Hello! I am new to the forum, and I am intending to purchase a 2005 Fiat Stilo Active 16V, 1368CC Petrol, 5DR, Manual on Monday.

I test drove it today and noticed that when you indicate left, the stick bounces back up and doesn't stay stuck down like it normally would. Is there any reason for this? And any way to fix it? I don't know anything about cars so please try to be gentle in your responses!

Thank you!

Sarah

I'm fairly sure the indicator stalk on the Stilo is a mechanical assembly. It is more common for the indicator not to can as opposed to not stay on.

If you are buying the car from a car dealer then they should fix the problem before they sell the car. I would argue that this car would fail an MOT as the indicator is not staying on. Failure to can is not an MOT failure IMHO. In reality during the MOT the tester will just pull down and push up the indicator stalk and check to see all the lights flash and is very unlikely to push release, cancel, push up release cancel unless a problem is suspected.

If the car is being sold privately then you may be able to get the seller to fix the problem or give you a discount on the price.

I've looked at the Fiat spare parts list and the cheapest control stalk (indicators, lights, wipers etc. but no Cruise control or other functions) is around £270 pounds. Allow an hour for dealer fitting at say £80 per hour then fixing this little problem is going to cost around £350!

Will be much cheaper from buying the part from a scrap yard and getting a local independent mechanic to fit.

Finally, until the stalk is removed from the car it will not be easy to tell if it can be repaired or not. Sometimes they can be, or 'something' has slipped or jammed which can be sorted, otherwise it is a replacement job.

Hi, in the interests of balance ( and for anyone who stumbles on this thread in months to come),
in the other thread the OP started , it was expressed that it's the square rubber seal / dust boot that is a tad large and stops the indicator stalk actually achieving it's full range of travel, ( indicators work - but dont "lock-on")
a quick trim of it should restore full function,


thanks for pricing things up though for reference,

Charlie

Good post, re rubber boot on stalk.

When I wrote my post re mecanical failer I did also mention "Sometimes they can be, or 'something' has slipped or jammed which can be sorted, otherwise it is a replacement job."

I've seen badly fitted steering column shrouds not being fitted correctly and rubbing/contacting the controls before now.

As always it is great when other chip in to answer a post/problem because as we can't be see the actual car and experience and directly diagnose the problem then it will always be a guessing game for any/most vehicle issues.

Hopefully Wizadora87 will be back and seeing these posts and be able to take it from there calling on a friend to go along with her to look at the problem as well.

With luck it is something dead simple.

Fingers crossed.

Don't be taken in by a seller telling you a fault is "an easy (or cheap) fix"
I've seen many ads for cars selling at a daft price due to it hav
ing a few minor faults which can be fixed very easily or very cheaply (or both).
If it's that quick/cheap/simple - then get it sorted & sell at the right price!

A mate bought a car with duff brake lights - the eye level was OK & the seller reckoned it was just the bulbs.
After a LOT of fiddling around (the bulbs were really hard to access), turned out to be a very expensive repair - a control board (or something like that) had 'gone' - bulbs were fine, fuses were fine. Cost him £200 for that 'easy fix' (garage job).