Well I'm happy after a long day working on two Stilos:
1- I put mine back together after cambelt change, also fitted a new thermostat and did an oil change. Had to run across town to get a small oil filter - the one I'd been given was too long - it's bad enough at the best of times
removed heat shields to make it easy.
Another worse job was the new alternator belt; solution to that was to remove the alternator top bolt, stretch the belt on, and then pull the alternator into place with one hand while fitting the top bolt with the other. That's half my hand exercise done for the day - took a few goes.
Other worst-job was refitting the air intake pipe - hose clamp to the airflow meter is in a joke location. Wiring in that area had suffered from the heat - I replaced the corrugated tube covering and got some black cloth tape (it's sold as friction tape for sports equipment) - for that 'original' look (rather than binding the wires with insulation tape).
2- With my Stilo running sweet and back on the road, it was time to revisit another Stilo, this one with Selespeed problems. The pump had not been running and the battery was flat. Those and other electrical problems were solved by cleaning/drying the fusebox behind the battery - that was Friday evening.
There was an intermittent Turbine Speed Sensor fault - it would clear but come back after the engine was started. I got there at 5pm, removed the speed sensor from the front of the gearbox and cleaned the debris off. The end-of-line calibration would begin, but not complete - an error for the Selection Solenoid would appear.
Another workshop had replaced the clutch. Then there had been a massive leak from the clutch slave cylinder, so the gearbox had been off a second time to replace that. During the cleanup, the fusebox was drenched, and then there were no gears, so they gave up. Meanwhile, after getting some life back into it, I still had no gears, even though the errors would clear - it wouldn't calibrate.
For some reason I decided to try a spare ECU - easy to change in the left footwell - and that displayed a new error code for a clutch position sensor fault. I unplugged its four-pin connector on the front of the gearbox near the pipe to the clutch. The connector was full of water and missing the ribbed rubber seal. I found one of those in a wrecked Punto (took it from a lambda sensor plug). Cleaned and dried the connector, that error disappeared.
Still no calibration though, so I decided to try bleeding the clutch. Difficult to reach the pipe and its wire clip - to disconnect it, I removed the battery and its tray. Not too difficult but a big mess of pipes and wires (see pic - what a mess!). Obviously all those loose, sticky wires could have benefitted from my new corrugated tube and cloth tape, but I'd left that at home. I think this loose wiring and dodgy crimps is how Stilo electrical problems are started
At this point, after getting a persistent selection solenoid fault during calibration, I checked the plug for the selection solenoid, which is the one facing sideways under the battery tray, not the other three solenoids on top. Then I spotted the problem. As well as a disconnected earth strap, the wiring for the selection solenoid looked different to the wiring for the other three solenoids. I realised the solenoid wiring was actually plugged into the speed sensor (and vice versa). :idea:
After swapping those over, I refitted the battery tray (so confident was I...) A thick red wire fell out of a crimp terminal on the back of the fusebox (blue plug), so I soldered that. An earth wire fell out of another crimp on the negative battery terminal - soldered that too. Getting the plastic 'wall' back around the battery tray was an awful, fiddly job, especially as it was getting dark at 9pm. Some light was provided by a truck yard next door, which also provided a noisy Diesel engine that refrigerated a truck.
Then I realised that another horrible airflow meter hose clamp had to be done up once the pipe was squeezed back into place. This was eerily familiar. I think that took at least half an hour.
With the original ECU refitted and the recharged battery, it was time for the moment of truth - it calibrated fine (ignoring the 'gearbox fault' that's displayed with BEEP BEEP BEEP partway through the process - that seems to be normal). I laughed at how the reversing sensors were also fired off during the calibration
The clutch re-learning was a bit hit and miss - have to run the process, start the engine, stop it after a while, then switch back on and reconnect to the ECU and try again until a '00' response is given.
Then it was time for a test drive, and apart from the lumpy throttle control that seems to be a feature of the Stilo's Selespeed (I'm quite used to the very smooth Dualogic on my 500), the clutch worked smoothly and all the gears were available.
I even reset the service reminder (oil had been changed recently) - and then remembered I should reset mine too
So what have we learned?
- Wet connectors are a problem; avoid wetting the fusebox, and make sure connectors have their rubber seals.
- Don't forget the earth cable for the gearbox. I dread to think where the starter motor current goes otherwise.
- On a car from somewhere else that arrives as a non-runner, check that plugs are on the correct Selespeed components. The wiring is labelled. EV0 is the solenoid on top at the front, EV1 and EV2 are behind that, and EV3 is sideways underneath. The other two-pin plug goes to the speed sensor.
- An instrument panel error during calibration is normal, but all other Selespeed errors must remain clear.
- A good way to identify solenoids is to unplug them while the software is connected and displaying fault codes. A fault code is instantly triggered for the unplugged component, so you know what you've unplugged. It was while doing this that I found there was no fault code when I unplugged EV3 - that made me suspect something was wrong with the wiring.
- That airflow meter hose clamp is nasty to reach, hands and arms get scratched.
- Under the leather passenger seat, there is a storage drawer (not fitted to my cloth seats). In the drawer I found a navigation CD (maps of England; not useful) and a setup CD. I was able to use this in my Stilo to set the voice recognition language to English forgot to try it out on the way home, but I guess the "Prego? Prego? Interruzione!" button is no more ::
Quite a long day but all finished by 11pm and home before midnight. My Stilo's running well but I noticed the suspension on the other one was a lot more 'planted'. Someone has fitted red springs (Eibachs?) yet it still feels nice and soft. I'm going to find out what shocks are fitted, too.
While in the yard getting the spare ECU (not needed) from a wrecked Abarth, I scored myself a set of original Abarth mats :slayer: In NZ the cars came with a double-thickness of mats - underneath the Abarth mats there are plain black mats clipped in place. Got those as well, as they have been lost from my car (clips-studs are still there). Also have a like-new door panel in the correct bumpy cloth without wear around the handle or on top where someone rested an elbow on mine. Nice to be making these little improvements, though I now know I need a new clutch - the clutch control on the other Stilo was much smoother. A Christmas holiday project...
-Alex
1- I put mine back together after cambelt change, also fitted a new thermostat and did an oil change. Had to run across town to get a small oil filter - the one I'd been given was too long - it's bad enough at the best of times
removed heat shields to make it easy.Another worse job was the new alternator belt; solution to that was to remove the alternator top bolt, stretch the belt on, and then pull the alternator into place with one hand while fitting the top bolt with the other. That's half my hand exercise done for the day - took a few goes.
Other worst-job was refitting the air intake pipe - hose clamp to the airflow meter is in a joke location. Wiring in that area had suffered from the heat - I replaced the corrugated tube covering and got some black cloth tape (it's sold as friction tape for sports equipment) - for that 'original' look (rather than binding the wires with insulation tape).
2- With my Stilo running sweet and back on the road, it was time to revisit another Stilo, this one with Selespeed problems. The pump had not been running and the battery was flat. Those and other electrical problems were solved by cleaning/drying the fusebox behind the battery - that was Friday evening.
There was an intermittent Turbine Speed Sensor fault - it would clear but come back after the engine was started. I got there at 5pm, removed the speed sensor from the front of the gearbox and cleaned the debris off. The end-of-line calibration would begin, but not complete - an error for the Selection Solenoid would appear.
Another workshop had replaced the clutch. Then there had been a massive leak from the clutch slave cylinder, so the gearbox had been off a second time to replace that. During the cleanup, the fusebox was drenched, and then there were no gears, so they gave up. Meanwhile, after getting some life back into it, I still had no gears, even though the errors would clear - it wouldn't calibrate.
For some reason I decided to try a spare ECU - easy to change in the left footwell - and that displayed a new error code for a clutch position sensor fault. I unplugged its four-pin connector on the front of the gearbox near the pipe to the clutch. The connector was full of water and missing the ribbed rubber seal. I found one of those in a wrecked Punto (took it from a lambda sensor plug). Cleaned and dried the connector, that error disappeared.
Still no calibration though, so I decided to try bleeding the clutch. Difficult to reach the pipe and its wire clip - to disconnect it, I removed the battery and its tray. Not too difficult but a big mess of pipes and wires (see pic - what a mess!). Obviously all those loose, sticky wires could have benefitted from my new corrugated tube and cloth tape, but I'd left that at home. I think this loose wiring and dodgy crimps is how Stilo electrical problems are started
At this point, after getting a persistent selection solenoid fault during calibration, I checked the plug for the selection solenoid, which is the one facing sideways under the battery tray, not the other three solenoids on top. Then I spotted the problem. As well as a disconnected earth strap, the wiring for the selection solenoid looked different to the wiring for the other three solenoids. I realised the solenoid wiring was actually plugged into the speed sensor (and vice versa). :idea:
After swapping those over, I refitted the battery tray (so confident was I...) A thick red wire fell out of a crimp terminal on the back of the fusebox (blue plug), so I soldered that. An earth wire fell out of another crimp on the negative battery terminal - soldered that too. Getting the plastic 'wall' back around the battery tray was an awful, fiddly job, especially as it was getting dark at 9pm. Some light was provided by a truck yard next door, which also provided a noisy Diesel engine that refrigerated a truck.
Then I realised that another horrible airflow meter hose clamp had to be done up once the pipe was squeezed back into place. This was eerily familiar. I think that took at least half an hour.
With the original ECU refitted and the recharged battery, it was time for the moment of truth - it calibrated fine (ignoring the 'gearbox fault' that's displayed with BEEP BEEP BEEP partway through the process - that seems to be normal). I laughed at how the reversing sensors were also fired off during the calibration
The clutch re-learning was a bit hit and miss - have to run the process, start the engine, stop it after a while, then switch back on and reconnect to the ECU and try again until a '00' response is given.
Then it was time for a test drive, and apart from the lumpy throttle control that seems to be a feature of the Stilo's Selespeed (I'm quite used to the very smooth Dualogic on my 500), the clutch worked smoothly and all the gears were available.
I even reset the service reminder (oil had been changed recently) - and then remembered I should reset mine too
So what have we learned?
- Wet connectors are a problem; avoid wetting the fusebox, and make sure connectors have their rubber seals.
- Don't forget the earth cable for the gearbox. I dread to think where the starter motor current goes otherwise.
- On a car from somewhere else that arrives as a non-runner, check that plugs are on the correct Selespeed components. The wiring is labelled. EV0 is the solenoid on top at the front, EV1 and EV2 are behind that, and EV3 is sideways underneath. The other two-pin plug goes to the speed sensor.
- An instrument panel error during calibration is normal, but all other Selespeed errors must remain clear.
- A good way to identify solenoids is to unplug them while the software is connected and displaying fault codes. A fault code is instantly triggered for the unplugged component, so you know what you've unplugged. It was while doing this that I found there was no fault code when I unplugged EV3 - that made me suspect something was wrong with the wiring.
- That airflow meter hose clamp is nasty to reach, hands and arms get scratched.
- Under the leather passenger seat, there is a storage drawer (not fitted to my cloth seats). In the drawer I found a navigation CD (maps of England; not useful) and a setup CD. I was able to use this in my Stilo to set the voice recognition language to English
forgot to try it out on the way home, but I guess the "Prego? Prego? Interruzione!" button is no more ::Quite a long day but all finished by 11pm and home before midnight. My Stilo's running well but I noticed the suspension on the other one was a lot more 'planted'. Someone has fitted red springs (Eibachs?) yet it still feels nice and soft. I'm going to find out what shocks are fitted, too.
While in the yard getting the spare ECU (not needed) from a wrecked Abarth, I scored myself a set of original Abarth mats :slayer: In NZ the cars came with a double-thickness of mats - underneath the Abarth mats there are plain black mats clipped in place. Got those as well, as they have been lost from my car (clips-studs are still there). Also have a like-new door panel in the correct bumpy cloth without wear around the handle or on top where someone rested an elbow on mine. Nice to be making these little improvements, though I now know I need a new clutch - the clutch control on the other Stilo was much smoother. A Christmas holiday project...
-Alex
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