So I'm driving home from work and all of a sudden my car goes BEEEEP and the screen is telling me "Check Engine" followed by "ESP disactivated", "Hillholder failure see user manual". The orange engine light stays illuminated on the dash.

GREAT!

A problem!

Turned it off and on a few times to make sure it wasn't just a freak error, but no luck.
Also took the tuning kit off completely and its still giving me the messages, so it's going to see Dr.FIAT

Anyone know what the possible problem could be?

Mate this has happened to me a few times and I have a TMC Kit fitted to my Bravo as well..

Disconnecting the Kit wont do anything....

Sometimes if you disconnect the battery leave it for a while (20-30 mins)and reconnect the car resets itself... switch the car on and after a few minutes turned on the errors will go away...

If you have the check engine light this usually goes away after a few drives..

Hope this helps

Time to invest in a EOBD code reader... always very handy to have.

But i am sorry to here you are having troubles... hopefully a simple fix can be applied.

It would be great if TMC Motorsport could drop by and share his view - whether this could (at all) be related to TMC boxes in any way. Maybe not, but it's good to know for everyone considering the box...Especially the issue from the second post (by PassaJnr), as whitebravo's problem could be anything...

Anyway, good luck with fixing this whitebravo, hopefully it's nothing serious...

Do what PassaJnr said, unplug the battery, leave it half an hour, and then plug it back. Maybe that'll spare you the trip to fiat and the expense.

This has been seen a few times on various models. we have it on our Croma

The check engine light has gone away now... I would like some insight from Daron (TMC trader) though. I don't believe it's anything serious, if the engine light went away again?

I wouldn't mind the check engine light coming on every now and again as a result of having the kit on, but I DO mind the fact that it disables ESP and Hillholder.

I'll put the tuning box back on tomorrow and if the engine light stays off until Monday i'll cancel my trip to FIAT which is booked for Tuesday.

Hellcat said:

This has been seen a few times on various models. we have it on our Croma

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So do you reckon the TMC kit is not influencing it?

I think its possible you have the TMC box on a high power setting that could activate the limp mode due to the tuning box exceeding your ECU safety parameters within the cars engine map. You can alter this by opening the box and adjusting the dial in an anti clockwise direction . On the higher setting everytime you turn the ignition off your ECU resets only to alarm again. ''Tune down'' the box a little and this may stop your car 's ECU tripping an engine alarm.

Obviously if your motor alarms without the box in play then your problem will lie elsewhere.

ive had this a few times on a standard 150 sport. worringly its been when we've had snow and ice and i put it down to a system conflict (eg abs fighting ESP) so it shuts the system, and related systems down, producing the error.

also did it once when i was handbrake turning in a moment of immaturity.......

The kit is at setting 7. It comes at 6 as standard, so maybe i'll just put it back to that.

whitebravo said:

The kit is at setting 7. It comes at 6 as standard, so maybe i'll just put it back to that.

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Hi, sorry I've been away for a few days doing a dyno day for Abarth owners, got some great figures, 135bhp standard Abarth 500's(7 tested) making from 168-175bhp with TMC box. Punto SS (4 tested) standard 180bhp, 2 made 215bhp, 1 made 220bhp and 1 made 235bhp!!! Great day had by all. Regarding this problem I don't think setting 7 should be too high but try it on 6 for a while to see if the problem appears again. I have heard this as a common issue on Fiats wether tuned or standard, some had problems with a switch on either the brake or clutch pedal, not sure which.
There are Singapore Fiat Forum members (over 20) running boxes on Tjet 150's on 7 and without issues and its much warmer there. Are you running the car on super unleaded? That is important, in fact at the dyno it was clear that the cars running Vmax 99 or Tesco 99 were getting slightly better results than those on 97. Any tuned petrol turbo engine should be run on super unleaded.

I'm running on Tesco 99. I've got the tuning box back on now and it's still sitting on 7. All good so far.

Daron, I'm gonna record a video of the noises my bov/turbo makes and check that you think theres no problems. I don't think they are bad noises but I'll just get you to check anyway.

nothing here explains the ESP problem though, brake/clutch switch or CAN problem could do this. What garage are you booked into?

Was just one near me in Glasgow, It's cancelled now anyway, at least until the errors show again.

whitebravo said:

Was just one near me in Glasgow, It's cancelled now anyway, at least until the errors show again.

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If the box was causing an error it would generally be boost or manifold pressure related with the yellow engine light lit, not normally ESP which is more traction or abs sensor related.