Hello, car is 2001 1.2 8v.

I have not used the car for approx 3 weeks. Went to start it this morning, dash lit up but was behaving very oddly, fuel gauge and sdeedo clicking up in random movements, warning lights all on but flickering and just weird. Clicks and odd noises from the dash/engine bay. Absolutely nothing when trying to start the car.

Never experienced anything like it, I suspected the battery was getting a little tired before I went away, it seemed to be turing over a touch slower when starting. Looking at the little green dot on the battery, it was black indicating a discharged battery. Took it off and popped it on the charger for 4 hrs, put it back on the car, still the same. Put it back on charge and this time it refused to take any current.

I then remembered I had a battery off my brothers punto that he scrapped a few months ago, I gave it a little charge, popped it on and all is sorted, car behaves normally, starts etc.

My question is to help me not suspect the car is can batteries cause this odd stuff to happen?

Yes it can!

Yep, Fiats can throw all sorts of tantrums if they don't get enough electrical juice. Stick around you'll soon learn the little quibbles our cars have over electricity

That's good to know fellas, yes it really lost the plot, maybe the battery just lost the ability to supply enough current as the the voltage seemed fine.

I had horrible thoughts of knackered ecu's etc ( not my forte! ) touch wood all seems back to normal now.

Give the battery a good 48hr charge
Then take it to a local halfords they test batteries for free

I suspect that a severe discharge has killed a few of its cells

When cranking with a low battery, the starter pulls too much juice that all the other electrical gizmos flicker on and off alot as they struggle to get power


Ziggy