Technical Injector Warning Light

[northernmonkey]

Hi All,
Yet more problems with the cinq, why the hell did i buy a Fiat!
Been doing a few long motorway journeys recently and now at low speeds pootling round town and that the injectors started playing up, press the throttle and nothing then it'll kick in then nothing it's just got realy erratic, suspected all was not well with the injector and just to prove me right the red injector warning light is now permanantly on.
So i consult the trusty (and now very worn!) Haynes manual it basically says take it to a Fiat dealer to get the codes read, but i'm cheap and busy so what i need to know is is there any way of getting this sorted without the time and expense of visiting some Fiat rip-off merchant.
I thought the first thing to do would be to throw some injector cleaner in the tank and run it for a while, is it gonna kill it running it with this warning light on though?
Any help very greatly apperciated as always.
Thanks Guys.

 

[scottc1088]

try this site to read the codes yourself then just replace the part it says.
iv never tried this but its worth a go

http://www.auto-diagnostic-codes.com/

 

[philbo]

ive just tried it and it didnt work. shorted the 2 pins and watched the light. came on stayed on.

 

[northernmonkey]

The whole idea that you can use a paperclip to read ECU fault codes seems a little too good to be true but what the hell i'll give it a go, not expecting much though!

 

[northernmonkey]

OK Just went out to try the paperclip trick but cant for the life of me find where i'm supposed to stick it, any ideas? Think i'll just get some injector cleaner tomorrow and see if that has any effect. Also i've noticed quite a lot of black smoke coming out the back since the light came on, is this a sign of anything?
Cheers Guys.

 

[scottc1088]

black smoke is overfuelling,
the connector is near the ecu, i cant take a pic as i dont have any cinqs anymore

 

[arseofbox]

The paperclip trick does work for some ALDL ECUs (notably those used by GM\Vauxhall).

But the Fiat systems use a specific ECU communication protocol, and the paperclip trick wont work on it. You need a ECU scanner.

 

[philbo]

bloody fiats

 

[rallycinq]

Blink codes were a very old way of checking systems. The japs used them a lot. You shorted out two pins then counted the number of flashes of the light, then refered to the manual to get the fault code.

Check the throttle pot for continuity at various points of its travel.

Cheers

D

 

[allanhelen]

you sometimes can't get away from a garage try your local cheep "bodge it and bugger it" just to get the fault codes then fix it yourself.

In your case I would guess you might be looking at the throttle position or crank sensor with those symtoms but I have been wrong before

 

[northernmonkey]

Well i think i've got it sorted, bought some injector cleaner and ran that through it, took the airbox off and had a look at the injector but it all seemed to be working fine, checked all the vacuum hoses and cleaned the oil out of the airbox (it breathes a fair bit of the stuff which i think knackered my last TB). Thought while i had the airbox off i'd have a gander at the plugs and they were to put it politely, ******ed! sooted up to buggery. being cheap i gave them a good old wire brushing i'll change them when i next run into some money, done 500 mile since and it's run absolutely fine so i'm very pleased about that!
Still idling a bit fast, cant find a vacuum leak anywhere but it's not the end of the world if i cant sort it.
Thanks a lot for your help yet again guys.

 

[custard]

ah many a time have i used the paperclip mod on my vauxhalls.funnily enough gunsons sold a 'code reader' for the vauxhalls that did the same thing but for a lot more than the cost of a paperclip