(T) Check Engine

Hiya,

Im writing on behalf of my partner who has just gone to work.

He has a Fiat Grande Punto

he just left and as he pulled away he said it sounded like a clunking noise as he pulled away.
The Check Engine sign came on.
And as he was driving it felt like the car was pulling him backwards as he was driving forward.
he managed to get a lift to work.
Any advise would be great so can let him know at work
greatly appreciated

Thanks

Sabrina

Hi Sabrina... which Grande model is it? Petrol or diesel, and what engine size?

Hi,

Its a 56 plate. Its the Fiat Punto Grande Dynamic 90bhp. I think the engine is the 1.3.

Apart from Fiat, is there any other well known garages that can hook it upto a computer to check? Such as Kwik Fit, Nationwide auto centers...

Its out of warranty by a year and we have previous experience of fiat being expensive!

The dealer is expensive for a reason. Kwik Fit/Nationwide etc have very generic diagnostic equipment, whereas the dealer is specific to the car and engine set up.

Fast fitters will be able to read the codes on the ECU and guess at the possible cause but the dealer will know more in depth about the car, and help with a proper fix. I would suggest if its "clunking" when you try to pull away it could be serious and therefore dont drive it.

Thanks for your reply.

Apparently it only made the clunking sound the once when he pulled away. The car had been set idle for 4 days and sounded as if it had come from the rear wheels, dont know if that sheds any more light on the matter.

The fiat garage is 25 miles away, so if we got it there and it worked out as being quite expensive, we would be worried about driving it back again.

I'm no car-pro or even a novice, and i dont own a grande... so, dont listen to me !

But if it just happened the once after a long idle time, is it possible the handbrake just stuck and popped off when he moved the car? (especially if it was cold/frozen)

"Check Engine" sounds abit scary to me, but i dont know how sensitive Fiat's on-board computer is... i know Peugeots used to scream red alert the engines about to explode abandon ship for the silliest reasons.

I might of just missed some key element here but like i said im not even a car novice, just speaking from personal experience...
my car once "lagged" & made a popping sound when i reversed out of drive way... never happened again, brother (car sales) & dad (old guy) said it was probably the handbrake sticking.


Edit:

Ahh sorry, i just re-read the post, seems i missed out the important driving & being held back after the clunk thing... think that means its time for me to get some sleep!

Hi,

Took the car down to Kwik Fit to hook up to their diagnostic machine and its come back with the following error -

PO236 Boost Pressure Conrol Leackage, Throttle valve

Am i right to be worried?! Is it an expensive job or something minor in the scheme of things?

If its the 1.3 diesel this MAY just be a lose pipe in the turbo system, allowing boost to escape, a good independent garage off here may be helpful, find one near you & give them a call?

www.goodgaragescheme.com

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Yes, its the 1.3 multijet.

I phoned Fiat up but they couldnt really help as they dont recognise the error code. I spoke to kiwik fit again and the diagnostic machine they use is a boosch so is different to fiats.

Fiat wanted to know where abouts in the vehicle this part is and whether its a sensor or some other part. I dont suppose anyone on here knows how to translate that error code into something fiat would recognise?

I did speak to another local garage who recognised the error code. They said if it needs cleaning it will cost £100, it it needs replacing it will cost about £400. Does this sound about right?

Depends what it is & where it is... but £400 sounds a lot!

Maybe an EOBD2 Scanner would be a good buy for you for around £100 just for future reference, that will give you the codes & meanings.

Just got the car back from Kwik Fit, as it needed some work doing to the brakes.

They reset the light for me and as yet it hasnt come back on. The car also seems to be driving perfectly again.

Am I right in thinking if the problem occurs again the light will come back on?

Usually... we have a 2002 Seat Ibiza in our family "fleet", the check engine light came on, I extinguished it, it came back, I extinguished it... blah blah... eventually sorted the front manifold o2 sensor and it hasnt come back since...

Thanks. I took the car for a good old run around town and on the motorway and no problems.

Might have been a glitch or sorted itself out!

Hi again!

The engine lights come back on!

When you drive there is no turbo and the car is extremely slow, however if you turn the engine off and then back on again the car drives normally with the turbo!

Any tips on what might be causing it? Seems strange it's taken a week for the problem to come back, and then its just intermittent.

Looking at getting a diagnostic kit to use at home. Which one out of the two would you recommend?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Diagnostic-Sca...item439bb80823

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CAR-DIAGNOSTIC...item19b9a2fc83

With the 2nd one you need a laptop, but with the first it will work by itself, displaying the codes on the screen. Id go with the first, unless you want to look in more detail at the statistics from the engine.