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General Should I buy?

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General Should I buy?

Lightning650

Lightning650

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Hi all.I'm a new arrival to this forum via my very recent Uno purchase,but as is the way of things I've just been offered a 2004 1.4 Stilo five door for very little money.
The car runs and drives perfectly,is fairly tidy but not mint,has no test,and the dashboard instruments are completely inoperative.All of them,as far as I know.
I've had a scan at previous threads referring to this issue,and I'm aware that battery condition is critical.
The owner tells me he THINKS he fitted a new battery a couple of years ago,but is not certain.So are there any other simple things to check that might cure the problem?
Or do I have to send the cluster away for repair,with all of the associated costs.
Or,should I swerve the car completely,as it might be more trouble than it's worth?
I wasn't looking to buy another car,and I'm not in love with the idea by any means.
But it IS cheap,tidy,and I hate the idea of it being scrapped.
Your opinions are sought please
 
No test could be tricksy.. and the dashboard problem could be.

For the first one.. check everything mechanical... but there are no real horrors to be aware of. Stilo is pretty well-'ard in the chassis.

Electrically the Stilo was the first Fiat to have CANBUS electrics and some of it is not as great as it might have been. Make sure the lights and anything that affects the MOT all work (and that the brake lights don't flash when the indicators are on.. that kind of thing).


If it all checks out.. you'd be fairly sure the beast is a goer... BUT it won't get a MOT without instruments.

The dude Yellowstilo on this forum can fix them cheaper and with more care than some of the "we fix consoles" type places... although you'll have to ship the clocks to Holland, it still works out cheaper/better.

OR... look for a spare set of clocks on fleabay.. though this is a punt and despite buying "working" clocks... I'm on my third attempt to find a good set.

This weekend I'm going to tap up my dealer to see if there are any deals on a new instrument set, just out of curiosity.. :D


Ralf S.
 
Ralf S. said:
No test could be tricksy.. and the dashboard problem could be.

For the first one.. check everything mechanical... but there are no real horrors to be aware of. Stilo is pretty well-'ard in the chassis.

Electrically the Stilo was the first Fiat to have CANBUS electrics and some of it is not as great as it might have been. Make sure the lights and anything that affects the MOT all work (and that the brake lights don't flash when the indicators are on.. that kind of thing).


If it all checks out.. you'd be fairly sure the beast is a goer... BUT it won't get a MOT without instruments.

The dude Yellowstilo on this forum can fix them cheaper and with more care than some of the "we fix consoles" type places... although you'll have to ship the clocks to Holland, it still works out cheaper/better.

OR... look for a spare set of clocks on fleabay.. though this is a punt and despite buying "working" clocks... I'm on my third attempt to find a good set.

This weekend I'm going to tap up my dealer to see if there are any deals on a new instrument set, just out of curiosity.. :D


Ralf S.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Ralf.
I have seen various repair services offered on ebay so Imagined it might be a common thing.
I know the car a little,the owner is the son of my truck mechanic so not too concerned about mechanicals,but the electrics...I've run Italian motorcycles...*sigh"...
I shall give it some thought.The price is dropping daily so I think he might give it to me if I wait another week LOLOL
 
The electrics are not that bad... they're just a bit elderly now. For instance there is a fuse box on top of the battery which should have a cover on it... but I haven't seen a single Stilo with that cover still on there. So... things might go a little bit AWOL occasionally. Then you have "not great" connectors at the bulbs... but nothing too bad... usually a clean and re-tighten will fix it.

The instruments are a Visteon unit and the internal circuits/stepper motors tend to break down.. again just over time. The beast is 12 years old after all.

There are a few clocks for sale on fleabay (though some may work and some may work for just a while) and they're mostly all the same (petrol has a different rev-counter to diesel and Abarth has a different computer and appearance) but if you find one that looks the same and is off a petrol engine, it'll work.

It's worth a punt if you can get a clock set that works.


Ralf S.
 
@ Ralf S

That's my Stilo with the cover you mention, :)

l9CYzWs.jpg


uCCXsNp.jpg


I agree that if he finds a working speedometer its a good car to buy...after all!
 
I have everything that a Stilo had from the factory.It doesn't miss anything!I think that you mean the flat tray with a vertical conical tube under the battery...

I think that I have the most complete Stilo that exists today :)
 
Lightning650 said:
Hi all.I'm a new arrival to this forum via my very recent Uno purchase,but as is the way of things I've just been offered a 2004 1.4 Stilo five door for very little money.
The car runs and drives perfectly,is fairly tidy but not mint,has no test,and the dashboard instruments are completely inoperative.All of them,as far as I know.
I've had a scan at previous threads referring to this issue,and I'm aware that battery condition is critical.
The owner tells me he THINKS he fitted a new battery a couple of years ago,but is not certain.So are there any other simple things to check that might cure the problem?
Or do I have to send the cluster away for repair,with all of the associated costs.
Or,should I swerve the car completely,as it might be more trouble than it's worth?
I wasn't looking to buy another car,and I'm not in love with the idea by any means.
But it IS cheap,tidy,and I hate the idea of it being scrapped.
Your opinions are sought please
Click to expand...

Remember that a faulty speedometer is an MOT failure. It is also a legal requirement when driving so you need to budget to get that fixed.


Robert G8RPI.
 
There is a fella on here that repairs the instrument clusters for reasonable money, Dutch chap I think - his name is Yellow Stilo or something like that.


Avoid Cluster Repairs UK - they ruined my cluster and I had to go through credit card dispute to get my money back from them. They repaired it electrically but completely smashed it physically.


I have a spare gauge set from a diesel in the shed I think; I used those as a temporary set on my Abarth and all worked fine. So you can crab any stilo gauge cluster and plug it in - it will work. Obviously the mileage will be out. The speedo and rev counter will work and should give correct info albeit the scaling of the tacho for the diesel ment my abarth revved off the clock!
 
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