Hi Varesecrazy, thanks for asking!

Let me fill you in on my fiat stories this year

Just to benefit anyone for future reference I did not manage to rectify the problem. The ECU turned out to be fine after being sent off for testing so that leaves it most likely as a wiring issue which would have been expensive to hunt, find and repair (>£ than car is worth).

However on selling the car on it was found out that the car was Cat N and had been involved in an accident in Dec 2019, which the seller did not declare. So maybe the damage could have been attributed to that and a dodgy trader down south. He didn't want to refund or talk etc after many legal letters and denied not including this on the advert or telling me. So instead of court I reported him to trading standards in the end! Karma!

Long story short, liked the puntos so decided to buy a newer 2010 fiat punto in June evo 1.4L 105bhp multiair with 67k miles, which lasted 3 months was happy with it initially, more powerful and light from a good rated delaership with 3months warantee. But then had a valve/engine problem just after 3 months, would have had to be sent to a specialist to repair a multiair engine. It was bad luck but also the engine had been apart at some point and think the dealership wanted a quick fix.

I have since decided the fiat life is not for me but I really appreciate the help on this forum! I am now driving a civic for daily commute.

If I have any advice for buyers, I would always go for the standard model (non multiair) just in case anything is to go wrong with the engine, the valves can become out of sync with this engine and BANG - engine damage this happened in the garage. I had a very expensive fixing process with the multiair (even though a tempting car to buy) and would have needed a specialist to sort! In the end it would have been >£1500 and sold the car on and saved up for another instead, the garage let me off costs.

Be cautious of traders/dealerships during COVID as I have had some bad experiences where they just wanted a quick fix for money and don't really care about the state of the car. I think it is bad luck, bad traders during this time combined with some typical faults with fiats. It is difficult not to tar them with the same brush as I see plenty of 10-15 year old fiats/puntos still driving about, so some must be pretty reliable.

Hope this helps fiat drivers

Cheers Craig

Sorry to hear that Craig

But sounds like youre enjoying the new purchase

Charlie

It's common to get a neglected used Fiat. "It's just a Fiat, why bother? " is the mentality.

Your first Fiat could have needed a coolant change and probably some breather hoses had leaks. Your second Fiat on the other hand doesn't get damaged valves unless it had run low on oil at some point or timing belt had snapped. Very common to happen on any used car that the dealer lies about the service history and that leads to engine damage.

You get many helpful advices on these forums but not even a Fiat needs each sensor changed one by one. They were made to last the lifetime of the vehicle.

Buying a used car is always a gamble and you certainly had a fair share of bad luck!

eeeno said:

It's common to get a neglected used Fiat. "It's just a Fiat, why bother? " is the mentality.

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This is exactly right. For future buyers, I advise get the standard model (not multiair) and maybe look at private sales who have kept the car well and not modified/tinkered with it in any way : ) and yes, second car something definitely wasn't right from the get go. Hopefully people have better luck than I have!