Hi guys,

I got a set of abarth dials aaaaages ago, i just didnt wan tot pay the £70 fiat wanted to do proxy mileage etc...

So now that FES can now do that, i did it, and worked like a dream might i add!

BUT! only for one day...the next day the multi function display started to die...

Day 1 Sat 17th: Perfect, bright, crisp clear
Day 2 Sun 18th: Looked as though back-light was dying, but just readable. fine at night
Day 3 Mon 19th: Crap, not readable at all in the daylight, can just make it out at night a bit
Day 4 Tue 20th: Unusable, can just about make out something on the screen, only because i know where things should be. but totally unusable.

I think this is too much of a coincidence for the dials to start to die as soon as i fit them...any one got any ideas as to how to fix this??

the back-light works as the screen is "lit" but its as if the LCD slowly faded away with every hour...

I know this seems to happen a bit, but id really like to get to the bottom of it with some help if possible...

This has come up before, about the Abarth MFD going blank.

Check this thread. (Especially post #147 )

https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/26921-abarth-dashboard-other-stilo-model-10.html
.

yep, i was waiting for someone to find that lol

only snag is, im now a "poor student" for another year (final year) so don't have the money to buy another set (or rather wouldn't be a sensible investment of what little money i have).

so im looking into finding the cause of it...as it seemed way to coincidental to just bethe MFD's "time to die"

bit of a bump...

Yesterday, my battery went flat (playing with the PC in the car, got sidetracked in a game, and had to push start...)

BUT! once i tried to crank it with low volts the MFD came back to life! in full glory...

and this morning, just like before its a little dimmer, and i expect that tomorrow it'll be like previous day three etc etc

made this discovery AFTER purchasing a new one (I was planning to compare the characteristics of a working one with a broken one to find out what actually goes wrong if possible)

would be interesting to know if anyone has retro-fitted an abarth cluster, and had it working for a long period of time..please chime in if you have and you're reading this!!!!

@ mzhussein... so what happened? did the MFD backlight fade away again as before.

Searching a few more old threads about this, it seems the same has happened to several people after retro fitting the Abarth dash cluster. I can't find anyone who's posted a solution to it yet though.

I happen to have a car I could experiment one if someone would like to loan me a cluster?

it did fade away again, in exactly the same way...put the second cluster in with difficulty (i broke my 5th metacarple hitting a wall on friday...best it was a wall not the person that caused it) yesterday, will see how it goes.

shadey, i do have a spare abarth cluster if you want to play (dont think ill be doing much fiddling for 4 weeks)

mzhussein said:

shadey, i do have a spare abarth cluster if you want to play (dont think ill be doing much fiddling for 4 weeks)

Click to expand...

Yeh, I'll try the cluster in the project car I brought, maybe I can figure out why the screens fade soon after installation? :chin:

second set in...went the way of the first set...

i dont think this is an actually feesible mod...

itd be interesting to know how the dash wiring differs betwen the abarth and say the 1.8? ... my monies on a dfferent wiring schmatic (maybe a different ground pin?)

I think ur right mz sounds like the wiring differs

Wiring diagram seems to be the same for all engine versions except the addition of the oil pressure and temperature gauge sensors (K28 and K29) on the Abarth.
.

SOLVED

i inadvertently solved the problem, my battery went flat, and we coincidentally purchased a VARTA E44 battery for my mums alfa (the same as the on in my car), so i put that in my car for the time being, whilst my battery was on charge.

Once i put my battery in, the MFD came back to life...and STAYED alive...

so after a month i swapped back the other abarth clocks to see if this was an anomaly, but nope, the second set worked flawlessly for a month...to further my investigation, recently my dads BMW battery went flat, rather than charge it, i put it in my car, and push started it, thus having a car with a "just OK" battery...and the MFD slowly faded out as before...

i put my E44 fully charged battery in, and its been fine for 3 weeks..

Sooooo my conclusion is yet another reason why a Stilo needs a healthy battery that's fully charged!

This is a perfectly doable mod!

Pleased for you. And yet there was someone on here only last week announcing he had bought a new battery with a smaller output than the one he was removing!!!

:bang:

oh well...total false economy

im leaving my E44 in mine when it goes on sale this sunday (im gonna miss it ) New owner will get a cracking car...

Are you trying to say you are selling the Stilo?

well i need to buy another Stilo after the other half has told me that she's now selling her focus and wants my stilo, not bad when she hated fiats until last night we've both owned a mk1 punto each and she hated it, but now loves the stilo

vladof said:

Are you trying to say you are selling the Stilo?

Click to expand...

Indeed i am, almost totally returned to stock, just got to put the OEM stereo back in...

nikkiy9 said:

well i need to buy another Stilo after the other half has told me that she's now selling her focus and wants my stilo, not bad when she hated fiats until last night we've both owned a mk1 punto each and she hated it, but now loves the stilo

Click to expand...

Well you're welcome to come look at mine, ill put an add in classifieds when it goes on sale, but it wont be a "cheap and cheerful" Stilo, this is a fastidiously maintained spotless example of an excellent car.

Davren said:

Wiring diagram seems to be the same for all engine versions except the addition of the oil pressure and temperature gauge sensors (K29 and K29) on the Abarth.
.

Click to expand...

I need diagram for OIL PRESSURE and TEMP gauges, for install expecific sensors
tanks

madutra said:

I need diagram for OIL PRESSURE and TEMP gauges, for install expecific sensors
tanks

Click to expand...

See post #11 above. K28 and K29 are the sensors.
.