Hi all!

I also have a weird thing happening to my car recently.

When I started up the car, my clock had reset and was flashing, then whilst driving the car suddenly does the start up check, whilst I am driving. I can hear whirring and all the lights on the dash come on and all of my dials go to 0. Car seems to drive fine but I am not sure what this means and how to proceed?

I also have a broken spring on my front left, but I guess that's a pretty common and unrelated fault.

I saw someone else say that I should be checking connectors on the battery, but as a total novice I am not sure what I am looking for, can someone advise?

Thanks in advance!

Honestly, if you have no idea you have even less chance of fixing it, even with good advice off other owners in this Forum.

That spring needs fixing urgently, if the car didn't have the "spring catcher" modification the sharp broken end could easily end up puncturing a front tyre with disastrous consequences.

Electrical problems can really tax the experienced professional mechanics too so my advice is to take the car to a few reputable places and get some quotes for the work.

Well, it's not that I am trying to fix it myself, but I have a mechanic that comes round and fixes my car for me, only a fiat stilo is a bit of a rarer car and he doesn't know all car models inside out off the top of his head, so I wanted to know what people on the forum for this specific car thought to help him get to the problem quicker.

Also what has happened whilst I was driving is all of the dash just turned off for about a minute, but finally came back on and did a start up check again. I am really anxious to get more information if anyone else has had a similar experience and what the problem was as my electrics are going pretty nuts right now.

In the process of getting the spring fixed, it's a real pain as the springs I was going to buy off ebay they only have one in stock and I think I really need two!

Oh and I had an engine fault light come on when I hadn't driven the car in a while (this happened twice). My mechanic read the code as:

P0230 Powertain

Fuel Pump Primary Circuit


Can anyone advise on what things we should be checking?

I think your instrument cluster is bust

First thing to check is the battery though. Batteries are known to cause all sorts of issues with stilos. Make sure it's strong a general rule is if it looks dated it probably is and worth replacing to avoid spurious faults in the future.

Random instrument cluster behaviour is typical of it failing so could be worth getting it tested or repaired. Theres a myriad of places that do it but it's not cheap. You could go second hand but you'll need to source a unit with less miles on than your own and have access to a full copy of MES. The choice is yours ultimately its not detrimental to the operation of the car. .. just bloody annoying

Thank you very much for the quick response, really appreciate your advice and it was really helpful.

If anyone else has any added input or extra points please join in. I'll reward you with cookies!

We have checked the battery and the D4 connectors. Battery seems to giving out an okay voltage reading and the D4 connector didn't seem wet, but we sprayed it with electric cleaner for good measure.

However I am still getting electrical faults, initial check happening when driving and occasionally when I start the car I get a whole ton of errors (ABS, ASR ERROR etc). I turn off the car and restart it and these errors disappear.

Anyone got any ideas about what's happening? I thought it was likely it was corrosion or damp in the D4 connectors because it does seem to be worse when the weather is bad. When I havent driven the car in a few days, the engine fault light comes on as well, however it has turned off since cleaning the D4 connector.

Any ideas? I am thinking of taking it to an electrical specialist as its a very irritating problem to have. When the initial start up check happens, it often resets my clock/date.

That's interesting!!

Now all my dashboard lights have given up, no more pyrotechnics for me, but nothing working either.

I've got it booked into a electrical specialist place in two weeks times, I will let you guys know what the solution is. I am gonna be really annoyed if they have to replace the cluster because I personally just feel the cluster is fine as it's working when powered.

My dad actually has a spare battery, I am wondering if it's worth changing it and seeing if it makes any difference!

it's 98% sure a cluster fault - i repaired lots of them with succes.
When you don't mind sending it to the Netherlands i can repair it for a very decent price - including the shipping costs it will cost you less than the repair by the electronics specialist.
further info by PM please....