Hi,
I've just bought a Marea weekend 100TD 1.9 with a genuine 40k on clock 8yrs old. The car runs fine , seems very economic etc however two questions ...

1)The when the glowplug light goes out I start the engine and for a short period (about 30 secs) after the light continues to flash then goes out ... is this ok or is it trying to tell me something?

2)I have no red key for the car , only two blue ones. Is it possible to get a new red key and what are the implications if I dont have one?

Many thanks

d_c

welcome to the forum

what year is the car? fiats never had red keys after 1999

Hi d_c and welcome to our forum

The red key is only required if you have a problem with your ECU or want to make a new blue key. But as you can get existing blue keys cloned you rarely need it.

A new red key is incredibly expensive and not worth it. It costs about £800 to get a new ECU and key set. Codeman will reprogram your existing ECU for about £300.

The glowplug light could be either a faulty plug or a fault with the timer. Try testing the plugs first.

40K on an 8yo car sounds like a bargain

whoops never read the 8 year old bit sorry, so i agree with the above, dont worry about the red key

Ref the heater plug light, on the later JTD's this will flash when the ECU decides to keep the plugs on if the intake temperature is too low for the engine to run cleanly (ie without white smoke). I would expect it to stop after about a minute as there should be sufficient heat into the engine by then to compensate for the outside temperature. I would assume the same system is in operation on your car so nothing to worry about.

Thanks for that guys. Since you've been so helpful I'll ask another ......

The tailgate loading area drop down panel thingy just falls back very quickly if not supported after pressing the red button , however I know from seeing other cars it should slowly descend in a very calming manner ( one of the main attractions of the vehicle perhaps !!).

Is there supposed to be a damping mechanism somewhere and if so where. I've looked inside the rear panel and underneath the bumper but perhaps been removed by previous owner if seized up.

From experience when fitting a towbar (I had to remove the drop down thingy), there is nowhere for a damper to go so in answer to your question....Nope - it just means your hinges aren't seized up!

with respect to the glowplug light. Same just happened on my 1.9 td marea today, after driving 20 mile, stopping then restarting engine. outside temp very warm, so i can't see how outside temp is a problem. Any other thoughts guys?

Not too sure how the glowplug timer/electronics works on the Marea but some detect over temp as well as cool running, e.g. relay stuck on or active with engine running and up to temp. Did you wait for light to go out or start straight away as engine was warm?