Car wont start after twenty minutes of being sat in a car park after I have been shopping.

[rob]

Car wont start after twenty minutes of being sat in a car park after I have been shopping.

Car wont start after twenty minutes of being sat in a car park after I have been shopping.

Drove to the shops so the car was warm, went shopping for twenty minutes and came back to go home and the car would not start. After ten minutes of trying I stopped and waited for another ten minutes - it then started.

Please can you tell me what the problem might be so that when I take it back to the garage - it is under warrenty - I can tell them what to look at.

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Car wont start after twenty minutes of being sat in a car park after I have been shopping.

Sounds like an electric problem to me. Something ignition like. When you tried strating it to often. It just flooded i guess.

Gerrit

 

[Anonymous]

Re: Car wont start after twenty minutes of being sat in a car park after I have been shopping.

Engine size?

My 1.6 did that once, started fine when I came back about 30 mins later (much to my annoyance) and has never done it again since.

I think sometimes the ECU gets its knickers in a knot and refuses to work.

On the other hand, there may be a problem with the immobiliser. Get Fiat to plug the diagnostics machine into it and see if there are any errors.

 

[gcol]

Oh dear

Rob,
I have experienced this problem before and i can sympathise cause I know how bloody annoying it is not knowing whether your car will start or not.

Check all connections from the battery to the starter motor - make sure they are clean and tight.
If your battery is older than 2 years, replace it. I know your car starts from cold o.k. but resistance increases with temperature. Change the battery.

You could try and replace the HT leads and the spark plugs - are you getting a spark when it won't start?

Is the car an automatic? If yes, check the inhibitor switch that stops the car from starting whilst in drive mode. (usually on the gear selector)

Does the engine turn over, or just click, or does it do nothing at all?
If it doesn't turn over at all it could be the starter motor failing when hot - again resistance increases with temperature. Replace starter.

If it doesn't, can you hear the solenoid clicking? If not, replace solenoid.

The wife's car wouldn't start last month (when hot)and that was down to a faulty ignition module. I'm not sure whether yours has an ignition module or not.

There may be a starter relay - if so replace that.

This problem caused me to sell the car with which I had the same problem(BMW535). I had it in the garage many times but it would always start for them first time - bastard!

I'm not sure if someone wrote a thread on here about a throttle position potentiometer failing with similar results - you could always try that.

Good luck,
Gcol

 

[Tom]

Re: Oh dear

The throttle pot should not stop it from firing completely.

I have found Fiats to be REALLY sensitive to HT problems (coil, leads, plugs etc..). Although at ~£60 for a set of plug leads its not a cheap fix.

 

[Ed]

Lambda again?

Isn't this normally related to misinformation being fed to the ECU by the Lambda sensor on the Exhaust?
Telling the engine to lean up when it shouldn't be?

I'm no expert.......

Ed

 

[Tom]

Re: Lambda again?

Nope, the ECU ignores the lambda for the first few mins of running as it will be cold and the reading will be erraic.