hi can some one please help me I have just bought a 55 plate fiat croma 1.9 jtd all seemed ok till I started driving home then the speedo stopped working abs and power steering light came on and steering went then a few mins later all the lights went out speedo worked and so did the steering this happened on and off for the 20 mile drive home but seemed to be worse at low speeds
I went out to the car the next day started car and was ok so I took the car to my local garage they told me to disconnect the battery and make sure the earth leads was ok so went home did that could not find any thing but when I started the car all my lights came on again so back to the garage I go asked them to put on the computer and left the car went back next day and they told me that the computes was not talking to each other and to leave it with them they would have a quick look so I did went back next day to find out that they was not sure and said I could cost me a lot of money for them to go trough all the wiring on the car and suggested I take it home try some new earth leads then try no here to see if its a common prob so here goes my last hope of getting back in the good books with my wife after spending all my money on a car that does not work thanks alun

Not the best start Alun! My advice would be to take it back to where you bought it, especially if it happened on the way back from the purchase. How long have you had it? Even if it's a private seller you have rights. It's probably something simple but if it's happening that often, then it's likely that the previous owner is aware of it.

Hi Alun,
I hope you can get your money back but if not welcome to the world of Croma ownership. This forum is part technical / part support group and it's kept me sane at various points I can assure you!

As far as your car is concerned, when the lights come on does the car drop on power and does the power steering actually stop working?

My first thought re the power steering is that you could have a wiring loom fault - very common on Cromas, Vectras and so on. The wiring looms seem to have be developing a habit of burning out on the end that connects to the power steering pump on the engine bulkhead. If this is the problem the Vectra part fits - much cheaper and easier to get than the Croma part - and isn't too technical a swap to do.

No idea whether this would affect the speedo though.

You might also have an earthing problem - me and a couple of others have had a problem with the end of the earthing wires corroding slightly so cleaning them might be not a bad idea.

Let us know how you get on, good luck!

hi thanks for your reply I have cleaned the earth leads the main power lead to the pump looks ok all the wiring that I can see looks ok
yes the power steering stops all together then will start working again just as you come to a bend so you tend to over steer and end up on the other side of the road
the man at the garage offered me a can of petrol and a box of matches me be take him up on his offer thanks alun

As mentioned above have you not contacted the seller? I understand it may be a private sale and bought as seen etc. but there may be a previous issue they can advise you on at least?

hi the car was a trade sale from a garage that took it in on a part x it looks like the car has had a new front hub fitted recently and for some reason they have changed the wire that comes from the abs as the wires are difrent could this be coursing the prob

Definitely take it back then no question! Even if you paid £50 you have rights.

It sounds to me like you're spot on. The sensor in the hub does lots - the ABS and speedo are among them.

While trying to diagnose my rubbing brakes, I did go for a few test runs with the ABS fuses pulled out. I can confirm that the speedo doesn't work in this situation.

So definitely get the hub connected - there is no way the ABS or speedo could possibly work without it. Then check the fuses if that doesn't work.

ok thanks I will have a better look at tomorrow I do know the wires are different is ther any way of testing this to make sure its working or that they have joined the wires up correctly thanks alun

Is it not just a connector that plugs in? I don't know this for a fact by the way, but I find it unlikely that they are loose wires. Has someone fitted a wrong part or something?

Hi thanks for your comment, looking at it and thinking at what you have said, that this may be a valid point, as it looks like the connector from the cars wiring has been changed, as the wires on the connecter are different colours to the cars wiring but match the wiring from the ABS connector, this work looks recently done.
Thanks Alun

Bear in mind that it will suffer lots of water spray, mud and god knows what where it is. I doubt a bit of PVC tape's going to work (for long).

Car now on eBay ...