Hi guys. Back after a long time of Brava running nice.
Here's what happened: got on the road 2 days ago, all was looking fine, the problem started on the way home, all of the sudden, while driving, when i pushed the brake pedal the gauges dropped to zero. Released the brake pedal, all up again, and so on until i stopped on the side of the road, and stopped the engine.
Bad idea, the car wouldn't start only after 4 or 5 attempts (it was like all of the sudden i had lost all battery power), and keep in mind that no light was on the dash (ecu, battery or other).
Drove normally for about 2 km and bang, again the same s^&t happens, but this time no power, no start at all no mater how many tries. Called a friend, towed me home.
Yesterday, went to take out the battery and recharge it, but i said let me give it a try, surprise she came to life, checked the battery voltage with the engine off 12.5V, and with the engine on 13.8V, all has runned smooth all day.
Today my vag com cable arrived, went to try to test the damn thing, maybe it has an error stored, and surprise again the car won't start, same simptoms.


First of all sorry for the long story.
Hope someone has an ideea cause i'm lost, and btw what software should i use for the IAW1AF13 ECU cause i've tried KPW71_USB and FiatEcuScan doesn't have this type of ECU so anything else?
Thanks in advance.

Sounds like an electrical fault to me. Could it be that brake pedal switch is shorting the electrics?

check your engine earths. there is a short somewhere. either in the brake electrics. the bulbs or the engine themselfs.


its defo a earth problem

ok so went out today and started checking. I checked the bulbs, the wiring and also the switch at the pedal. They look fine altought i don't know why after i took the switch out and checked the connector, it shows that the circuit it's closed (hope it makes some sense). So the question is, does the switch opens or closes a circuit when the pedal is pressed, to light the rear break light?

The pin pops out to make the circuit. I think that the problem is more related to the brake lights looking for an earth.

Did you remove any of the earths and clean them?

Cheers

D

From what i've read in the manual, there are 9 earth points in my model, so i've checked and cleaned 7: 2 front beneath the headlights, 2 on each side of the dash, 2 on the inside of the trunk and one on the engine near the coil pack. So there are 2 left wich i don't know for sure where they are. Any ideeas?

It's very strange,
-if there was a short.. there would be a sudden loss of power and sparks / burns fuses wires, smoke even fire!!

-if there was a sudden surge of power ( malfunctioning alternator/ diods / charging circuit) that might put the ECU in a "protected mode" in witch all the power would be cut to the ecu in order to protect it. ( My own opinion)

Did the engine stall???

if the engine didn't stall then i think the probable cause would be the wires/connection to the gauges.,, but then again you said the engine doesn't start.

if the crank sensor would be at fault then... probably there would be some indicators showing up (like battery and engien check)
This lets me to conclude that .. il might be the ECU at fault
check connections to ECU ...and all other connections.