My Fiat Stilo 1.6 2002 is continually cutting out. Originally first saw the errors when arriving at work last Tuesday, after a 32 mile drive. Did a number of times then was fine.

Went and started the car at lunchtime and no errors. Drove home and same fault after 19 miles. Restarted and did it again 200 yards later. Called out the AA, and could find nothing wrong when putting the computer on the car. Eventually he followed me home. Did it again after about 4 miles, then another 2, another 1, another 1 then was fine for about the last 5 miles, so very random.

Error codes show ASR failure, loose connection. When my mechanic put the computer on the car it shows no error. He spoke to Fiat who told him they have lots of these and the issue was a engine fuse box. He replaced and still the same fault. He's checked the wiring for signs of corrosion, but can find no corroded wires, despite this being Fiat's second diagnosis. Is driving him mad. He's had a look in the individual areas of the computer, and the following error codes are what he has found. Thing is he is not sure how long these error codes have been there.

Steering
C1003 Vehicle speed from can
C1009 Control Unit

Ins
B100E Speedo
B100D Rev Counter
B100E Water Temp

Body
B1029 Serial Line WSC to ground

ABS
C1521 Can no communication
C1520 Can Line

I've looked everywhere online and can find no definitive answer to this. FIAT don't appear to know either. Is there anyone who can help?

Looking online I've seen at least 3 references to the crankcase sensor being the issue.

Also found a massive list of Fiat error codes on line (about 5000 of them) but none of the above are on the list.

My mechanic is a family friend and has not charged me for any of the work other than the engine fuse box replacement and fitting it. And he is back up to Fiat again today to speak to them re the list of error codes, but admit I'm despairing of this being fixed in the near future.

odd.

cutting out, i would start looking at the CKP sensor-as these are magnets, they are affecting by the heat from the engine the older they get, so the signal becomes weak-car cuts out, reverts to set of dfault until a certain period of time then tries the ckp again-cuts out and so on. happened to my 4x4. as they are fairly cheap (well, they are on my JTD) i think its worth changing but at the same time, get your battery tested-this may be a contributory factor. get the ECU reset if you can, go for a 5 mile or so drive, and then re read any codes.

I had this problem. I fixed it! My ecu was cutting the engine and showing loose connection etc as you say. I took the ecu out. Cleaned the inside and relocated it away from the engine. The sum was that it was getting hot and looking a solder connection. Keep it cool and you win.

Sounds like the ecu is gone

Its common on a 1.6 (like mine) apparently, as the ecu sits above the engine all the heat and vibrations causes the intermittent faults ie cutting out ..i had asr failure loose connection alternator abs failure etc etc

I had the problem for 4months, cutting out everyday!! . In and out of garages numerous diagnostics test replacing parts eg crankshaft sensor no one could point out what is was(fortunately no one charged me) , but in the end i gave in following advice from this forum and decided to replace the ECU..its been 4weeks and hasnt cut out since..:worship:

I did buy a "virginised" second hand ECU from a member of this forum .let me know if you want me to put you in touch.

By all means have a look at my previous posts/threads you will find others with similar issues like yours and plenty of suggestions which i gathered over the 4months on this forum

Good luck..i know how you feel

Did you replace the ecu and fit it in the original location above the thottle body? You could try moving it to the side of the battery tray or similar where the ecu won't be effected by the engine temperatures?

hello i need help with my fiat stilo 1.6 16v anyone please fitted a second hand engine in changed ecu to my old one

your old ecu should work with your "new" engine - the engine is just the mechanical part....

Thanks for the suggestions.

The ECU has been away for extensive testing. They can find nothing wrong with it, so that is not the problem.

Any other suggestions.

I cannot believe that FIAT build these cars and yet do not know, based of the number of these types of faults I've seen on this forum and elsewhere, what the cause is.

I guess you still will have to change the ecu in the end - it's difficult to reproduce these faults on the testbench....
I sold lots of them in similar cases, at the end there's nothing left but the ecu to change...

But if I change the ECU, and it doesn't resolve the issue, as it appears not to for others, then I have spent a vast sum of money to not resolve the fault.

I was reading a post by one owner who had spent £1100 and still not had the fault resolved.

He'd had the ECU replaced, the Crankshaft sensor, and 1 part replace twice, and still not got the issue solved.

My next thought is to get the electrician to look it, but as he will have to strip down and test all components that could work out very expensive. Especially if he doesn't find it quickly.

that way it will take a lot of time and money and might end up with an ecu replacement after all...
sometimes you have to make a decision to replace a suspected part - i changed my ecu after replacing the crankshaft sensor which was the solution for my problems.

Ok latest update:

Engine fuse box replaced
Battery tested
A number of connections checked
ECU extensively tested and passed
ECU replaced
Crankshaft Sensor replaced
Spark plugs replaced

Still the same fault. Cut out again after about 30 miles.

Is going back to FIAT again tomorrow for further examination. But after tomorrow I guess we are going to have to admit defeat, gutted as I feel.

My only thoughts are as I've always thought this is some sort of connection problem.

But I have one other thought. Could this be the alternator?

Any other suggestions welcome!

I feel if someone gets this car for next to nothing, who knows electrics all it will cost them is time!

And I still can't believe that FIAT are unable to solve this!

I had same problem constant cutting out it was the ECU at fault they cant be tested on bench as mentioned in other posts its the main chip inside ECU that goes poor solder joints too much heat.

The ECU has been replaced!

Have a look at D4 connector its in the guides section may have problem there.

rogermellie said:

The ECU has been replaced!

Click to expand...

by a new or used one ?

Still not fixed. My mechanic has now given up and advised that I don't waste any further money on it. Luckily he is a star and despite all the time he has spent on this has only charged me for the cost of parts, and a couple of hours labour.

Trouble is I don't want to give up on it when I'm sure it is something fairly minor. Latest advice I've been given is the Air Flow sensor on the air intake MAF has caused this issue for a couple of people. I also found the post below:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=71639

Is any of that a posssibility?

Latest news on my Stilo. We thought we'd fixed it. Replaced the MAP sensor. The old sensor was caked in what looked like soot, although was probably bits of the sports air filter on the car. On Tuesday the car was running for 2 hours constantly, including driven for about 30 minutes. On Wednesday the sports air filter was replaced, and was also constantly running for about 2 hours incuding being driven for 30 mins. I took it out and drove it again Wednesday evening for about 45 minutes. Once again not a problem, and no flicker when idling.

So for 2 days and 40-60 miles driven and about 5 hours running not a flicker and car driving like a dream. Had been jumpy when idling before this but was smooth as anything. So decided Thursday that I would take the plunge and drive it to work.

Before I left I checked the oil and noticed it was down a little (I have a minor oil leak) so I topped it up. Car got less than a mile before the error occured again. And was very jumpy. Drove it home and was still a little jumpy. When I parked car was very jumpy idling and cut out. As I was backing in to the drive it cut out again, and my other half said it made a loud sucking in of air noise, like it wasn't getting enough air, before immediately cutting out.

We believed based on problems with other cars that the issue was the idle control valve sticking, but when checked was working fine and not that mucky. We found a website that points lots of faults of this type for FIATS at the Idle Control Valve needing cleaning. Typically I can't find the page now. We checked this and it was apparently fine and didn't need cleaning much. We also cleaned out the throttle body. But still the fault is present with the car cutting out within 10 minutes when idling.

We feel we are very close to finding the cause, but we are stumped as to what it might be.

So my questions are as follows:

1) Could my topping up of the oil and it leaking somewhere (believe the oil leak is fairly high in the system) have caused some interference that has caused the failure to re-occur (both the last 2 times I've topped up the oil I've seen a high coolant temperature error when the car cuts out). Just before the car cuts out the dials go crazy.

2) And is there anything else that be causing this? One of my work colleagues had exactly this fault. And is was fixed by replacing the Mass Air Flow sensor, the Idle Control Valve and a wire inside a tube which he didn't know what it was called. (throttle wire?)

Is there anything I can use in the oil tank to help fix the leak?

Holts Radwell works for radiators, and I'm sure something similar exists for oil tanks, but which is the best one?

One other piece of information which I expect is relevant. In the 2 days the car was running fine, the rev counter was steady at 1000 revs. Since its started playing up again, when you start it it goes to about 1500 revs, and gradually gets worse, with the needle flicking continually, until it gets far enough down to cut out. about 500 revs.

Any ideas what this could mean?