Hi everyone,

i bought a fiat stilo 1.6, 2002 around six months ago. it has done only 35k miles.it was running fine during the summer. i around 40k now.

About 2 months ago.. the morning was wet and cold, i started the car..it started up in the first go itself...put it into gear as i started to move... it began to jerk... and my car shut down... tried agin the same thing.. after a few tries i started it up.. but the engine management light was on. so i went to near by garage and got it diagnosed. They said the MAP sensor was faulty and need replacement. i did that and it cost me £200. The very next day the same thing happened. i took it to the same garage. they checked it and said they could int find any fault with it.. so they cleared the engine management light and gave the car back. the car was fine for a few week...

then the engine management light came on again... this time i took to a frnds place... it did a diagnostics and found that it was the MAP sensor again.. HE said to leave it alone and cleared the engine management light. the car was fine was a week...

i was away that week end. that was a very cold week end. i started up the car car the following monday it wouldn't start. i got a frnd to jump start it for me... and it ran fine that week.. i tested the battery using a volt meter and it showed 12.5 and 14.5 when running. During the weekend i had a long drive .. the car didn't show any trouble... on Monday i drove to work in the morning... but in the evening.. i started the car..put in gear and as i moved forward the car shutdown.. i started it up again.. and drove off.. as i started to pick up speed... the engine management light came on... and the beeping sound also... i was not getting much power also.. but i got home...

i booked an appointment with fiat...they diagnosed it and is say its the coil in the 2nd cylinder... i am get it changed and its again costing me £230.... i am really sceptical weather this will fix the problem... i have spent a lot of money on this car till now and still is not reliable. more than the money its the hassle its creating... I am missing appointments and unable to get to my destinations.

Anyone having the same problem...

Any one have any advice....?? Any help is appreciated...

Jstilo said:

Hi everyone,

i bought a fiat stilo 1.6, 2002 around six months ago. it has done only 35k miles.it was running fine during the summer. i around 40k now.

About 2 months ago.. the morning was wet and cold, i started the car..it started up in the first go itself...put it into gear as i started to move... it began to jerk... and my car shut down... tried agin the same thing.. after a few tries i started it up.. but the engine management light was on. so i went to near by garage and got it diagnosed. They said the MAP sensor was faulty and need replacement. i did that and it cost me £200. The very next day the same thing happened. i took it to the same garage. they checked it and said they could int find any fault with it.. so they cleared the engine management light and gave the car back. the car was fine for a few week...

then the engine management light came on again... this time i took to a frnds place... it did a diagnostics and found that it was the MAP sensor again.. HE said to leave it alone and cleared the engine management light. the car was fine was a week...

i was away that week end. that was a very cold week end. i started up the car car the following monday it wouldn't start. i got a frnd to jump start it for me... and it ran fine that week.. i tested the battery using a volt meter and it showed 12.5 and 14.5 when running. During the weekend i had a long drive .. the car didn't show any trouble... on Monday i drove to work in the morning... but in the evening.. i started the car..put in gear and as i moved forward the car shutdown.. i started it up again.. and drove off.. as i started to pick up speed... the engine management light came on... and the beeping sound also... i was not getting much power also.. but i got home...

i booked an appointment with fiat...they diagnosed it and is say its the coil in the 2nd cylinder... i am get it changed and its again costing me £230.... i am really sceptical weather this will fix the problem... i have spent a lot of money on this car till now and still is not reliable. more than the money its the hassle its creating... I am missing appointments and unable to get to my destinations.

Anyone having the same problem...

Any one have any advice....?? Any help is appreciated...

Click to expand...

Hi J,
first off... WELCOME TO FF!!! :wave:

we hear your story a lot on here... already you have spent £430 and i would be VERY surprised if it fixes anything.

heres my advice for what it is worth.
tell us where your from there maybe a member close by who can help you out plugging a laptop in to get you some fault codes.
ask Fiat to see the part they have removed from your car and to show you where abouts on the engine it is. so that you can compare the old part with the new part.
im not trying to scare you but you MAY have an ECU fault. theres a handfull of 1.6s with this fault on the forum at the moment (mine included)... it MAY not be this but i dont want to make you think that blindly replacing parts is the answer... you will end up very frustrated and very poor.

the most important thing is accurate diagnostics. can you tel us what faults appear on the dash when it cuts out and beeps?
what is the idle speed like? does it surge? is it 'lumpy'?

i have a whole host of questions but ill ask them one at a time and try not to confuse you... if you dont understand something PLEASE say, dont be scared to ask as many silly questions as you like. we all have to learn and understanding your car will help you not to get screwed over by garages (be they main dealer or not)

Hi richydraper,

Thanks for the welcome and quick reply. i live in Hemel Hempstead.

The fault that appears on the dash is engine fault and then it beeps... then its displays the message and then it beeps again... this continues....

The idle speed was jumping around after the fault came up... I do not remember the values though...

After the fault.... i was not able to go above 2nd gear... I was not getting any power at all.... and when I slowed down.. It felt like the car was going over a speed breakers...

Could please explain.. what u mean by surge and lumpy.

Thanks once again...

if the only message you have is 'Engine Fault' then i very much doubt it will be an ECU fault, so thats a good thing

the reason the slowing down movement is quite harsh is because 1) you have a cold engine and 2) the 1.6 stilos naturally have a lot of engine braking (due to the design) compared to a lot of other smaller engined cars i have driven

by surge i mean the revs increase to maybe 1200/1300 revs for maybe a second or 2 then drop to 700-1000 for a couple of seconds, then increase, then decrease, then incre.... you get the idea!

by 'lumpy' i mean exactly that the idle should be smooth regardless of what the engine temperature is. on a cold engine its not uncommon to start it and the revs shoot up to 1200rpm and slowly drop over a period of minutes. a lumpy idle will sound uneven and you would most probably feel and hear the uneven-ness, you'll probably see the rev needle bounce up-down-up-down in the space of a second. (this sounds more like what you have)

from your description it does sound like you may have a dead coil pack (its quite common on the stilo) if you can get fiat to confirm the fault codes over the phone or via a printout that would be good.


by the way... this fault code malarky... you would be looking for a 'P' followed by 4 numbers so for instance if you have a no.2 Cylinder coil pack fault you may have a 'P0302' fault code this would tell your mechanic that the ECU has detected a misfire on cylinder 2.

each 'P####' code has a specific fault attached to it. these codes are known as OBDII/OBD2 codes, DTCs (diagnostic trouble code), fault codes, MIL codes... infact theres loads of different names for the same thing. ive been in the business 11 years and still refer to them as fault codes, a lot of documentation you may read will probably refer to them as DTCs.

Sounds like a possible misfire; from my experience with my Stilo and the occasional ignition coil failing, a couple of things happen that make you aware it's a misfire...

The Stilo flashes the little amber engine light on the dash display - as opposed to a solidly lit symbol - and also repetitively brings up the 'engine fault' message and the beeping will repeat itself.

Physically you may see the engine vibrating a lot more if you look at it under the bonnet while running the engine on idle. If you go round the back of the car and listen to the exhaust it may sound 'puffy' like a steam train, more so when driving it. It will have a reluctance to accelerate and need more gas to move from a standstill.

I say 'may' do this and that as this is how my Stilo behave when it had a misfire but mines is a 1.2, it may be different for other engines.

The main tell tale sign is how the engine light illuminates - blinking on and off with respective 'engine fault' and beeping - most likely points to a misfire.

even the furniture learns things
didnt realise you got a flashing engine light with a misfire!

@ richydraper -

Thanks for the explanation.

when i am idle.. after this fault came... my rpms does go up and down quit rapidly...and yes the car is lumpy at slow speeds...

hope the change of coils helps...
MarkThompson4

thanks for the advice mate... i had the same experience as you...

my car is at the fiat service center now so can comment about the exhaust or the engine sound.

can i ask.. did change of coils help you...?? ie is the car running smooth now...

just to make you aware... as a general rule of thumb... if one coil goes then *generally* the others will go too. im not saying spend £100s at fiat but just be aware of the symptoms so that if it happens again you know what it'll be

if you have another coil pack fail in the next few months, consider replacing the remaining ones.

do you have any interest in doing the repairs yourself in future?

A question to all,

Can a faulty coil give out error code P0105... i am asking this because when i got my car diagnosed initially, P0105 was the code that came up.. that was the reason the MAP sensor was replaced... The fault came up 2 more times even after the replacing of the sensor...

i was told to ignore it both times.. then this problem occurred.... so was the coil always the problem.. can it be linked in any way...?? or is it my bad luck and things are failing randomly.

Thanks.

richydraper - i would love to work on my car... and would fun to fix things on my car by myself... but i am an idiot about cars... if you guys are willing to help and that means a lot of help from you guys... i may be able to... i will also be able save a few pounds...

P0105 Manifold Absolute Pressure/Barometric Pressure Circuit Malfunction
seems a legit reason to change although why it would reappear is beyond me you could try a MAP reset

Disconnect the MAP sensor. Start the engine, turn engine off wait for at least 10 secs (gives the ECU time to remember the settings)
Reconnect the MAP, Clear all fault codes
Turn ignition on and wait 10 secs
Turn off ignition wait 10 seconds
Then start the engine and run on tickover until the engine is fully warm
Turn off ignition for at least 10 seconds

usually 3 'clear starts' (when the fault is no longer present) will shift the fault from active to stored and your light shouldnt be on any more.

double check with fiat to make sure when they read the codes that P0105 wasnt one of the active ones

Jstilo said:

richydraper - i would love to work on my car... and would fun to fix things on my car by myself... but i am an idiot about cars... if you guys are willing to help and that means a lot of help from you guys... i may be able to... i will also be able save a few pounds...

Click to expand...

welcome to the dark side buddy! we'll cover stuff in a later post, we'll always help you. anything to keep another stilo on the road

Jstilo said:

A question to all,

Can a faulty coil give out error code P0105... i am asking this because when i got my car diagnosed initially, P0105 was the code that came up.. that was the reason the MAP sensor was replaced... The fault came up 2 more times even after the replacing of the sensor...

i was told to ignore it both times.. then this problem occurred.... so was the coil always the problem.. can it be linked in any way...?? or is it my bad luck and things are failing randomly.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

not a Stilo owner,
but some codes ( MIL's) are a little vague = do not pinpoint an exact part that needs changing ( misfire could be several things..!!),
google the CODE ( MIL) to see what comes up,

Charlie

you're right charlie, sometimes they can be a little vague but a lot of it is knowing about what causes a fault so an indepth knowledge of how the systems work helps
although stilos seem to be quite accurate a misfire will more than likely be either a bad plug or a coil. not very often the ECU wiring goes wrong but its not unheard of.

Jstilo said:

@ richydraper -

Thanks for the explanation.

when i am idle.. after this fault came... my rpms does go up and down quit rapidly...and yes the car is lumpy at slow speeds...

hope the change of coils helps...

MarkThompson4

thanks for the advice mate... i had the same experience as you...

my car is at the fiat service center now so can comment about the exhaust or the engine sound.

can i ask.. did change of coils help you...?? ie is the car running smooth now...

Click to expand...

As Rich says, when one coil fails the other three are likely to follow suit sooner or later, when it first happened to me I changed the faulty coil and it ran like a dream afterwards...then a couple months later the same happened again with a different coil so I changed it and again the engine was back to running smoothly again.

The coil change is one of the easiest DIY jobs to do, just a matter of undoing its securing bolt then pulling the coil out the top of the engine

Wait and see what the garage come back with, as mentioned there are a few other things to consider but hopefully the garage will point you in the right direction

richydraper said:

you're right charlie, sometimes they can be a little vague but a lot of it is knowing about what causes a fault so an indepth knowledge of how the systems work helps
although stilos seem to be quite accurate a misfire will more than likely be either a bad plug or a coil. not very often the ECU wiring goes wrong but its not unheard of.

Click to expand...

completely agree ,
but as a beginner , it's VERY easy to think that's a 100% accurate diagnosis and blow money on the wrong parts,

half the time that's what Garages seem to do.., :bang:
Drives me mad reading about it

EG.
my nieces punto had a low-temp misfire when cold ( no biggie).. the place did plugs, leads + a Lambda sensor,
highly unlikely they had ALL failed together

asking in the relevant forums can help weed out all the likely ( cheap ) things, before resorting to a Main Dealer ..:worship:

MarkThompson4 said:

... The coil change is one of the easiest DIY jobs to do, just a matter of undoing its securing bolt then pulling the coil out the top of the engine...

Click to expand...

yeah it is... i cant think of an easier job... apart from checking the oil 'everyday'

varesecrazy said:

completely agree ,
but as a beginner , it's VERY easy to think that's a 100% accurate diagnosis and blow money on the wrong parts,

half the time that's what Garages seem to do.., :bang:
Drives me mad reading about it

EG.
my nieces punto had a low-temp misfire when cold ( no biggie).. the place did plugs, leads + a Lambda sensor,
highly unlikely they had ALL failed together

asking in the relevant forums can help weed out all the likely ( cheap ) things, before resorting to a Main Dealer ..:worship:

Click to expand...

I also completely agree, it boils my **** reading some of the stories on here about the times people get bent over. although sometimes we've collectively given accurate advice and the owner has decided to sell because its not worth the trouble or they don't have the time to fix it, one recent member springs to mind, and not blowing my own trumpet but i will anyway... i try DAMN hard to keep my info accurate. ive been in the motor trade 11years, 7 of which has been main dealer, hence why i have ePER, eLearn, massive amounts of data/pictures/reference files, Autodata, MES, and a whole hoard of other manufacturer diag equipment on my laptop. i regularly spend HOURS on FF helping members and researching their fault and giving as much help as i can... then to get it thrown in your face is a little disconcerting.

all my wifes work colleagues ask me for advice, most of my mates come to me with more in depth stuff, i usually end up getting involved with about 3 cars at any given time. it doesnt help that i own 2 Fiats of my own but such is life i suppose im a sucker for punishment.

ive always told anyone who will listen to ask the garage to save the parts that are replaced if the garage refuses this simple request, find another garage and if they dont know what theyre looking at then google it OR ask me to come along.

i caught one garage (they aren't in business anymore) charging one poor lass my mrs knows a small fortune for a spark plug fault. they said it needed plugs, packs, wiring repairs and a new ECU. she was moaning to wifey so i said id go down there with her to pick it up... anyway needless to say the ECU bolts hadnt been touched, no wiring repair was carried out, no packs or plugs were changed... i told them in a not too friendly way that there was no way she was parting with money and we were talking the car. this didnt go down too well with them and they tried pulling an even faster one saying that the brakes were unsafe when they carried out a 'complimentary inspection'. i asked them for a release form/disclaimer to sign and after threatening them with trading standards, we left having parted with no cash. i ended up banging 4 plugs in it to the massive price of about £15 in about 20 minutes (which included going to the shop to get them)

i fear ive waffled and gone a little off topic, sorry J, Rant over!!!

probably sums up our collective experience quite well,
thanks!,
Charlie

i always have a crack at doing stuff myself.... (although i use to be able to take a cvh apart and put it back together in aday back in the mid 90's lol) recently i had a rear brake inspection (june) and they said my rear caliper needed changing... so i got a price for parts and labour caliper £268, rear discs and pads £220 and labour £120.... yep you read that right.... so i walked out of there, got on the net, ordered rear discs and pads from mtec dimpled and grooved for a grand sum of £63 delivered, popped round a mate of mines who is a mechanic, and he took it to bits, rear caliper was sticky but he got it loose and got the piston working took about a hour to loosen it up nicely, put it back together and done... so saved myself £545 from that garage.... what a joke, there is only one place i trust now and normally get him to do my cambelt as i know he is quick and uses oem parts and not overly expensive