Olliejohnson
New member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2019
- Messages
- 4
- Points
- 1
around about 4 weeks ago now I bought a 2007 fiat Punto active for my girlfriend as a surprise for Christmas. When I bought the car all was sound with it apart from the passenger window which was temperamental to opening and closing. I didn’t think of it as much as a deal until the full beam on the car wasent working. I checked the bulbs and they were fine and also checked the fuses in the fuse box but still no resolution to the problem.
4 days after this problem I went outside to unlock the car and there was no response as the battery had gone flat (due to USB port plugged into ciggarette lighter I believe). When I got the battery charged up I tried to start the car but had no response. The dashboard and radio came on but the car made no attempt to start. At this point I realised the imbolisier light had come up on the dashboard (the car with the padlock) and was confused as the car was perfectly fine till then.
I rang a mobile mechanic who told me to get the key checked out which I did and was told it was working fine. So I took it into my own hands and started to look for the fuse that controls the immobiliser, I worked out that it was one of the 7.5amp fuses so I took them out one by one and tried starting the car. When I removed fuse number 48 the car started up straight away! Weird right! Although 10 seconds later the horn sounded constantly and only turned off when I removed the key. I disconnected the horn and started the car again and placed fuse 48 back into the fuse box whilst the car was running.
This just caused the car to not switch off even when the key had been removed completely. I then had a mobile auto electrician come round for a diagnosis who imformed me that the bcu/bcm needed changing and that it was a fiat only job! So I went to fiat who claimed they had to do their own diagnosis (wasted £80 on the other guy). They took the car in and informed me that the fuse box had water ingress and they wanted £730 to repair it. Obviously I wasent going to pay that as I only payed £1100 for the car and there could have been more underlying problems once they were able to diagnose the car.
I took the car away and decided to remove the fuse box myself and clean it up. I cleaned all the water out which was minimal and sprayed everything with contact cleaner. I then hung the fuse box in the airing cupboard for 15hours before putting it all back together again. I refitted the fuse box and the car started first time!! Even with fuse 48 in there, I was well chuffed and started making sure everything worked. I left the car running for an hour and then turned the car off and on again and it started up again, no warning lights nothing! I had literally left the car for 5 minutes and my girlfriend went outside to check the car out for herself,
she went to start it up and nothing happened, I was back to square one and so confused. I removed fuse number 48 and it started first time again. I checked the handbook and checked which components on the car are controlled by fuse 48. So there were 3 options, drivers side window, electric Mirrors and reversing light. I checked all three of these with the fuse out and they all worked fine, even the passenger window works without fault. My question is do I just leave the fuse 48 out if it seems not to affect anything or should I remove the fuse box again and let it dry out for longer? Sorry this is so long but I needed to explain every detail ? thanks, Ollie
4 days after this problem I went outside to unlock the car and there was no response as the battery had gone flat (due to USB port plugged into ciggarette lighter I believe). When I got the battery charged up I tried to start the car but had no response. The dashboard and radio came on but the car made no attempt to start. At this point I realised the imbolisier light had come up on the dashboard (the car with the padlock) and was confused as the car was perfectly fine till then.
I rang a mobile mechanic who told me to get the key checked out which I did and was told it was working fine. So I took it into my own hands and started to look for the fuse that controls the immobiliser, I worked out that it was one of the 7.5amp fuses so I took them out one by one and tried starting the car. When I removed fuse number 48 the car started up straight away! Weird right! Although 10 seconds later the horn sounded constantly and only turned off when I removed the key. I disconnected the horn and started the car again and placed fuse 48 back into the fuse box whilst the car was running.
This just caused the car to not switch off even when the key had been removed completely. I then had a mobile auto electrician come round for a diagnosis who imformed me that the bcu/bcm needed changing and that it was a fiat only job! So I went to fiat who claimed they had to do their own diagnosis (wasted £80 on the other guy). They took the car in and informed me that the fuse box had water ingress and they wanted £730 to repair it. Obviously I wasent going to pay that as I only payed £1100 for the car and there could have been more underlying problems once they were able to diagnose the car.
I took the car away and decided to remove the fuse box myself and clean it up. I cleaned all the water out which was minimal and sprayed everything with contact cleaner. I then hung the fuse box in the airing cupboard for 15hours before putting it all back together again. I refitted the fuse box and the car started first time!! Even with fuse 48 in there, I was well chuffed and started making sure everything worked. I left the car running for an hour and then turned the car off and on again and it started up again, no warning lights nothing! I had literally left the car for 5 minutes and my girlfriend went outside to check the car out for herself,
she went to start it up and nothing happened, I was back to square one and so confused. I removed fuse number 48 and it started first time again. I checked the handbook and checked which components on the car are controlled by fuse 48. So there were 3 options, drivers side window, electric Mirrors and reversing light. I checked all three of these with the fuse out and they all worked fine, even the passenger window works without fault. My question is do I just leave the fuse 48 out if it seems not to affect anything or should I remove the fuse box again and let it dry out for longer? Sorry this is so long but I needed to explain every detail ? thanks, Ollie