Technical Newbie stilo owner in need of major help

Currently reading:
Technical Newbie stilo owner in need of major help

Titaniumviper

New member
Joined
Apr 1, 2012
Messages
24
Points
9
Hi guys I'm the proud new owner of a 03 plate stilo jtd. I have a fair few problems I was hoping you could shed some *light on.

The gears are very stiff and ive noticed a oil leak from under the car.I'm assuming Its coming from the gear box hence the stiff gears. Is this a common fault on the stilos and an easy fix.

I've also been getting the the error message preheat fail. I've read on here to use fiat ecu scan and this says possible glow plug issue. Are these easy to change as I've done these before on my old car and were a total nightmare

I'm getting the infamous "airbag fault... Engine stop" message. I've read on here to use again *fiat ecu scan *however for some reason it's not scanning and giving me an error message so I was hoping someone on here could shed some light on this.

Finally I've also had the service due message come on which is intermittent,

And the 'loose connection' error message flash up a few times.

Had the car for less than 12 hours and it's already giving me a headache any help would be most appreciated.
 
most of those things we have all came accross at one point or another,
stiff gears could be oil or selectors need a bit of lub.
glow plugs are do able and ARE a pain in the backside to do, you will need the correct glow plug socket (flexible), you will also need to remove the egr and the black box as well as one fuel line on cylinder 1. the plugs are easily broken as well as they are only 10mm so when you change then tighten them very slightly before undoing them, this will break away some of the crap.
then clear the ecu.

airbags, under the passinger seat is a orange connector block held together by a cable tie unless already removed, break it apart and apply some electrical contact cleaner then it should clear the fault after 3 restarts.
the fiat ecu scan wont see the fault unless you have a modded cable for airbag failures if memory serves.

loose connection is a connector block in the battery tray, there are two of them on most cars you want the block with loads of wires not just 4, break it open and again apply come contact cleaner and reattach. usually its moisture getting in there that causes this issue so it maybe worth checking if the under engine cover is missing, fiat had a habit of removing them on thier services which is costly to the owners. but having the diesel its worth getting hold of a replacement to stop problems further down the line.
roy
 
hi ill try those fixes when I get home this afternoon. Just a quick update. On driving this morning I also got the parking sensors fault come up. The any ideas how to fix this. The auto wipers also go really fast for the light rain we have had this morning. I can't believe one of at can ha range so many problems
 
you will probo find that all the faults stem from one fault that i pointed out in the original reply, the connector block im sure does all the control circuits around the car, fix that an the gremlins will hopefully dissapear.
what condition is the battery as well?

The oil leak you have found reading though the original post, trace where its coming from either gearbox or engine, if its gearbox top up the oil but i would investigate the problem and look at getting it fixed. the gearbox are pretty soilid on the jtds unlike the 1.6 petrols (they have a habit of exploding - ive had it happen twice), but with no oil in the box will quickly ruin a box. You may find its just a drive shaft seal gone.
HAs the car had any major work done in reacent times, ie clutch etc, i would look at those areas first for oil leaks.
roy
 
Hi roy,
thanks for your continued help. just removed the battery and just wanted you to confirm I had the right block before i started. Only had the car 24 hours and already pulling it apart lol. Do you mean the big brown block in the picture below?

Im not to sure how to tell what condition the battery is in im afraid. Ill pop to quick fit, im sure they do free battery checks.

Found out the oil leak is coming from the engine not the gear box which im assuming is a good thing. Will have to look into what is causing the still gears.

Cheers for all you help



2012040215552627.jpg
 
yep that brown box is it, you need to lift the the pink clip staight up to unlock the block then it will pull apart.
roy

edit
i think that is the cruise control.... i think there is another block behing but black looks identical to that one but has load more wires going to it, you need to lift the fuse box by unscrew the philips screw on the top of the box and then pull the box up and towards you to gain access to the other block.
 
Last edited:
you instructions were spot on mate, I'm very impressed. You certainly know your away around a stilo. Thought it had fixed the problem as it hadn't come up since but unfortunately the parking sensors fault has made a return
 
is the fault showing on ecu scan?
if it is it maybe worth clearing them (note codes first).
what sort of condition are the sensors in, have they been knocked etc, give them a wipe over as well.
ah check the fuse in the boot fuse box, i have no idea which fuse it would be as ive never seen an issue with the revese sensors, check the handbook for it,
good luck, please most of the faults have dissapeared.
roy
 
20120406140429631.jpg
Hey,

the stiff gearbook turned out to be the gear linkage cables so not to expensive to fix but i can see all these problems mouting up. so thank you for trying to help me fix some of them myself.

The ecuscan software is not working. Im only able to scan the engine system. When I try any others it is unable to connect. Still trying to work out where to get a modded cable from.

I've had a look and there is not a fuse box in the back of my car the manual says the boot fuse box is only on saloons and multi wagons.

on another note I've removed the am head unit that was installed wanting to put an original one of ebay. im just a bit conffused by the amount of wires behind there. I know the white and black plugs are for the stereo (speakers and power i believe) and am assuming yellow is the swc plug I was just interested as to what the grey plug and white plug with black clip around it was for?

Thanks again for your help
 
Last edited:
The small grey connector looks like a GPS or GSM aerial connector.

The connections to the white connector with black locking clip are listed below.

Did the car originally have a Connect Nav+ radio/CD/SatNav/telephone fitted?
.
 

Attachments

  • CN+ Connector D.jpg
    CN+ Connector D.jpg
    92.6 KB · Views: 51
On mentioning that I believe it may have done as there are quite a few buttons on the steering wheel and one with a telephone printed on. Can't imagine why someone should have removed it. I've bought one off eBay to install which also comes with a cd changer so should be fun installing that.

On another note all the gremlins have made a return, air bag failure stop engine, parking sensor failure, service due, preheat fault and crazy window wipers. Looks like I'm going to get raped by fiat when I take my car in. It's beginning to be a total headache already.

Thank you for your advice
 
I've removed and changed the wind screen wiper sensor however the wipers still go really fast and are quite erratic when raining. Is there anything else bar the sensor that could be causing this?

Also is there a guide on the changing the glow plugs. Ive tried to do this myself but cant figure out how to remove the EGR valve. I've never known glow plugs this hard to change before
 
Back
Top