When mine had serious problems about 4 years ago the main dealer kept diagnosing it as a blocked dpf because that's what the computer said.

After repeated oil changes and dpf unblocking they gave up and told me to put it through auction, it would have been 3.5 years old at this point.

Thanks to the help of fellow sufferers and others on this support group I ran through the diagnosis myself, highlighted the egr as the most likely cause. This was after unplugging the airflow meter and cleaning the boost sensor amongst other things.

I made a full blanking plate for the egr from a tin lid (not recommended but I was desperate and the car condemend anyway), found that it fixed the problem, bought a new egr and made a better swirl gasket out of exhaust bandage (still not recommended) and fitted it all myself.

My advice would be to buy an egr from eurocarparts or elsewhere for between £60 and £90 and a proper swirl gasket off ebay for £5 or thereabouts and either fit it yourself or get someone handly with tools, you don't need a mechanic, to do it for you.

Have a look at the bolt heads that fix it all together though as you do need torq bits as well as regular bits (13mm I think) to get everything undone.

Don't worry if the check engine light comes on as soon as you blank the egr completely - this is supposed to happen. What's important is "is the car now running better / fine?" if so then this is probably one problem (there might be others.

As others say you need to have the oil condition reset after every change or the dpf won't regenerate eventually so get multiecuscan and a cable and check yourself, or find a garage with the correct kit and get them to check. This is not the same as the service indicator and you can't check from the dash display.

Hi all, just to update - I got her thru an MOT, she has had a DPF clean out, new glow plug relay, it was a broken wire on the ABS sensor & mot at a cost of £430!! Now it still has starting issues, the fault with the relay is still there even after a brand new one(according to the mechanic, the fault is no power thru to 1st glow plug?!?) the garage wanted to put an auto - electrician to the car, but I just dont have that kind of money! The starting in the morning is a real embarassment as it turns over 20 times ish before firing!! The power steering fault is still occasionally present too, but the ABS sensor fault was just a broken wire. Previous garage told me I needed a new ABS control unit @ £800 vat, rip off b**tards!!

I really dont know what to do now, the car owes me £2500 in total since last August, and still is not fixed, it now has a FNS window safety fault, still works but I am sure the car just likes beeping it's bloody stupid display at me. I like the ride comfort economy etc but I am so Peed off now with all the garage trips etc, not to mention skint! My wife just wants me to get rid full stop but I am trying to give it another chance.........for now!!

Is there anyone in the Warrington/Manchester/Liverpool area with a better knowledge than me(not hard tbh!) who would be so kind as to help me sort this bag of sh.....i mean lovely car out?? I was even thinking of trading her in, but have been offered £700 top whack, what a joke this is for an 06 plate car!! Even if
I run it into the ground, and with no MOT and not working fully, it should be worth that for spares & repairs on ebay/autotrader??

PLLEEEEEEEEAAAAAASE help me, I am at a loss what to do!!

Sorry to hear that you're still having all these problems.

Not sure what to say about the glow plug / starting problem but have you changed the power steering wiring harness yet? The harness is about £8 and the hardest part of fitting it is getting at the clip for the old one to get it off.

Also, the window safety thing might just be either the result of someone disconnecting the battery or trying to open the window if it's been frozen shut or jammed.

Try puttung it all the way down and back up 3 or 4 times and holding the switch up for a few seconds at the top to see if that resets it.

This starting issue has me more than perplexed! It cannot just be laid down to a duff glowplug/relay as the "car doctors " said. The fact that they wanted to get the auto electrician in with his trusty laptop says to me that they didnt want the hassle. This is not unusual in my experience- even with so called main dealers.
I am still thinking that the cold starting could be due to fuel starvation in some form or other. Not every fault will bring up a warning light so the garage may not believe there is a problem if a light is not present.
Hope you get it sorted ASAP.

BrianMcL said:

Also, the window safety thing might just be either the result of someone disconnecting the battery or trying to open the window if it's been frozen shut or jammed.

Try puttung it all the way down and back up 3 or 4 times and holding the switch up for a few seconds at the top to see if that resets it.

Click to expand...

U r right mate! I have done that with each window starting with the drivers, u have to hold the button until fully down and then press it down again, do this on way up & repeat for each window showing fault & Yipee!! It works and fault gone! Thanks!

tarquin1867 said:

This starting issue has me more than perplexed! It cannot just be laid down to a duff glowplug/relay as the "car doctors " said. The fact that they wanted to get the auto electrician in with his trusty laptop says to me that they didnt want the hassle. This is not unusual in my experience- even with so called main dealers.
I am still thinking that the cold starting could be due to fuel starvation in some form or other. Not every fault will bring up a warning light so the garage may not believe there is a problem if a light is not present.
Hope you get it sorted ASAP.

Click to expand...

Yes me too! I notice a good amount of white strong fuel smelly smoke when starting from cold but it isnt oil burning, I was told that the electronic ignition doesnt actually warm the plugs unless its below -6c and the problem with my starting issues is that aparaently the power doesn't register at the first plug,although the relay is brandnew and working, it must be the wire between??

Does anyone have a copy of a decent workshop manual? I have the E-learn but i find it hard to understand and has lots of info but no wiring diagrams or parts assembly diagrams/pictures.........I would have a go at these jobs myself but I do not know where these items are, I can see where the power steering pump is & I think u have to access it from below, but I aint got a clue where the glow plug relay and relavent wiring is located!! I think its under the battery??

Can anyone provide any images of theirs or description via diagrams?? Just a pointer of which manual to buy would be great.....thanks to all fellow owners who have helped me on here, its nice to see humanity has a kind face still, I just seem to find all the rip off mechanics without even trying!!

Oh yes and where do I find the reset function for theoil service or is that something you have to do via a diagnostics machine? I would have a go at the DPF blanking but I have been told 1 - its illegal for MOT and 2 - it will need engine remapping do adjust for the missing DPF or the engine man. light will be on again and limp mode ensues......it seems to be running fine now barring the glow plug relay issues, dont know if its worth messing around with it atm as its (ish) working!!

tarquin1867 said:

This starting issue has me more than perplexed! It cannot just be laid down to a duff glowplug/relay as the "car doctors " said. The fact that they wanted to get the auto electrician in with his trusty laptop says to me that they didnt want the hassle. This is not unusual in my experience- even with so called main dealers.
I am still thinking that the cold starting could be due to fuel starvation in some form or other. Not every fault will bring up a warning light so the garage may not believe there is a problem if a light is not present.
Hope you get it sorted ASAP.

Click to expand...

Yes me too! I notice a good amount of white strong fuel smelly smoke when starting from cold but it isnt oil burning, I was told that the electronic ignition doesnt actually warm the plugs unless its below -6c and the problem with my starting issues is that aparaently the power doesn't register at the first plug,although the relay is brandnew and working, it must be the wire between??

Does anyone have a copy of a decent workshop manual? I have the E-learn but i find it hard to understand and has lots of info but no wiring diagrams or parts assembly diagrams/pictures.........I would have a go at these jobs myself but I do not know where these items are, I can see where the power steering pump is & I think u have to access it from below, but I aint got a clue where the glow plug relay and relavent wiring is located!! I think its under the battery??

Can anyone provide any images of theirs or description via diagrams?? Just a pointer of which manual to buy would be great.....thanks to all fellow owners who have helped me on here, its nice to see humanity has a kind face still, I just seem to find all the rip off mechanics without even trying!!

Don't blank the egr completely - get a swirl mod gasket off ebay and fit that instead. If you blank the egr you'll throw on the check engine light and to get rid of that you need to map out the dpf system which may cause mot fail.

Mine's had a swirl gasket fitted for years - there's a proper Fiat part number so it isn't even a mod as such - and I've never had any problems. The car runs much better with one fitted. Total cost delivered from Poland off ebay is about £5 - get one tomorrow.

Ref oil change reset you'll need an older version of fiatecuscan or the paid version of multiecuscan and a cable to plug the laptop into the car.

Try getting the battery tested. I have been having all sorts of electrical issues until this week when the battery gave up without warning; totally. The alternator is ok and nothing was draining it. It just gave up

When tested it was well below the expected output, even though the battery condition monitor on the top of it was green for ok.

New battery at £50 has now sorted all the electrical woes.

Well said that man- nothing worse for an ECU than not being fed enough juice, # sugar rush!!

tarquin1867 said:

Well said that man- nothing worse for an ECU than not being fed enough juice, # sugar rush!!

Click to expand...

i have had the glow plugs changed again as no 3 was not even connected and no 1 was dead.....the other 3 took 12 + seconds to warm up, so hence the change! Got my dads mate who is a good mechanic and actually uses common sense rather than expecting a computer to tell him what's wrong; he also cleaned the egr valve which was very dirty, & not airtight, still after 1 day the bloody check glow plug light came on last night....we also checked the wiring to and from the relay and its all good......maybe the connection to the glow plugs is the issue i don't know.....Brian mcl mentioned about a swirl mod gasket, don't know what one is and where to find one, i have looked on ebay as suggested! This car is gonna kill me!! Aaaaggghh!! Expletive @#**%#@ cars!

The best thing you have done is get yourself a proper mechanic who is on your side!
There are some warnings that take 3 start ups to disappear so dont get yourself down. If your EGR was a carbonised mess then its a cert that the pressure sensor next to it for the manifold will be equally black:yuck:.
Its held in with just one screw, take it out gently, clean it GENTLY with a spray of WD40 and a toothbrush. If the car is running ok now you will not be able to get the smile off your face after cleaning it , comes out like a black blob ,goes back in as a plastic cage with a yellow senor in the cage

Hi Simon,
Hope you are starting to get to the bottom of the problems you've been having.

Ref the swirl mod gasket, do a quick "search this forum" for swirl gasket or egr failure and have a read through. The company I got mine from was Polish and I got it via ebay but if you've got decent quality steel, a drill and snips you could make one but for the sake of a few pounds and a couple of days for delivery I'd just buy a proper one.

You might be able to get one from a main dealer as well as some have them in stock.

They can be ordered from any Fiat main dealer. Part no. 55225287 description: Sealing gasket.

They are only about £5.50 Inc Vat. and seriously increase the life of an ERG valve.

Mind, no parts or service manager will have a scooby what it does unless you tell them. ;-)

evo-number-one said:

(where's the "phewwww" icon?)

Click to expand...

How about this?
Closest I could find...

Reading with interest... my croma died while driving last year, all the warning lights came on, the power steering failed, abs warning the lot. it turned out to be the alternator. had that changed and it worked a treat....
I like these cars so much that I recently bought an automatic one on e-bay, I have had it six weeks and driving home tonight the transmission light came on followed by ABS, engine, and ESP warning lights, I could only limp home in the lowest gear it would not change up, do you think this could be the alternator or the battery connections?(electrical).

Hi Doug, welcome to the forum.

It's probably worth you starting a new thread for this problem rather than getting mixed up in this one but my first guess would be that it's battery / earth related, particularly if the car kept going and didn't run out of electricity on the way.

Check the connections are tight on the battery and test it with a multimeter and let us know what the voltage is.

Thanks Brian

got the RAC to look at it and it was all related to a dirty injector connection!!

he sprayed it and it worked a treat.. unbelievable that one simple connector can cause an issue like that. he also reset all the fault alarms..

Thanks