grimwau said:

Nice work massiratti, glad that yours was simple to fix and that Glyn Hopkins were on the ball. When I took mine in last week for this same problem the DET never mentioned a new update when I enquired if any were available.

I wonder if this was the item referred to in a previous post of mine regarding TSB 00.15.09?

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Hi grimwau,
I think time will tell if this actually fixes our problem! I checked the oil and it is very hard to see if the level is over the max point due to smearing up the dipstick tube. One thing I do hate with recent fiats is the silly dipstick which resembles a spring that seems to pull the oil up the tube which confuses the reading. Whats wrong with a flexible blade I've seen on other cars? The level is at or past the max from what I can guage.
My Apologies I didn't ask for the ECU update revision level ( i forgot)
I would have been usefull info for you to have with regards to your dealer.
Tbc - i think?

Massirati said:

My Apologies I didn't ask for the ECU update revision level ( i forgot)
I would have been usefull info for you to have with regards to your dealer.
Tbc - i think?

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No problem, hopefully it will all be sorted out soon. Just waiting to hear back from Fiat about the next step.

Cheers!

Just an update on the situation, I received a phone call from the dealer to tell me that they had been requested by Fiat to download some information from the car and send it to them so car booked in on Wednesday for this to be done.

grimwau said:

Just an update on the situation, I received a phone call from the dealer to tell me that they had been requested by Fiat to download some information from the car and send it to them so car booked in on Wednesday for this to be done.

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Things are moving - the final diagnosis should prove quite interesting.

Good service today from dealer. Took car in for the DET to download the ECU data to send to Fiat and he did it straight away and the car was ready to go within half an hour. Let's hope that there is something in the data that might indicate what is causing the trouble, although I have to admit that I am not getting too excited, LOL.

grimwau said:

Good service today from dealer. Took car in for the DET to download the ECU data to send to Fiat and he did it straight away and the car was ready to go within half an hour. Let's hope that there is something in the data that might indicate what is causing the trouble, although I have to admit that I am not getting too excited, LOL.

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Hi Grimwau,
At least they seem serious about getting to the root of the problem!
Again good luck and let us know the outcome.

Any news Grim?

baxwalker said:

Any news Grim?

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Nothing more as yet John.

<UPDATE>

Still no news back from Fiat since they requested the dealers send them the latest data readings so not certain if they have found anything untoward to explain the problems.

The filter blocked light came on yesterday (Weds) whilst the wife was coming home so I needed to give it a good run last night to clear the DPF. I have been relatively happy that it has not been playing up too badly, although I do give it a good 20mile run every Friday night as well as nice trips out at weekends.

The wife is going to Salisbury today which is a nice 60 mile round trip so was tempted to leave the light as it was until she did this trip. However,I was worried that she had already switched the engine off once with it being on and if I put the car away in the garage that would be twice and when I get the car out of the garage in the morning for her that would be three times the engine would have been started and stopped whilst the light was on.

I was afraid that that might mean it would not then clear with normal use and a trip to the dealer for a forced regen would be necessary.

I thought I would try a little experiment this time and decide to drive in 4th gear at approximately 50-55mph rather than the normal 5th gear 70-80mph for the duration of the trip until the light went out. The revs were similar for both situations, c2500rpm, but whereas the latter trip usually takes in excess of 14 miles to clear the filter driving at the lower speed/same revs the same was accomplished in just over 9 miles.

Had a call from Fiat Customer relations yesterday to say that they had arranged for the car to be looked at when it goes in for the ABS problem to be sorted next week.

The guy I spoke to seemed confident that the problem would be sorted this time. He said that the technical guys had analysed the data and he said they had said something about ECU and body computer to him.

Will keep you posted in the New Year when I get the car back.

Hi All

a fascinating thread, and I've learned lots by reading the 9 pages thanks!

My 'change oil' and warning light came on this morning - car has done just 5,200 miles.

Bearing in mind i've not done much travelling over Xmas, and short journeys in the FREEZING weather aren't good I know, could this have something to do with it? I've also noticed a marked decline in MPG - down from my normal 50mpg to around 38!!!

Two questions - could the MPG be related to the oil change, and would it be a good idea to give the engine a blast at 70mph in this state, to see if it clears or is that for another warning light (DPF)?

I think that the engine was running (or trying) to run a regeneration cycle last week - idling at around 1000 rpm which I thought again was down to the cold (REALLY must read the manual)

thanks!

ladywotlunches said:

Hi All

a fascinating thread, and I've learned lots by reading the 9 pages thanks!

My 'change oil' and warning light came on this morning - car has done just 5,200 miles.

Bearing in mind i've not done much travelling over Xmas, and short journeys in the FREEZING weather aren't good I know, could this have something to do with it? I've also noticed a marked decline in MPG - down from my normal 50mpg to around 38!!!

Two questions - could the MPG be related to the oil change, and would it be a good idea to give the engine a blast at 70mph in this state, to see if it clears or is that for another warning light (DPF)?

I think that the engine was running (or trying) to run a regeneration cycle last week - idling at around 1000 rpm which I thought again was down to the cold (REALLY must read the manual)

thanks!

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The oil warning light/message coming on means that the oil condition has detiorated and I would not recommend driving it hard until it has been changed. Also the only way of turning off the message/light is by a special piece of diagnostic equipment (examiner) which will also be used to reset the oil degradation level parameters at the same time.

To be perfectly honest, from the type of driving you describe and the temperatures at the moment 5200 miles is not a bad figure and I for one would be content if I could achieve the same.

Once the oil and filter have been changed treat the car to a nice run, you don't need to "blast" it like with the petrol engines though, it is preferable to drive at a steady speed at revs in excess of 1800rpm. I find that circa 60mph in 5th gear to be quite good or 40mph in 4th works well.

Thanks Grimwau

I'll behave myself until I go in to the garage then! Have got a slot on Friday, so that's not too bad.

Whilst I have been pottering in the last couple of weeks, I'm often inclined to 'give it a run' when I can. I'll ask the dealer for advice when I go in. I bought it as an ex-demonstrator in August with 2,500 on the clock so it may be that those short journeys have contributed to the early change needed. Again - there's no harm in asking!

This is aimed at ladywotlunches, have you had a service yet?

If they do a service and dont reset the service counter the oil will think it has not been changed so blinks and shows "change engine oil".

Puntostar - no I've not had a service (car is only 9 months old), but I think the dealer gave it some kind of service before I collected it. I'll definitely ask the question - thanks

Just an update to say that car went in last week for it's second annual service at 14400 miles. The last oil and filter change had been carried out at 9960 (2200 miles) so already doing much better than previously.

I asked for a printout so as to determine how much further the car might have travelled if I wasn't having the oil changed and the estimate was another 3500-4000 miles. Not brilliant but under the circumstances I am more than happy with this result.