Hello All

I've had my Stilo now since April. It is my first car, went to a garage to look at a couple of Puntos but was seduced by the Stilo. Had a major service and a cambelt change as it was nearing 60K when I bought it.

For quite a while I had the usual uneven idling and it was my intention to follow the guides to clean the ICV but I didn't have the correct tools so my initial attempt failed when trying to release bolts that held the ICV in place. (I didn't trust cleaning it from the outside)

But intermittantly, usually when leaving work, the car would just stall when changing to second and restarting just caused the REVS to shoot up and down and then cut out again accompanied by a EML error. Giving the throttle some consistent pressure seemed to allow me to drive but the error was still there.

I got some-one to come and have a look and they determined from the codes that the crankshaft sensor was faulty. This was replaced and I asked them to clean the ICV as well. After this, had a nice idle speed, 1st gear crawling improved massively and life was good.

But at the start of December it started giving me different faults. Usually on start up. At one point it was 1 in 3 different options when turning the engine on. Either it would struggle but start normally with an engine fault. (Determined as crankshaft sensor fault again), struggle to take at all or completely die as in the video below.

Another issue is that if I did manage to start it, frequently while stopping it would stall and need a restart. And then sometimes it would restart with a "Loose connection" error and the Rev counter wouldn't move from 0. Everything else would be fine. Ever so occasionally it would "reboot" whilst driving, usually at 30k revs. The engine would die for a second and the checks would start over.

I asked the mechanic to come out again in order to check the earths and the faults. He has said that all the earths were clean and he suspects it to be an ECU failure although he isn't confident enough to tell me to replace the ECU due to the cost. I wasn't there when he was looking at it but I suspect we has reset the ECU due to the time flashing? Basically he's telling me to take it to a garage. Currently it won't start at all. Below is a video of the starting procedure. Any suggestions would be majorly appreciated, even if it's just more information to tell the garage it inevitable gets taken to.

http://youtu.be/Y6IM1IWUs4s

so what engine stilo do you have...does it cut out when warm as you previously replaced crank sensore which type did you replace with pattern part or genuine..also do you have any fault codes showing at moment if it cuts out when warm could be crank sensor again, or number of things depending which engine if diesel maybe egr valve or maf on air filter housing but more info from yourself first

Sorry it's a 1.6 16v Petrol 2003 3dr. I'm assuming the replacement crankshaft sensor was an aftermarket one as the box for it has no branding. It is part number 419650011 from ECP. At there moment it doesn't cut out as it is a non-starter but previously it would either not start at cold or start and cut out when warm. I don't own anything that can give fault codes.

Getting some fault codes if any stored be good starting pont..did the mechanic that came out not hook any diagnostic equipment up when he came round maybe worth giving him a call to check if he did or not and if so what fault codes found.
Also the dashboard cluster problem, there is someone with more knowledge on here that does repairs to dash cluster, althoiugh I do not know if faulty dash would stop car from starting and not remember reading anything on that.
And what condition is battery is it cranking engine over well when you try to start as weak battery can cause lots of issues..
Still any fault codes be good to get before thinking on ecu fault

We have an eclipse EDIS machine at work not seeing much use. I will ask for loaner over the weekend.

mhowse said:

And what condition is battery is it cranking engine over well when you try to start as weak battery can cause lots of issues..
Still any fault codes be good to get before thinking on ecu fault

Click to expand...

Yep, definitely start with the battery and work onwards. Use a voltmeter and test the battery. ASR and ABS failures are ghost errors that often occur because of the battery. If it needs replacing, get something 65Ah+.

ECU failures are also a common thing for the 1.6, I've replaced mine after it blew an ignition chip clean off the circuit board! If you need a replacement, I can highly recommend ATP Electronic Developments Ltd and they'll give you (I think) £35 cashback if you send them your old one.

Good Advice. The battery is definitely not functioning as it should. Got it on charge now. If only to get me to the garage. I've attached the reports I got from the diagnostics. I think replacement battery will be a must, then go from there.

yes battery can give all sorts of faults def the power steering fault as that is one of first to give up when battery voltage low

Did you get voltage reads from when engive was running at positive negative of battery should roughly be 13.5 to 14 v so you know it was getting charge..also keep eye on battery it may not be holding charge in this cold weather and need replacing how old is battery..remember not to use high amps when charging long low rate charge is best..

I see you had crank sensor error that cleared this could of been there from when you had that sensor replaced but also if still problems you may well have to get codes checked again but ..def get battery situation coverd first

Did the multimeter test on the battery. 12.9 no ignition, 12.3 ignition, drops to 9 on starting up (after jump start, letting it idle, and restarting) then shoots back up to 14 which it remains at while idling. With the usual errors, engine fault (which I assume to be crankshaft sensor again) and occasionally loose connection/no rev counter. Oh and it just died on it's own, was able to restart.

But after giving it some revs I had smoke in the engine bay, I had just put water in the coolant tank so that may have something to do with it but that is it. Plus there is a wierd sucking noise when I press the accelarator pedal for the first time. It's going to the garage. Spending limited £500. Any quote over that it's going in the bin.

I do appreciate the time spent on trying to help me.

if your jump starting it you need to look at your battery condition as said it can give all sort of problems with having a weak battery,,14v is good least is getting a charge but all charge produced is going to charge battery and leaves little for operation of electronics on the car

Sounds like your battery's fecked. 14v charge voltage is good and shows the alternators fine but that battery has to go.

With regards the sucking noise; most likely a crack somewhere on the ducting leading to the throttle body which is letting in excess air. That could be messing up your map sensor readings and confusing the ecu or something, though I think that sort of problem is higher on cars fitted with MAF sensors such as the Abarth or JTD Stilos.

Check the air intake ducting for cracks and replace the battery asap. Whatever is up with your Stilo, I doubt it to be a £500 job to fix

Thanks for the help guys. Wish I had listened to it and gone with my gut feelings. Instead I was talked out of replacing the battery myself and got it transported to a garage. (At the same cost as a new battery)

It's all good now. The garage replaced the battery but still more crank shaft sensor failure and the occasional failure to start. They did a wiggle test of the electrical wiring and managed to get the car to cut out when the crank shaft sensor was wiggled. Osciliscope later, cheap and nasty replacement CSS at fault. Replaced it with a good one. (their words) and now it is better than ever. So quick to launch as appose to the lurching like before.

Now just some not so important repairs and it'll be perfect! :-D

The battery is always a place to check if any fault is present. Too bad for the crank sensor though.

Just remember to always change anything with either original or a very good brand. The Stilos are really good cars, believe me, they just need good attention. If you are changing parts with cheap aftermarket they will go ahead and give all sorts of silly faults and make you hate everything about them.

I had a good german 66AH battery which when tested gave 12.4V. I used to get ASR & ESP failure each time I started the car below 7 degrees. Everyone said it was a broken sensor, loose connection in one of the wheels, etc. Spoke to my good friend Davren here on the forum and stated it was indeed the battery. The car always started fine, even after 3-4 days of sitting in temperatures lower than -10.

I've changed the battery with the best thing that would fit, a VARTA Silver Dynamic E32 74Ah and as soon as I put the new battery in, everything changed. Lights are brighter, no faults whatsoever, runs better, more power, smoother, etc. They've tested the charging capability of the alternator with the car running and everything on and it was still 14.2V.

Every once in a while check the fluids in the car. Change oil regularly. I do this every 18 months or 7000 miles. Change the coolant every 2 years. Change the brake fluid every 2 years. Your car will last 200.000 miles to say the least.

Cheers.