I bought a 2009 Grande Punto Active 1.4 yesterday. I jumped in the car and it wouldn't start. The message 'fuel cut off inactive' appeared on the dash. Got the boyfriend to have a look under the bonnet, he couldn't see anything noticably wrong. After a few attempts of trying to get it to start it eventually kicked back into life. What could have been wrong?!

Secondly I was driving along and all of a sudden the power steering turned off whilst I was turning a corner - very scary! The message 'get power steering checked' appeared! Is this as bad as it sounds? I've read that's a common problem!

Should I take the car back now whilst I have a chance??

Thank you!
Amy

iv not experienced the problems you have but i would take it back first thing and get them to check it over.

AmyVee said:

I bought a 2009 Grande Punto Active 1.4 yesterday. I jumped in the car and it wouldn't start. The message 'fuel cut off inactive' appeared on the dash. Got the boyfriend to have a look under the bonnet, he couldn't see anything noticably wrong. After a few attempts of trying to get it to start it eventually kicked back into life. What could have been wrong?!

Secondly I was driving along and all of a sudden the power steering turned off whilst I was turning a corner - very scary! The message 'get power steering checked' appeared! Is this as bad as it sounds? I've read that's a common problem!

Should I take the car back now whilst I have a chance??

Thank you!
Amy

Click to expand...

Hi ,
does not bode well..!!,
how much did you pay.., any warranty implied..??

the steering may well be a poor battery / alternator,

Fuel cut-off switch is normally under the passenger seat - so could have been knocked - tripped = however you should need to push it's reset button to restore fuel supply,
if it started of it's own accord then that may be another issue,

let us know what happens next..!!

I have not experianced these problems either but take the car back tomorrow morning and have it checked over. I am pleased that the power steering problem didnt cause you to have an accident. But very scary all the same.

Advice would be to take it back, where did you get the car and is it still under any type of warranty?

Regards

Stephen

I paid £3995 to a garage in Glasgow called Netherton Car Sales.

They supplied a 3 month warranty which is good! The only problem is, it's an hour drive!! (What a pain!!)

It was definitely scary! I'm thankful another car wasn't coming around the corner from the opposite direction or I would definitely have had a bump!

Aaarghh!

No service history...what did you expect?

Amy,

I would suggest that you take your partner with you when you take the car back. If at all possible and if he is the more experianced driver may be get him to drive the car the hours drive. No disrespect to yourself at all in me saying that. Just best to be safe than sorry.

Regards and best of luck

Stephen

Lets try not try and Panic the new member too much (welcome Amy :wave: )


And Congratulations on your new car hope you like the colour ((seems to be all that mattered to my sister when she got her car))


Been a 2009 i will assume it will have the newer body computer controlled inertia cut off system linked in with the air bag system....... (this replaces the mechanical switch on 2006 ->)

There is a simple way to tell Look in the Drivers side (assuming your in the uk) foot well there is the little bit of plastic near the accelerator between the door and the carpet where the accelerator is... You will find a hole at the top stick your finger in and have a grope about if there is the old switch fitted you will feel it in there (a kind of rubber nipple)





But since yours restarted after a few attempts i would guess its the upgraded computer controlled one......

which is reset as follows if it does it again:

The following procedure should be carried
out to restore the correct operation
of the vehicle:
❒ turn the ignition key to MAR;
❒ activate the right-hand indicator;
❒ deactivate the right-hand indicator;
❒ activate the left-hand indicator;
❒ deactivate the left-hand indicator;
❒ activate the right-hand indicator;
❒ deactivate the right-hand indicator;
❒ activate the left-hand indicator;
❒ deactivate the left-hand indicator;
❒ turn the key to STOP.


And you have had the infamous Power steering failure




Now i have a hunch that they are both related


I would take a wild guess that your new car has been sat on the garage forecourt for a good few weeks if not months in the cool and damp of winter...

plus they probably let the valet have it for a few hours..... who left the doors open stereo on.. As such the battery will be low on charge......

The electronic systems be it Power steering/ Air bag/ Body computer rely on voltage based signals to tell them whats what and a low battery charge can cause all sorts of strange and wonderful readouts... Ok you drove it home for an hour but at a guess you will have had the lights and heater on ect which if the battery is deeply discharged won't be enough to allow the alternator to fully charge the battery...



I would if you have access to one put the car on a smart battery charger over night to fully charge the battery and see how it goes for a couple of weeks... Also check the battery clamps are tight..


Battery voltage does seem to be a much bigger issue than anything more serious yes some cars have had to have new steering motors but not many... You might find a local member who has a copy of FES / MES (fiat diagnostic software) to read the codes from the EPAS module but i will stick my neck out and guess blindly its down to voltage issues...

depending on your cheekyness you could borrow one from Argos taking full advantage of their 30 day money back totally satisfied promise eg

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/7404881.htm

And take full advantage of any garaged offering a free winter / battery check But if they say the battery is dead or there is a charge fault thank them for their time and go back to the garage with it

The words of wisdom and calm from Andy once again.

Nice one mate!

Thank you for giving me a little hope! Haha!

It seems to be perfect the rest of the night, so fingers crossed you're right!! Ill see how it goes over the next couple of weeks. At least the warranty is 3 months, so I can keep an eye on it for a while!

I'll just hold off getting my alloys/polishing done until it's sorted out! Haha!

Thanks again! No doubt you'll be hearing from me again soon!

Amy

Cracking answer Andy.

Welcome to the club Amy.

Ok, I took the car into a friend's garage today who noticed that the front driver's side drop link has gone.

They believe that the faults are down to a faulty ECU, which I believe can cost around £1000!

Perhaps an Earth fault??

Do I stick and hold off for a couple of weeks and see how it goes? I can't imagine the dealer will offer to hand out that sort of money for a new ECU, especially when the fault is intermittent!



Blooming 'eck! Why can't cars just be straight forward for once??

if you've still got 6 / 8 weeks of thier warranty then yes-why not stick with it..,

most used cars are somebody elses cast-offs with little niggles,
so expect a few minor hiccups,

A poor battery / charging system could account for all of you issues ,

re the drop link,
why not get a local garage to run it through an "MOT" style check and see if it needs any major money spending..,
Charlie

AmyVee said:

Ok, I took the car into a friend's garage today who noticed that the front driver's side drop link has gone.

They believe that the faults are down to a faulty ECU, which I believe can cost around £1000!

Perhaps an Earth fault??

Do I stick and hold off for a couple of weeks and see how it goes? I can't imagine the dealer will offer to hand out that sort of money for a new ECU, especially when the fault is intermittent!



Blooming 'eck! Why can't cars just be straight forward for once??

Click to expand...

Droplinks cost less than £10 a side and are held on by 2 nuts probably a total of 15 mins labour for a kitted garage to change or 30 -45 mins at home with a few tools....

see here:

https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/316267-unknown-knocking-front-06-grande.html?p=3153348


A garage with the proper test equipment namely a Fiat examiner will be able to diagnose the faults much more precisely a new ecu or a bad earth are totally poles apart But if the battery is fully charged and your still having issues a new battery earth strap is also a fairly common issue

There is more than one "ecu" in the car

there is

the

ECU (Engine control unit)

The Body Computer

The Air bag control unit

The Steering ECU built onto the Power steering motor

The ABS control module built onto the ABS pump......


So without real accurate diagnostics again its guess work as to the faults if any actually exist most modules if read with the correct computer will spit out an error did a friends punto recently (old mk2 punto) and it spat out a low voltage error on the air bag module which many standard garage code readers wouldn't see... for example..


People Scoff at Fiats prices for diagnostic work BUT it could be the best £50-£80 ish you ever spend if it persists as you can go back to the garage and take the examiner print out and say ive been to Fiat and X-Y & Z needs doing.... Rather than your friendly garage swapping part after part after part getting you a continuously expanding bill for parts and labour......


(and No i dont like paying dealer prices myself if i can avoid it )

So yesterday, it ran sweet. No problems at all!

Today I got in it to drive home from work, the engine management light popped up when I turned the ignition on (I've never noticed that before). Then surprise surprise, the engine wouldn't start!

Luckily on my second attempt I have it a few revs and it started! Go me!

It is cold and damp today, I'm going to put the blame on that this time! I still need to get my battery checked! A friend is going to do it tonight.

Amy

Hi Amy was reading through this thread earlier sorry to hear about the trouble you are having with the car. It seems that Andy Monty is pretty much all over this Its great to see people getting help and advice on the forum
Hope you get it sorted soon car problems can be a right pain.

Jordan.

AmyVee said:

So yesterday, it ran sweet. No problems at all!

Today I got in it to drive home from work, the engine management light popped up when I turned the ignition on (I've never noticed that before). Then surprise surprise, the engine wouldn't start!

Luckily on my second attempt I have it a few revs and it started! Go me!

It is cold and damp today, I'm going to put the blame on that this time! I still need to get my battery checked! A friend is going to do it tonight.

Amy

Click to expand...

the engine management light always comes on when you turn the ignition, goes out after a few seconds

Unfortionatly Amy the problem with the starting of the car is a common fault with the Grande's, don't expect to find a long term fix you will have to learn to live with it

you can find more of these common faults here; https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/89495-recalls-known-fault-issues.html

The battery voltage has been checked and it's sitting at between 12 and 13, which I believe is normal, however I took it to a garage who checked it with another device and told me 'it needs a good charge!' (Woohoo, it tied in with everything you guys were saying!)

I took it for a 3 hour run, with no lights on, the following day and kept my fingers crossed that this would charge it fully!

So, I thought I was in the all clear, the car ran smoothly for a week and BAM, last night the power steering turned off... twice!

I turned the car on, the power steering was off, I turned the car off and tried to turn it back on again, it ended up taking a few attempts to get it running, and when it eventually did, the power steering went again!

I've had a couple of bits of advice: 1, buy a new battery because it may be fecked due to the car lying around for so long and a connection to the power steering could be goosed?? Could this be the issue?

2, take it back and get the garage I bought it from to fix it. (This is all fine and well, but I know that if they can't see any faults, they won't do anything!!)

I'm hopefully getting it read by a friend's fiat diagnostic software tonight or tomorrow - hopefully that may give me some clues!

There's nothing worse than jumping into the car and worrying that it's not going to start every time!

A three hour drive will not fully recharge the battery an alternator is NOT designed to do that......

LIDL have smart chargers in Now...

http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/xchg/lidl_uk/hs.xsl/index_38025.htm

a new battery will set you back

about £40

eg:

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/cp4l...a394cb05a6ff10b4335fc1c8e0fa7fd9a4b3d8&000020


(double check by entering your reg before ordering)

Amy

You should call the dealer and explain the problems.

Then suggest you take it back for him to fix, however with it being such a distance away, your'e happy to arrange this locally yourself, on the understanding that he re-imburses you for it.

If he disagrees, then tell him that you want to return the car for a refund, he'll sh*t himself i'm sure.

Don't hang about though, your time is running out quickly.

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...econd-hand-cars/second-hand-cars-your-rights/