Evans Halshaw in mansfield. Was the closest one to me so had no choice. Would be at GK in sheffield if it had messed up closer to sheffield than home.

Now i dont like to do this but it has taken these bunch of absolute ****ing monkeys a week to diagnose that the battery is at fault. Now surely if you have an electrical fault you would check the battery and earths to see if these were at fault? Well apparently not. And even better its going to take till bloody tuesday to get a bloody battery which imo is a ****ing **** take

before i got grande had 02 focus same thing more or less had it a week then told me needed new battery seems trend that if diagnostic computer dosn't pick it up know 1 looks for the obvious hope your back on the road soon m8

punto_matt said:

going to take till bloody tuesday to get a bloody battery which imo is a ****ing **** take

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if under warranty it has to be a genuine fit/type battery

I know it does but why so long to get one? When i had my mk2b and i ordered a new battery that was next day for an official Fiat one.

weekend

all my dials/electrics died on me the other day, it was the earth and needed the body computer updating. took 20mins to do!

They took 2 days to check all the earthing points.

from wht youve been saying its a pretty crappy dealer!

They are useless. i know if it had been my usual one i would of had it back by now.

Sounds like a pretty p**s poor affair of diagnosing the fault. Id see if the battery turns up within the time theyve said and if it fixes the problem, but if not id get it to a different dealer. Im sure the ones around Nottingham/Derby are meant to be notoriously bad (Evans Halshaw & Sunwin).

With Evans Halshaw they seem to sell so many makes of cars that they seem to deal with loads but know a decent amount about none, a dealer that deals with only one or two makes seems a best bet with Fiats because of some of the weird faults that appear.

Id also give Fiat UK a call coz it's not exactly impressive service from the car or the dealer.

I shall see what happens. It wont be going back to them though. And if the battery hasny fixed it then i will get it moved to my local garage in sheffield as they only deal with mazda and fiat and have been good on the occasions i have used them before.

Rubbish that the battery is goosed already though, thats the biggest problem with modern cars IMHO, far too electronic and far too complex, a simple thing like a battery failing in an old car may not even show itself until the engine wont start the next time you try it. It certainly wouldnt cause a lack of power steering etc which is frankly dangerous. Thats why ive got yet another Sierra in the garage, always starts 1st time and nothing electronic to break and punt me straight into someone when all my systems fail!

punto_matt said:

I shall see what happens. It wont be going back to them though. And if the battery hasny fixed it then i will get it moved to my local garage in sheffield as they only deal with mazda and fiat and have been good on the occasions i have used them before.

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Yeh i should think if your normal garage deals with Mazda theyd have to be decent, can't imagine Mazda putting up with much sh*t!

auto_blanco said:

Rubbish that the battery is goosed already though, thats the biggest problem with modern cars IMHO, far too electronic and far too complex, a simple thing like a battery failing in an old car may not even show itself until the engine wont start the next time you try it. It certainly wouldnt cause a lack of power steering etc which is frankly dangerous. Thats why ive got yet another Sierra in the garage, always starts 1st time and nothing electronic to break and punt me straight into someone when all my systems fail!

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That's exactly why im really struggling to put my Mk2 Punto up for sale. Not as simple electronically as the Sierra im sure, but when the battery dies it just doesn't start, none of all this fancy nonsense!

It could well be the battery as when i first had the problems i did a 60mile trip home which would of got plenty of charge in the battery. Next morning it was completely dead. Same when i went to pick the car up on wednesday it was completely dead then even though it had only been left for one night.

I got it back today finally. Battery had been replaced, Bloke took it out on a run could smell burning and the alternator was smoking! He has put this down to my sub/amp as when he turned it off the alternator stopped smoking. So ive disconnected all of that and will have to go and get the amp bench tested as all the wiring is fine but i shall get this checked aswell just in case. I really dont understand why my amp would do this though because its not top end gear or anything and it was fine in my old car. Tech says the alternator should be ok because it hasnt been running like that for ages but who knows. If its not then i need to get all my audio out and take it to another garage

Also i can smell the alternator coming through my air con all the time now aswell and it bloody stinks.

Bit of a co-incidence that the electrics go tits up and shortly afterwards the alternator starts to stink the car out. Im no fan of mods etc but id say the alternator is faulty and it probably has nothing to do with your sub & amp!

I really cant see it being my sub and amp as they were fine in my old car. Will take it down to my usual garage when i get the chance and see what they have to say about it.

GK in sheffield confirmed my audio had nothing to do with it and new alternator is on order and it will be done for tomorrow