Hi,


Got rid of my trusty old fiat punto after 9 years and had a baby and needed a more reliable sturdier car. Bought the fiat stilo but to be honest its been a nightmare since I got it. Battery keeps going flat so replaced it and its still doing it off and on. Somebody said that something electrical must be draining it so took out bulb for glove compartment and boot, seemed to sort it for a while then yesterday flat battery again. Very inconvenient when have a baby.
Also not sure if related to electrical but when open doors to get in the front windows keep going down on their own and the autolocking has switched itself on. I have no manual to refer to so no idea how to turn off the autolocking device.

Anyone any ideas on whats happening and please use laymans terms as im a female and know nothing about cars.

Ive been told that I need to take the car to a guy that specialises in the electrics rather than a mechanic, ive taken it to my local mechanic twice already and he`s non the wiser as to what problem is so reluctant to keep taking it there.

Thanks

Hi, Your windows will come down when the key is held in the open/unlock position for 2 seconds and vice versa when you hold it in the lock postion they will come back up - this is one of the cars features. Unfortunately sometimes in the frosty weather the lock barrell sticks in the open position when you operate the lock hence the windows come down. . Simply turn the barrell back to the lock position and they will go back up

Auto locking - on the dashboard theres a menu button, press that and use the up and down to look for speed lock (i think its called) and set to to on.

Windows going down- as per alsimmo's post, its a design feature, not a fault as such. Not a fault as its supposed to do it, but is a fault as normally you have to hold it there to drop the windows. may just need some lube in the barrell of the lock.

battery going flat- ok, you've got a car thats getting a flat battery, you cant see any lights sticking on so its not that draining it, but i'd leave an electrical fault as a cause for now. you've changed the battery, hopefully for new, and its still going flat. to me it sounds like the battery is not getting a charge, so the next thing to get checked is that the alternator is working properly so its charging the battery. If its not working right, your alternator wont be supplying enough electricity to charge the battery and run the car electrics, this would tie in with "seemed to sort it for a while". The newer battery would have possibly took longer to drain. A good auto electrcian will be able to test the alternator for you. if the alternator is fine, then its looking for an electrical fault, like a short or bad earth. its most likely the alternator though.

hope this helps.

Many thanks for your replies, I really need to find somebody that deals with the electrics though as not really getting an help from my normal mechanic.

Since last posted now got a warning coming up on dash which when downloaded a user manual is GLOW PLUG WARMING FAILURE, got no idea what this is. Since I got this car there just seems to be one thing after another and im seriously thinking Ive cocked up buying this car and maybe I need to get rid of it for something a bit more reliable