Hi all

Fiat panda 4x4 silver
2007

The car has been running fine up until trying to start the vehicle this morning when it refused to start with strange electrical issue.

The recovery agent tried as follows

Checked all fuses all ok
Earthed engine to battery and attempted to start
Earthed battery to body and attempted to start
Supplied power via jump leads via van with no effect
Checked ECU
Po704 cleared code
Battery checked and fine

All of the above had no effect and the symptoms remained the same.

On trying to start the car the instrument cluster flickers on the dials and a continual clicking can be heard from the fuse box, which I assume is really.
The cluster will then appear resettle to normal but car will simply not start, I suspect an ECU issue but just guessing.

Any ideas Welcome as now at mercy of main dealers, would be useful to have any input rather than leaving a try this try that approach.

Many thanks


Sent from my iPad

Have you tried your other key? Might be a key fault.

Wee Smurf said:

Have you tried your other key? Might be a key fault.

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Hi,

Tried both keys no differance, anybody any other suggestions or pointers before cash starts tummbling from my wallet!

TTR said:

Hi,

Tried both keys no differance, anybody any other suggestions or pointers before cash starts tummbling from my wallet!

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hi, the code you mentioned.. any idea what it means??

the things tried are normally for / bypassing a stater motor issue,
is it turning over.. BUT not firing..??,
if this is the case I would be tempted to BRIEFLY try push / tow starting,
if it doesn't start instantly , then give up..!! to save potential CAT damage,

where are you based as we may be able to offer assistance / recommentd a good specialist,
Charlie - Oxford

Sounds to me like a flat battery symptoms.

Did they wallop the started motor incase its jammed?

Cheers all,

The car will not even turn, instrument just dance then return to normal then all warning lights come on and constant clicking can be heard from the fuse box.

I am sure it's a relay that's clicking.

I am also sure it's not the starter that's sticking, had that in the past and these symptoms are different, it's not even trying to engage the starter.

There's also no sign of ignition trying to engage, checked all ECU connections and all appear visually fine. Also checked earths again, as best possible all appear ok?

I would like to think its just a battery issue but the recovery checked and found 12.5 volts as I measured, also when hooked up via jumps leads the same symptoms so figure it cannot be battery related. Only thing I did or measure was cranking amps but again as it was hooked up this should have over ridden any issue.

Cannot push start as based in Dales and car barged nose in at bottom of 1 in 3!

Otherwise would have given a go.

The cars flat bedded to fiat main dealer so awaiting testing and no doubt empty wallet!

Will update when it's resolved so it may help others out.

Cheers to all for the ideas and offers to help.

So recovery bloke didn't give the starter a wallop?

All,

To close out this thread I received a call from Fiat Service late yesterday, they stated they had run a number of diagnostics on the car and to start with it needed a new battery! I queried this and spoke to the service manager stating I checked the battery as did the recovery agent as well as jumping from a separate battery so why did I need a new one ? In fairness they said they had done the same test both on and off the car, with the bench test merely indicating it needed a recharge, however when putting it back on an trying to start the CCA dropped well down indicating a faulty cell. With a new battery the starting problem simply disappeared ! They refit the old battery and symptoms returned.

I queried as to why when the recovery agent linked it to a separate jump start did the car not start as this would surely mitigate the fault in the battery, but they could not explain?

Again in fairness to the dealer they also check all the OBD faults and found non logged that were relevant, in fact only one showed. The battery they fit was a Bosch S4 Silver which I am happy with and total bill including all labour and diagnostics came to £95.00 again considering everything it's very fair.

I could have got the battery myself and fit at less costs but would not have thought to try given all the other facts at hand, plus even then I would not have liked to chance a repeat situation without a diagnostics check anyway.

So if you get these symptoms may be worth swapping battery out and seeing if it cures the issue, could save you time and money.

Hope this helps someone in the future

I had a feeling it was the battery, dispite the recovery agent saying otherwise. They tend to be useless these days, might be worth a complaint to recovery dealer, should have picked it up saving you dealer costs.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

I had a feeling it was the battery, dispite the recovery agent saying otherwise. They tend to be useless these days, might be worth a complaint to recovery dealer, should have picked it up saving you dealer costs.

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I had similar thoughts - hence the suggestion of a bump - should 've run o.k.,

anyway at least you are now up and running,

my wife had a poor roadside repair whereby the guy fitted a £100 battery , only to breakdown again 120 miles nearer home when that one was also flat ( alternator brushes = £10), :bang:
breakdown Co. were NOT interested..,

charlie

something similar happened to my wife's car this afternoon. thankfully a quick search here revealed it might likely be a battery... and so it is.

my wife's car would not start nor turn over. the dashboard went, what i can only describe as, mad. the dash indicators turn on/off intermittently. the LCD display flickers. the needles were jiggling about randomly. the LCD, when working, showed ALL known error messages, one after another.

the fuse box would keep clicking. it would all not stop until i turned the ignition to OFF.

as she has had A LOT of electrical gremlins that were eradicated $lowly over the past few year$, i feared for the worse...

a tow to the garage and a new battery in (fingers crossed)... and all is well. thank you fiat forum!