(T) Poorly Stile Dynamic 1.6 52 Plate

Problems again with my Stilo.

I took it to my local garage (also personal friend) who serviced my car, changing air + oil filter, spark plugs and timing belt. After the service the car kept stalling/cutting out when I started to slow down (approaching lights etc), I took it back to the garage and they the changed spark plugs again but still the same problem. The garage dropped it off at the local Fiat dealership - that was TWO weeks ago, Fiat say nothing shows up on their computer but it still has this fault.

If the car is faulty (which it is) then you'd expect Fiat to find the fault, WOULDN'T YOU?

Are there any experts who've heard/seen this problem before?

Will Fiat have to replace parts until the fault disapears?

Should I take it to another Fiat dealer?

I've owned the car for one month now and I've only driven it to the garage for a service!!!

HELP PLEASE.

Ok reading your post you say the car was fine BEFORE you went to have it serviced by your friend ..well most of us on here can perform the simple task of changing oil/filters and plugs but I wouldn't recommned the task of changing a cam belt with out the correct tools and knowledge and if he[as a qualified mechanic ]has put back the timing belt with the cams and crank pulleys even slightly out then this could be the problem [not saying that he has ] but from what you have told us [car running fine before hand ] its a possibility the only other thing I can think of is you might have a duff new plug in the new batch fitted [I have personally had this myself ]also have a check that they are the correct ones for your car I have gone back to the originals fitted on the car as I have found they suit the engine better than other makes [again my opinion] whip one out and see whats fitted

Yes, it sounds like your mechanic might well have not timed the timing belt up correctly and is probably one or two teeth out. You'd most likely notice that the car isn't performing as well as it should on acceleration. Bad plugs or coils would have shown up on diagnostics, cam belt timing out though most likely wouldn't show up on Fiat diagnostics

So it's back to your mechanic, and they'll need the proper alignment tools now to check the timing as there are no timing marks on the 1.6 Stilo engines. The only way to do it without the alignment tools is to have made your own timing marks BEFORE you take the original belt off. If your mechanic didn't do that properly then they're scuppered and will have no choice but to use proper alignment tools. They're about £120 to buy unfortunately

Could be that the cam sensor connectors have been disturbed. Not sure if the Stilo works in the same way, but I had this on an old Vectra. The problem wont always show up straight away on the diagnostics as I think it takes time for a recurring problem to register. I'd definately look into the cam sensor issue (if there is one????)

Its almost definately something to do with the cam belt change, unless something has been disturbed during the service.

I have changed plenty of these cam belts and it only takes the cams to be slightly out for all sorts of problems to occur, because the cam wheels are not on a woodruff key and slot the wheels need to be set correctly using all the special tools to ensure precisely the correct valve timing. Sometimes customers have been lucky by not using the tools but more often than not it effects the engine running and needs resetting.

Another thing that dealers do after cam belt changes particularly on 1.6 is to reset the self adaptive parameters of the engine management system, because if the valve timing was slightly out before due to belt stretching or being set incorrectly in the past the engine management system will not be able to cope with the sudden change of engine condition and engine may do as you describe. If the garage used the special tools and is certain the timing is set accurately then have a dealer reset the ecu and test it. If not have a dealer recheck the valve timing.

Lastly have you told the dealer that you have had the cam belt changed, its important to give them all the facts.

Also regarding errors on engine management systems, some are only recorded after occuring three times within a set period, but examiner can use scan tool which can look for what we call validated and unvalidated faults. Validated faults show up using most software devices, but unvalidated are faults that have not been confirmed by the ecu and show up using scan tool. Many problems dont come up as errors because errors are only seen if the parameter goes over or under a set limit, and if the parameter is only slightly out then this will not be seen as a problem. This is where the skill of the diagnostic technician comes in, they do exactly the same as the F1 techs do when they look at the screens at the race tracks, identifying possible problems from the figures they are seeing, examiner has a recorder function that shows parameters as line graphs to check for inconsistencies of signals etc.