Does anyone have experience of the oil warning light coming on during driving and going out again after 1 minute or so? The engine had run for about 1/2 hour so was warm. This has never happened before and the oil level is correct. The oil and filter were changed 3 wks ago and correct oil & filter used. I suspect a sensor fault, but any feedback welcome from any who have actually had this problem. Vehicle = Sedici 1.9 JTD Eleganza 2006 with 38K miles and full service history, with oil changes between service intervals!

Thanks.

Further to my original post - more has materialised. The owner's handbook describes the function of the oil warning light. For petrol engines the oil warning light coming on is clear - STOP THE ENGINE. For diesel models it means the same, but also that if it flashes - according to the vehicle electronics - THE OIL MUST BE CHANGED. This is something which can be reset by the Fiat dealer when the oil change/ service is done. Do I detect a touch of "customer capture" here ??

In the case of our car it has not visited a Fiat dealer workshop for service since 18K miles. It's mileage is now 35K miles. In between it's had the scheduled service and an additional oil + filter change at my discretion. Those jobs were done by the independent garage we normally use for our car maintenance and their work is always to a high standard. They didn't know about any "service reset" to be done after a service, and why should they? The oil in the engine is only 3000 miles old (about 2 months), the level still at the top of the dipstick and reasonably clean.

An oil warning light should be an indicator of a fault, and no more. In the case of the 1.9 JTD it's also being used as a "service indicator" - IRRESEPECTIVE OF THE CONDITION OR LEVEL OF THE OIL. That to me is wrong and irresponsible, and sure to frighten the driver (as it did!!) After the light has flashed for a while it stayed on. What does that mean? That there is a real and dangerous fault, or that you've chosen to ignore the flashing light until you get get the car booked into a Fiat dealership for an oil change?

Yesterday the car went to our local Fiat dealer and the reset was done. No oil change (it didn't need one), and no replacement parts (it didn't need any).

Actually the scenario could easily have resulted in a panic phone call to a recovery service, a ride home on a transporter, and a very worried owner. All for the sake of a flashing and then continuous warning light, whose message isn't clear anyway. Annoyed ?? You bet !!!!

1.9 JTD users - B E W A R E !!!!!!!

Doesn't the display also say something like 'oil change required' ?

Looks like someone forgot to reset the DPF counter when they changed the oil, or at the last service.

They didn't know about any "service reset" to be done after a service, and why should they?

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Well they should have knowledge of the vehicle they are servicing, at least to the knowledge that the vehicle is fitted with a regenerative particulate filter, and it has a oil degridation index based on DPF regeneration cycles.

No, there was no indication other than the flashing, and then continuous oil warning light. If another warning had been evident (ie an instruction) then there would have been no misunderstanding or misinterpretation. This is my wife's car and the incident happened whilst she was driving it. I tested the car later same day and verified everything she reported - oil light on - no other warnings.

The owners handbook is deficient feeble (and confusing) in describing this condition. No suprise it alarmed her, and me.

Your point about the DPF is a good one and I understand the reason for such a warning. I will check the manual again but I'm already betting that won't be any clearer either.

Here's the text verbatim from the owner's manual :

OIL PRESSURE LIGHT

This light comes on when the ignition switch is turned to the "ON" position, and goes out when the engine is started. The light will come on and remain on if there is sufficient oil pressure.

WARNING

If the warning light (oil can symbol) turns on when the vehicle is travelling stop the engine immediately and contact a Fiat Dealership.

Check the oil level and add oil if necessary. If there is enough oil, the lubrication system should be inspected by your Fiat Dealership before you drive the vehicle again.

For Diesel Engine Model

If this light blinks when the engine is running, you should change the engine oil. For details, ask your Fiat Dealership.

WARNING

If warning light flashes, contact Fiat Dealership immediately to have oil changed and instrument panel warning light turned off.

IMPORTANT

If you operate the engine with this light on, severe damage can result.

Do not rely on the Oil Pressure Warning Light to indicate the need to add oil. Be sure to periodically check the engine oil level.

-----end -----

Now go back to the original report.
1st - the flashing light - according to the manual text it indicates an oil change is required - simple enough to understand.
2nd - the continous light - the manual indicates to stop the engine.

Our Sedici displayed both conditions.

I had this last month. The light would come on after a minute of the engine running, then would go out after another minute or so.

It started a week before mine was due for a service anyway so I put it into a non-Fiat garage for full service and I let them know about the light.

While it was in they had contacted Fiat in Basingstoke to ask about the light and they (unsurprisingly) didn't know anything about how to turn it off.

Ran the car for a bit after the service to see if it would go out but didn't so ended up taking it into Fiat Aldershot. Had to pay £40ish to get them to plug the car into their computer and get it all reset. I rang around a few different dealers and the quotes ranged from £40 up to £100 to get it done so it's worth asking around.

Fiat Aldershot explained that it's an oil degredation indicator and has no real intelligence. It doesn't sample the oil but just guesses when your oil will have micro-levels of diesel in it based on the engine behaviour (your driving style).

Pretty annoyed that something this basic can't be turned off by non-fiat dealers. The chap I spoke to explained that it was so it retained the warranty for the engine, but also said that it would continue to occur after the warranty has expired, meaning i'll still have to take it into Fiat to get switched off!

I have a better understanding of this now. I registered on Fiat's technical information facility and paid my Euros 4.00 for one hour's use. There is some decent information on this subject on there (see Engine Management and Diagnostics, and the section about DPF).

The clarity of the technical information given to the dealers is good and compared to the gibberish/ confusion/ poor translation provided in the owners handbook is like chalk and cheese. Fiat should be seriously embarrassed by the clarity of content in the car user manual.

Indeed the flashing light does indicate possible degradation of the oil resulting from normal use. There are several factors (time and useage) which in combination will activate the flashing warning light. One of those factors is oil degradation resulting from the DPF function.

Also it seems that only the dealers' "Fiat Examiner" diagnostic can be used for the service reset. During this week I took the car into my company's workshop where we have a recent production and good quality scan tool (Italian "Tecnotest"). Although the Fiat Sedici was loaded onto the scan tool's database there was no way to access the service reset. The tool happily shows fault codes (and can remove them) in various categories but no more.

I am not satisfied with this situation. What if the car was being operated beyond practical reach of any official Fiat dealership? If there was a local non-franchised garage available and the car needed an oil change, you'd have the oil change done, wouldn't you? But then we have the likelihood of the **** warning light coming on in the future because the oil wasn't changed by the Fiat dealer and the service reset wasn't performed. So imagine you're operating the car in the Hebrides or Orkney, and your nearest dealer is 150 miles away (thats a fact, I just checked). Do you travel 300 miles round trip to get the oil changed in Inverness, or does the local garage (without the Fiat Examiner) do it for you? It's a 150 miles round trip if you're on the Scilly Isles to visit the excellent GB Ongaro dealership. Common sense suggests you'd probably get the oil changed locally to protect the engine.....yes, or no ?

I am tired of this subject now. Fiat seem to have the user by the gonads if the wretched light is to be put out. I wonder also if there may be a valid issue concerning BER compliance.

Last point - after a period of the light flashing, it remained fully ON. I can still find no explanation for that before the car was reset by Fiat. The car was driven to the dealer with the light fully on. The oil was correct, in excellent condition and only 2000-3000 miles since changed together with the filter. According to the manual that signals imminent danger and to stop the engine.... I wonder if the flashing changes to a continuous light if you're not able to get to a Fiat dealer quickly enough for oil change and reset?

If I discover anything new and useful on the reset I will post it, but otherwise no more!

hi there i think i have the same prolem but with mine the water light comes on aswell and it only does it when the engine has warmed up and when the revs are low or idling goes out as i accelerate. is this the same as wat u had
cheers dave

A servious point to bear in mind with any modern Euro 4 diesel engine, which almost certainly have a DPF (diesel particulate filter) fitted is that the oil ligh/degradation counter MUST be reset. If you ignore the light/warning/message because you have changed the oil then the ECU will eventually stop the engine going through a DPF regeneration/clean cycle as it determines that the engine oil is not up to taking the excessive temperatures that are generate during the regeneration process.

This will then result in the the DPF filter light coming on. If you ignore this then you will clog up the DPF filter and dealer forced regeneration cycle may not be able to recover the situation. At this point you will need a new DPF filter and they are more expensive than CATs.

I got this on my 3 year old 8v Croma 120bhp diesel last night.

It was serviced at the end of August by the orginal dealer (and they've done all the other services) and the service display on the trip computer says 15479 miles until it needs another service.

Guess it'll be going back into the dealer again (they've had it for over 6 weeks in total since I bought it in March 07) to get them to reset whatever it is that they need to do.

Thanks to all for the tips here though. I couldn't work out why it would suddenly be a problem now as one thing that it hasn't had a problem with so far is the oil (everything else has been rubbish) and it's hardly used a drop over the last 3 years.

Guess that'll be another £75 for the dealer to have a look at it and announce that for another £??? they'll fix the problem.

If anyone knows a decent independent around Glasgow I'd love to take it to see someone who knows a bit about cars........

If they changed the oil and didn't reset the counter, they can't charge you. It's their mistake.

BrianMcL said:

If anyone knows a decent independent around Glasgow I'd love to take it to see someone who knows a bit about cars........

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Which side of Glasgow do you fancy?

Cheers

SPD

I work in Govan but am happy to travel somewhere within reason to get someone other than the original main dealer to have a look at it. They did the last service (their sticker is still on the corner of the windscreen) as well as all of the others.

It's been no end of bother since the minute I got it but sadly I'll be stuck with it for a while yet. It's been out of warranty since end Sept 09 but I'm going to send a file on all of it's faults to Fiat and the dealer who supplied it so that at least they know the sort of vehicles they manufacture / supply / service.

As far as this issue is concerned It's going back to the original main dealer who did the service to check it out tomorrow and I'll post again with what the outcome is.

Summary of my conversation with Scott on the dealer's service desk last night is that "we accept that we serviced it on 1st October, that it included an oil and filter change as part of that service and the service indicator says more that 14.5k miles until it needs another one but this is just something happens to Fiats and we need to do a full clean and regeneration followed by an oil and filter change. That'll be £193.06 please. If it makes you feel any better Citroens are even more expensive." Funnily enough it didn't make me feel any better and they didn't even offer to credit the cost of the previous oil and filter change.

To add even more insult to injury they didn't even start work on it until after I phoned them at 4.40pm for an update or they wouldn't even have had it done yesterday, despite having had the car since 8.00am.

I'm livid about this whole episode and if anyone wants to help me make a case for negligence following the previous service (i.e. is there any way that it can be demonstrated that the probable cause of the failure was that they didn't reset the counter properly at the last service) I'll be more than happy to sue for damages and donate half of what I get to the site. It's not that I don't need the money (I do) but it's more about the point and hopefully preventing others suffering the same fate.

Anyone up for it?

Latest update is that the check engine warning light's came on again but AC in Paisley, the nearest official dealership and the bunch responsible for trying to fix everything that's gone wrong with it over the 3 years that I've owned it, can't have a look at it before Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

I'm going to try Fiat and see if they know of anyone who knows how to actually fix Fiats.....

Just to re-ignite this due to a new separate post.

Here's the report from my car in 2009 when I went to get the oil degradation light reset.

Want to find a way to reset this without having to go to a FIAT dealer and giving them money!

you can reset it with fiatecuscan and low cost elm327 cable from ebay