Technical Loss of power and multiple failure warning signs

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Technical Loss of power and multiple failure warning signs

AbarthWolf

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Feb 21, 2011
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70
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Location
Eastleigh, Hampshire
Hi there folks. Well, I've just returned from Afghan after six months. Before I left, I connected one of those solar powered battery chargers to keep the battery charged up. It obviously didn't work because when I got back Sunday, the battery was completely dead.

So I take the battery off and recharge it for six hours. I stick it back on, got dash lights and that, but not enough to start the car. I take the battery back off and charge it for 24 hours. I connected the battery back up, hey presto, it started first time after a bit of spluttering.

There's no Mot or tax on the car so I drove it around for twenty minutes on my base. Everything was working sweet just as I had left her. So I book a Mot for this afternoon for 15:00. I just took her out on the roads twenty minutes ago to give her a bit of a beasting.

I got to about seventy mph and I heard the dreaded warning sound. Looked, engine light saying problem with engine. Then the car had loss of power and had no response at all. It was just trickling in first gear. I also had low oil pressure warning, Abs warning, esp and Asr warning lights.

I turned the ignition off, restarted the car and it was still giving me the Engine warning sign with a spanner. It drove normally for about a minute, then loss of power again with the same warning lights.


It starts now, but doesn't even idle. It's cutting out as soon as start her. I can only keep her running by pressing the Gas pedal

I'm hoping my battery is shagged and it's all down to lack of power from the battery. It was mint before I left.

Do you think it's just the battery? I'm going to buy a new battery and stick it on Monday. Plus, when putting a new battery on the car, is there anything I need to do? Like resetting her or anything like that?

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.
 
Only thing to do with changing the battery is always negative off first and on last when connecting. You'll need your radio code too if its protected. Battery terminal protector spray or gel is a god send and a good clean up of the cable connectors with a wire brush (fine, not a welders brush) and some electrical contact cleaning spray to ensure a top connection. However your problems may not be battery related! Any car left standing for long periods of time will suffer from corrosion particularly on electrical connections that normally are dried by the current flowing through them. I would check the alternator output first before changing the battery as the alternator practically runs the car when the engine is running. Look for a constant 14 - 14.4 volts output from it whatever the revs.
 
Take the old battery off at least 24hrs before installing the new one. This resets the ECU's and makes them start the learning process from scratch.

If it is the battery that is causing the problem the EML should go out after 3 or 4 clear restarts ..
 
All good advice. Hopefully it is just the battery, the Stilo is very sensitive to low volts. If you eliminate the battery as the culprit, it could be a bad earth on one of the several earthing points around the engine bay (engine, alternator, by the bonnet gas strut, engine bulkhead etc.) or corrosion on one of the main fuses.
 
Ok guys, me again. So I finally got my new battery this morning. Fitted the battery and straight away things were looking much better. I drove the car around for about 20 minutes and no warning lights on the dash apart from the Engine warning with the spanner.

Drove a little bit more, stop and started the car a few times and finally the the engine warning light disappeared all together.

Booked Mot for tomorrow 03/05/12 at 12:00. Yes, all going well so far. Thought I'd better go garage and put some air in my tyres and put a bit of fuel in her. Drove down the road and got engine warning light with spanner and Asr/Esp warning lights.

This car has always had Asr/Esp warning lights, not worried about that so much. The engine light worries me.


The car is running fine now. No loss of power and it's idling perfectly. The temp looks good at half way point as well.
Anyway, will the car pass a Mot with these warnings displayed on the Dash?
 
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MIL/Engine light isnt an MOT fail i dont see how it ever could be

ABS warning and Airbag Warning are though. (Basically RED warnings Fail an MOT... Amber is just for information purposes, like the little amber triangle with the ! in it for speed warnings and the passenger airbag isolator telltale)
 
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Well, I've just called the Mot station and they said the engine warning light and ASR/ESP will not fail my car at present.

He asked if I've got a ABS warning light and I said no. That's a fail apparently. Anyway, he said he'll clear the warnings tomorrow for me.

I've disconnected my battery again and I'm not going to reconnect the bugger until I leave for the Mot. Hopefully the faults will clear again.

I Just need to get the Mot pass. Then I can take her to a good garage in Hampshire that I know off. They know what they're doing with Fiat's. I know for a fact I'll get ripped off If I take her to some garage around here who don't deal with Fiat's that much.
 
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Another query from me. I've been working on my car today in preparation for the Mot and basically just having a mooch. I decided to take all the fuses out and check them. Give them a good clean up.

The fuse box by the battery, there is two relays. . One of them has corroded. It's got green crap all over it. It doesn't look in very good shape. I cleaned it up, but it looks like it needs replacing.

I've looked in my owners manual, but I can't seem to find a diagram. I've also looked about on here and I've not been able to find out what these relays do. There is also spare places for other relays. Anybody know what these relays do or is does anybody know of a diagram telling me what the purpose of these relays are?








Plus, I've just realised I have to do a procedure to reset ASR/Esp as I've reconnected the battery. Maybe this is why I've got these faults again. I'm hoping it works.
 
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