchased the car from a relative of mine which brought from dealer new, so defianatly know background of it, had a recent full service and has not had any other work done on it. The car is now in the hands of a fiat dealer under going investigation i will find out on tuesday their findings. I have handed the garage report into them aswell. Reading the report it states...scan on code finder 0 codes found, ecu and wiring loom badly corroded due to water damage, pins broken. can you help me get my head round this im not a mechanic and find it very confusing. I was told the ecu and wiring loom is positioned underneath the drivers seat surely if water damage has occured then this is down to it not being protected properly and surely a manufactoring fault. The car has not been valeted and nothing spilt from the inside so how can water corrosion happen? im just trying to get some ammunition to fire at fiat on this one so any suggestions would be appreciated. got a feeling im not going to win but im going to give it a good shot because £1000 is alot of money.
thanks to you all again xxx
 
I have handed the garage report into them aswell. Reading the report it states...scan on code finder 0 codes found, ecu and wiring loom badly corroded due to water damage, pins broken. can you help me get my head round this im not a mechanic and find it very confusing. I was told the ecu and wiring loom is positioned underneath the drivers seat surely if water damage has occured then this is down to it not being protected properly and surely a manufactoring fault. The car has not been valeted and nothing spilt from the inside so how can water corrosion happen? im just trying to get some ammunition to fire at fiat on this one so any suggestions would be appreciated. got a feeling im not going to win but im going to give it a good shot because £1000 is alot of money.

Yesterday the Telegraph revealed a similar tale regarding a Skoda – perhaps of little value, but did offer some possible causes.

Wash-out
I am faced with a bill of more than £600 for a replacement ECU in my wife’s 2004 Skoda Octavia vRS Mk1, as it failed due to water ingress. Could a design fault have caused this? Surely an ECU should be sited and designed so the likelihood of this is minimal? Is this a known problem? ML, Huntingdon.

Poor design and botched maintenance. The pollen filter lives in the vent well in the bulkhead, but is inaccessible. The vent well drains can get blocked, the pollen filter waterproof cover can get damaged, or the whole thing can get misfitted after the pollen filter is replaced when the mechanic finds he can’t do it in the time he is allowed. Any of these allow rainwater into the car straight through the pollen filter. It’s the same with Golfs, Leons and A3s. Honest John.

Telegraph/motoring 2010/02/20

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55 Croma II 1.9/16v 150HP
 
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Another old favourite I have personal experience of is the Mk1 VW Sharan / Ford Galaxy - the sunroof drains blocked and water ran into the well under the passenger's seat, where the central locking / alarm ECU lives. Cue lots of random window lowering / alarm activation / eventual locking system failure.

So; pollen filter drain blocked (common Vectra and Croma problem), possible sunroof drain blocked (if you've got one) or a badly-fitting door seal. There may be more ways but that's the most common ones.

Unless you can find how the water got in then you'll have a job attributing responsibility. More importantly, if you don't stop the water getting in then it will happen again.

Finally, this might be a long shot but could save you money; if Fiat want you to pay to fix the car, don't let them fix it until you've explored alternative sources of parts - the Croma is a reskinned Vectra, if you look on the ECU you may find a manufacturer's part number (not a Fiat part number) and this may equate to the same part fitted to Vectras. The Croma petrol engines are not Fiat engines.

Finally, a competent auto-electrician will be able to re-pin the connector to the ECU thus saving you the cost of the loom (and the hassle of replacing it). At worst, you should be able to get the connector with some wires (or possible even a loom) from someone breaking a Vectra with the same engine. It's really worth looking into when you're looking at paying that much money.

HTH.
 
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