Hi,
MY wife bought a 2004 Fiat Idea 1.4 Elegance 3 weeks ago and the EOBD Engine Control System Failure has illuminated with Engine Failure written in the display screen. There is no lack of power (as in crawl home mode) and it drives perfectly fine. When it first happened to my Wife I checked it by starting the car and turning it off a few times and it disappeared ! Wife drove it around a few days and no warning lights came on, then randomly the same display screen showed with the engine light illuminated. Again it drove perfectly fine. I looked through the threads on this site and thought maybe it needed a new battery, but alas this has not solved the problem. I am loath to spend hundreds of pounds on finding the fault and thought it may be something simple as it drives fine. I don't want to be driving with the warning lights on even if there is nothing wrong.

In all other ways its a great car for Wife and 2 small kids.

Anyone else had this problem or know what it might be?? Any help would be appreciated.

You are probably lucky it drives fine. I dont know of anything that it might be but you could also check the Punto threads at its the same engine.

It might be quickest to have the error code read by either a normal garage with the right equipment or a Dealer. Unfortunately its the quickest way to find out if there are no symptoms.

Hi, we had the same issue on a Grande Punto 2007... light on and ran fine. The problem was the post lambda sensor. Best to get it checked asap, I bought a T40 code reader from ebay for £25 which showed me the code. Fiat dealers will take over £80 to test with their examiner software, kwick fit will do a basic test for £29 and you may get your local garage to do if fairly cheaply too.

Good luck.

Thanks, it is booked in to the dealers garage (independant mechanic) to see what the problem is, unfortunately that is not covered by the warranty we got when we bought the car, hopefully (fingers crossed ) what ever needs replacing will be covered.

What is a post lambda sensor? and was it expensive to replace?.


I bet the car dealer knew this was a problem when selling it but I can't prove it. I don't mind spending money to maintain my cars but I like to get some mileage out of them !!

I will update this post with the result as I found the forum very helpful in deciding what to do.

You bought it from a dealer so no matter what the warranty covers you have statutory rights under the Sale of Goods Act that the dealer cannot waive - they are yours. Three weeks is nothing - the car should be fit for purpose.

You have a reasonable expectation that the car should be problem free for more than a matter of weeks.

If the dealer is not interested go and see Citizens Advice Bureau and they'll help. Do not be fobbed off by the dealer pointing at the terms of the warranty - the warranty is in addition to your statutory rights.

Quick update. The mechanic put it on the computer and it said the fault was an emmisions sensor. He replaced that and then put it on the computer again and another fault showed ( along with the engine management light on the dashboard). This time it showed as a cam belt sensor fault. The car now runs a bit rough - still with the engine management light on. The mechanic has ordered the cambelt sensor however as the Idea is not a hugely popular car its not kept in stock and it can take up to 8 weeks for delivery.
Not best pleased as I get the feeling that when the cambelt sensor is replaced something else is going to show up as a fault.

I done some research on the Sale of Goods act 1979 as suggested by Tigershoot, essentially it covers us for instances like this so I called the car dealer yesterday and explained what has happened and that we are not driving the car anymore due to the faults and it needs to be sorted out. He went a bit quiet and said he will be calling the mechanic next week to see what they say. ( if you are having issues with a car you bought up to 6 months previous from a dealer just search for the sale of goods act in google, there is loads of info - plainly written and you will know your rights and their responsibilities)

Either way one of 3 things will happen - the dealer will pay to put the car right, they will give us our money back or we will see them in the small claims court.
Quite a bummer as its the perfect car for the Wife and kids and I would have liked to keep it but I can see us not due to having the problems so early on ( luck some would say).

Its strange both sensors have failed at the same time and also the code reader cant read more than 1 error at a time.

It would have also though that the sensor from a Punto/Panda 100/etc..... would have fitted at the engines look very similar. (same basic engine, ecu in the same place).


Good luck on getting it sorted, it sounds like you are on top of it now and you should have a good car for your wife at the end of it. I think alot of people have become 'car dealers' for some easy money and not entirely sure of what it involves.

take it to a fiat garage

Ok, the part got here quickly and the cambelt sensor was replaced. The mechanic plugged in the computer and it showed no more faults. hooray.
It is now running fine (fingers crossed).
In total it cost £250 for the 2 sensors and the fitting of them. I am currently chasing up the Dealer to get reimbursed for the £250 as they have sold a faulty car.

Great news - now don't give up on the £250.

I'm confused as to who sold you the car? Fiat dealer or general car dealer?

It was bought from a second hand car dealer, nothing to do with Fiat.

we tend to refer to fiat garages as dealers and non-fiat garages as independents, saves bit of confusion