Hi folks,

I have 07 Fiat Grande Punto 1.9 Sporting. Getting on for 3 months now.

The car has the starting issue with the error message 'Excess radiator fluid temperature, stop and turn off engine' . I took it back to the garage (non fiat dealership) and their engineer cleared the message. After that it seemed to go away. Then after about two weeks the car has started having issues with starting again. I took it back and the guy told me it was fine. But also said that I need to give the car 10 seconds and wait for the dash board lights to go out before starting the engine. I've been giving this ago but still regularly get the starting issue. I do a 10 mile journey to and from work every day and sometime do a short trip at lunch. The message about the fluid temperature doesn't tend to display as much, but the car seems to be struggling to start more frequently now.

I've read different things about software updates, new battery's or putting higher rated batteries in ect. But I'm not really sure what to do.

Any help your be greatly appreciated!

Does it say excess temperature then go away instantly? Or does it remain once the engine is running.

It goes away once the engine is running.

The excess radiator temerature warning message is cured by a software update from a fiat dealership. Start up issues can be one of the following;

glow plug relay (common fault), blocked egr valve or faulty egr solenoid, if your car is fitted with a DPF it may need changing due to short distance driving causing a build up of soot.

I'd go for checking the glow plug relay first. if you have a friend with a fault code reader, it will more than likely bring up a fault similar to 'glow plug system fault' (i cant remember the specific fault code). It wouldnt hurt to remove the egr valve and give it a clean either. I just replaced mine. some people blank them off. There is a guide on here about removing and cleaning the egr valve. Hope you cure it!

I had the same issue on my 1.9m-jet eleganza, check your car for the latest software update. If it's already up to date then if advise a possible battery change. I also had the issue where the power steering sometimes turned off upon initial start up, which caused me to turn the car off then on again.

How do I check the Verizon of the software?

I don't think you can find the version installed currently. The easiest thing to do is download the latest version from blue and me. Pop it on a memory stick and plug it into the cars USB port, that way you know the cars up to date.

I've done the latest blue and me update. However I thought this was specific to the blue and me computer rather than the cars internal management system?

I think this is going to be a 'take it to fiat job' unfortunately out local fiat dealer has a bit of a rubbish reputation and has only been doing fiats for a year so they tell me. I guess all I can do is try!

All I know is I used to have a few electronic issues with mine and after I updated the blue and me, and changed the battery they all stopped. I had things like flashing mileage, temp sensor and power steering turning itself off. Anyway I hope fiat can help after all they should be the experts!

Hi guys my car does the same wot size of battery would b best to put in