(T) Engine Fault Light - Drives OK Please Help

Can any help, my wife has a 1.4 stilo 52 plate, drove it to end of street today and car conked out, tried to restart and engine fault appeared on computre, I managed to start it and was struggling, over revved a bit and them engine ran ok and drives ok, engine fault computer message gone but engine management light stays on. Turn off engine and start again, engine fault message come up on computer and then goes off and drive fine, but engine managment light stays on. Wondering if maybe plugs of leads, any help would great

Stu

Hi,
That means fault in the supply/ignition system and may be everything. Need examiner I think. You can check the spark plugs and air filter condition first.

You will need to get it to fiat or an independent with an examiner to see what fault code is logged on the ecu and then take it from there and until you have the code then it really could be anything if its driving fine then I doubt if its plugs or leads as you would very likely get a misfire once the fault is found they will clear the log on the ecu for you and the light will go out

I have the engine management light on pretty much all the time although it is from running lpg and the light comes on when nearing the end of the tank as the mixture gets weak. Fiat had it in when the selespeed pump packed up and didn't bother resetting it. Have had it reset a couple of times but it comes back under the same conditions. Have queried fiat why it wasn't checked and they said it was nothing to do with the fault they repaired. They are only concerned when this light is flashing as this means that there ia a fault as opposed to it not flashing which means it is storing a previous one, I believe this is correct although one of the techies will put me right if not.

Engine warning light,EOBD,means there is a fault...it is illegal (grey area here as its not enforced here but is rigously in the USA) to drive a car with EOBD warning light on,a technician must not put out the EOBD light without fixing the fault..again a grey area here in UK.All cars have to have a accessible 16pin EOBD socket so the police can check errors but as far as I know not one has ever been checked here.

If its flashing then it means there is a very strong possibility of damage to the cat possibly due to a misfire.

Thanks its not flashing

Plugs,injectors could be one of numerous faults,only way to tell is to read error codes,sorry!

Two mounts ago I solve the same problem using some kind of addition to the fuel. The idea is to clean the injectors by chemical way. It was STP-small black bottle (250mg). The price in Bulgaria is around 8 EUR. There is a white one as well but is not so strong. Try that one or similar... could help.

P.S. The LED indication and message should disappear automatically in that case.

Had this problem too. Light on but drove fine. Turned out to be the MAS air flow sensor in my case. You really need to get it checked out though.

It drove ok as the ECU was working on the last known settings (drove MUCH better after having it changed).

Incidentally, if you reset the ECU when you have this problem, it loses the last known values and will go into limp home mode which in my Abarth Selespeed meant it would not go beyond 2nd gear.

Sure its a 1.4 on a 52 plate?

Thought the 1.4 came in on late 53 2004 models (like mine) to replace the 1.2

I had a similar problem with a Marea, My local mechanic reset it a few times but it came back. A bit later he went on a FIAT training course and found that there was something else he needed to do to stop the problem staying in the computer memory. Dont have all the details but it fixed it for me. While the problem existed I haqd lower power and higher fuel consumption

Got the same problem at the moment with my 52 plate 1.6. Light stayed on then two days later started her up and hay presto light went out. everything was OK for a few days until I stalled the car and its reapeared so its going into fiat next week to get sorted. Thank goodness I brought that extended warrenty. I'll let you know what they say.

I had exactly the same problem come up in september... took it to Fiat and paid a for a diagnosis... they told me a sensor had gone and they would need to replace the loom as well as the sensor beacause it was part of a unit... £240.00 they quoted... I took the car back off them and never whent back...

If they think they can feed you full of bul****... anyways its now January and i still havent had it fixed like you say drives perfectly normaly... on the very rare occasion it dies just as i get to the end of the street... but leave it for 30sec, warning beep beep beep engine light on and it chugs for about 20sec. After a little reving i go about my day... Ive even done Portsmouth to Birmingham sat at 90 all the way with no under perfomance...

So dont be too worried...

As it happens ive met a mecanic who does all my bosses cars and he's gonna plug it in and tell me the fault codes... If i think is worth paying out on i'll get it sorted... but i bet its not what Fiat said it was.

I recomend you have a look at the indicator on top of your battery if you cant see the green dot then you need a new battery... I think mine is loosing charge as it sits parked up and because it takes so much to start the thing it scares the computer... after a little run its fine again.

Check if your headlights dip too on start up... sign of a bad battery... i was told when i bought mine that the batteries are poor and would need replacing every 2 years or so.

Hope this helps and i'll keep you posted on the fault codes... if you beat me to it im interested in knowing what it is thats bugging the car every so often.



Kristian