Hi all me again
Since i bought my Brava auto it just seems to be 1 thing after another, A week after buying it i discovered the power steering rack was squirting fluid so had to replace it, Now a week after having it running normal it decided to leave me stranded at work at 10pm! bearing in mind i work in the middle of nowhere .
I came out of work and started the car as normal i started reversing there was a funny noise and then nothing car totally dead, it turns but wont fire for love or money, i had to struggle pushing it back in the parking space so i could leave it. Any ideas of whats wrong with the damn thing?
i have tried jumping it to no avail and im seriously just starting to regret buying it. first fiat i have ever bought and if it carries on it will certainly be the last!!

Any help is appreciated as i need my car for work as i have no other way of getting there,

Liz :bang:

Damn, you're not having any luck at all.

Most obvious question first. Do you know when the cam belt was last changed? There are time and mileage limits (5 years or 70,000 miles is the official line...I think). If this change has been missed it can lead to sudden failure, a knackered engine and a potentially massive bill. That's not the fault of the car. It would be the same result on any engine. But that is a worst case scenario. Chances are it's nothing so drastic. Are you able to tell us a bit more about the noise as the engine cut out?

I think you're going to need to have the car recovered to a garage or friend who can do the required checks. If you have breakdown cover I'd give them a shout.

hi i dont know when the last cam belt change was i have many reciepts that came with the car but none show cam belt, the noise sounded like my back box juddering i just thought thats what it was until the car just cut dead. Hubby has charged the battery and took it to the car but the car still wont start.
its turning over normal and occasionally it does a high turn as though its going to fire but dont

Hmmmm, if the engine is turning over but not catching then it won't be the cam belt. My next stop would be to check for ignition. Best place to start is with the main fuses. Make sure none of them have blown. after that we get into the murky world of coil packs and stuff I'm not too familiar with as I drive a diesel Bravo.

Hopefully somebody here will be along soon with more helpful advice.

Try pushing the fuel cut off reset switch, its under the passenger seat or in the passenger footwell, sort of next to the passengers left foot. Ill try to get pics, or check your manual.

What error lights show on the dash?

This is the one under the passenger seat on Mk1 cars. If you have a Mk2 its the exact same switch just placed in the passenger footwell behind some plastic trim.

there are no error lights on the dash everything goes out as it should on the turn of the key except the battery light which is staying lit, the fuel switch under the passenger seat has been pressed and still the problem persists. the car is being towed back tomorrow so a proper investigation can be started, starting with the spark plugs to see if there is even a spark

Quick update,
the car is back home and still wont fire, something weird i have noticed is the rev counter needle has spun right over and is off the dial completly
never noticed it before as it was dark and it wasnt something i was looking at,
think i may have a entity in the car,
going out shortly to start investigating to see if there is even a spark

any ideas about the neddle then please feel free to comment
Liz

quite possibly the juddering sound u heard was the back box as the car died.
Few other points to look at.
Exhaust is it ok no blockages, this can make it die and not start.
Automatics also have a switch usually on the bottom of the gearlever to stop you starting it in drive, is this switch playing up, sometimes on more expensive Auto's you can bypass by putting foot on foot brake to start, not sure how advanced Fiat are.
First port of call for me is plugs out, r they wet, is there a spark, can you smell fuel, could be a fuel pump problem, the reason it ran was fuel in the lines before it starved, when you 1st turn ignition on can you hear the pump priming the system, try starting it with the fuel filler cap off, incase the vent is blocked.
As you where only traveling slow difficult to say, which way to look usually a sudden engine stop is electrical and a slowish spluttery stop is fuel related this is a basic problem finder to start with. perhaps as the needle is right over on the tacho perhaps you should look at fuses 1st, maybe the fuel pump fuse has blown, I supose easiset way to find out is pull off fuel pipe and get some one to spin it watch your eyes and only a quick spin it should pump out of the pipe rather fast, if no fuel presure then there is the problem, either fuse or pump., just make sure you do the usual checks 1st before you pull this pipe off, no flames fags etc no sparking, it is petrol and it will go boom and stings like mad in your eyes, best thing really is large ish jar and old rag, pipe in jar rag to seal top, turn it over fuel flyes into jar, simple. may be a coinsidence the tacho is right around but I am not really a beliver in coinsidence, sounds to me as if something has "blown" somewhere hopefully just a fuse....
hope some of this helps you locate it

starting at the very beginning, i had a leak on my power steering rack, his was done after a week of messing around and having to strip the exhaust off as fiat like to put in their engines backwards
The car was fine for a week after being fixed then decided it was going to die on me Like i said in my previous post im confused as why the rev counter needle has thrown it's self right off the dial and the tip of the needle is resting on my gear selector panel on the dash!

I have checked for spark and its there, the fuel pump is priming i can hear it as soon as i turn the key, the engine turns over but for whatever reason just simply wont fire, fuses checked they are all ok so now im just banging my head against a brick wall :bang:

Next free thing you can do, remove all timing belt covers or at very least top one, get some to put a spanner on the crank and turn it, so they can feel the lower pully turn, you watch the belt, it should turn a full turn, if you wip out plugs its makes it easy to turn, just to make sure the belt is turning al lthe way, you may just be getting the lower pully (crank) turning off the key but not the top end as teeth has shreded off the belt.
At a guess if imoboliser or the gear selector switch was not working then I don't think you even get a spark. I supose you could try pulling off the fuel pipe at the engine end just to 100% sure fuel is getting there, unless of course your plugs are wet then no point.
If you find the belt is turning you need some one just to check it hasn't jumpped a tooth or two, next step I supose would be a compresion test.

There seems to be something screwy with the electrics, never mind cambelts etc.

If things have been disturbed for mechanical work, there could be a problem with the earthing connections or similar. Maybe when you reversed the car something was disturbed and things stopped working.

The engine seems to be spinning OK but something's not right. Usually a problem in the fusebox or earths around the car.

Maybe the engine management drived the rev counter on these cars?

Sounds like you need an auto-spark to have a look and maybe check the diagnostic codes.

bluejohn125 said:

There seems to be something screwy with the electrics, never mind cambelts etc.

If things have been disturbed for mechanical work, there could be a problem with the earthing connections or similar. Maybe when you reversed the car something was disturbed and things stopped working.

The engine seems to be spinning OK but something's not right. Usually a problem in the fusebox or earths around the car.

Maybe the engine management drived the rev counter on these cars?

Sounds like you need an auto-spark to have a look and maybe check the diagnostic codes.

Click to expand...

the rev counter problem has been solved now, don't know what it was but its back to normal, the car is still refusing to fire up turns over as normal but is refusing to fire :bang:

loopyliz said:

the rev counter problem has been solved now, don't know what it was but its back to normal, the car is still refusing to fire up turns over as normal but is refusing to fire :bang:

Click to expand...

Sounds like a power surge to me, did your battery light go out previously?
If the alternator has blown this is likely to be your problem as they can cause a high voltage surge when they go reversing polarity. That can cause the rev counter to play up. I would replace this first and try again, and maybe look for an earth lead that isnt connected properly.
Good luck
kevin

Ive had this problem before lol, left me stranded, i took the battery terminals off for half an hour then it cranked over, may even be something to do with the battery not having enough juice in it though it might seem ok it might not have enough cranking amps to fire.
Other thing you might want to look at is the crank sensor, if thats not working right that normally causes the symptoms your having, this is why i love my american car more than my bravo, its all screws and adjusters rather than electrics haha.