Hi all,

new to the forum and looking for some advice...I have had my Fiat 500 just over 4 years and I love it. Never had any problems...until recently when coming up to a junction (slight incline), went into first gear ready to pull of and the 'Start stop unavailable' message popped up on screen briefly and the engine cut out? couldn't get the engine started again, it just turned over (after checking immobilizer etc). My father-in-law is a mechanic so he came and rescued me, replaced the spark plugs and all seemed okay...until a week later at the same junction it did exactly the same thing, showing the start stop message etc. I was able to restart it myself by shoving my foot on the accelerator! took back to my father-in-law's garage and it's saying 'uncoded error' on the diagnostic machine. He can't work out the problem, it done it again last (with me being able to restart again). Just don't know what to do, and my nearest Fiat dealership is over 40 miles away? It's a 0.8 turbo, 60 plate.

would much appreciate any help, I love my little car and really want to get it fixed rather than sell!

Thank you

ASTEPHANIE said:

Hi all,



new to the forum and looking for some advice...I have had my Fiat 500 just over 4 years and I love it. Never had any problems...until recently when coming up to a junction (slight incline), went into first gear ready to pull of and the 'Start stop unavailable' message popped up on screen briefly and the engine cut out? couldn't get the engine started again, it just turned over (after checking immobilizer etc). My father-in-law is a mechanic so he came and rescued me, replaced the spark plugs and all seemed okay...until a week later at the same junction it did exactly the same thing, showing the start stop message etc. I was able to restart it myself by shoving my foot on the accelerator! took back to my father-in-law's garage and it's saying 'uncoded error' on the diagnostic machine. He can't work out the problem, it done it again last (with me being able to restart again). Just don't know what to do, and my nearest Fiat dealership is over 40 miles away? It's a 0.8 turbo, 60 plate.



would much appreciate any help, I love my little car and really want to get it fixed rather than sell!



Thank you

Click to expand...

Possibly your battery is the culprit. After 4 years in a stop start car it could well be knackered although it appears fine

ASTEPHANIE said:

Hi all,

new to the forum and looking for some advice...I have had my Fiat 500 just over 4 years and I love it. Never had any problems...until recently when coming up to a junction (slight incline), went into first gear ready to pull of and the 'Start stop unavailable' message popped up on screen briefly and the engine cut out? couldn't get the engine started again, it just turned over (after checking immobilizer etc). My father-in-law is a mechanic so he came and rescued me, replaced the spark plugs and all seemed okay...until a week later at the same junction it did exactly the same thing, showing the start stop message etc. I was able to restart it myself by shoving my foot on the accelerator! took back to my father-in-law's garage and it's saying 'uncoded error' on the diagnostic machine. He can't work out the problem, it done it again last (with me being able to restart again). Just don't know what to do, and my nearest Fiat dealership is over 40 miles away? It's a 0.8 turbo, 60 plate.

would much appreciate any help, I love my little car and really want to get it fixed rather than sell!

Thank you

Click to expand...

Tend to agree with Merky, if the battery has not been changed during your ownership you should do that first, it's probably due anyway.
On the "uncoded" error consider getting (or your father-in-law getting) Multiecuscan software www.multiecuscan.com and a interface (ELM 327 USB, modified, about £20 on ebay. This will read the Fiat specific codes.


Robert G8RPI.

Okay, thank you both - battery has been checked though, it was one of the first things as I think he thought the same as you.
Thanks again

ASTEPHANIE said:

Okay, thank you both - battery has been checked though, it was one of the first things as I think he thought the same as you.
Thanks again

Click to expand...

Hi,

the battery is the main cause of the S/S unavailable on a twinair

how many miles on the car..?? replacing the sparkplugs points to it being in need of a service - however that may just have been an attempt at a fix..,
as it's obviously still doing it.

so - at the bottom of this hill...what's happening..??,

is the engine "bogging-down" - failing to build revs-
and almost stalling / stalling.

when it does it would be useful to see what the ECU - cars brain - detects the system voltage as..,
I suspect it's dipping..leading to the S/S message.

don't be put-off by being away from a FIAT dealer.. they are unlikely to know straight away..



Charlie - Oxford - 2012 Twinair

Hi!
Thanks for that, service was done in January, no problems at all, the slight hill start is about half a mile from my house and its happened as I've left home and been on my way to work. No problem starting, no problems approaching the junction, just as i dip the clutch to go into first to pull off the 'start stop' message appears. Running fine other than that though! the second time it happened and i was able to re-start, the car managed absolutely fine on the rest of my 15 min journey to work. Just can't work out the problem and i feel like i can't rely on my poor little car!

Thanks

annika

so - did it PAUSE at the junction..and conk-out as you tried to pull away..?

or conk-out as you slowed approaching the junction..??

just trying to figure out what the engine was doing / being asked to do at the time..

so - where are you / the car based..?? somebody local to you may have the right kit to talk to the ECU properly.

Charlie

Conked-out as I tried to pull off, just went dead! no power steering, managed to roll it back and onto the side of the road.

Based in south lincs, lots of local garages just not sure who would have the right kit without going direct to Fiat (something i'm not keen on...)

Thanks again,

Annika

....and does the SS work OK during general driving?

yes that's working absolutely fine!
Baffling!

Very strange and frustrating I'm sure!

I wonder if it could be related to the hatch wiring? Not sure if that would necessarily cause the issue with failing to restart, but it could be the cause of the random "Stop Start Unavailable" message.

Here's a very useful thread started by our resident moderator jrkitching:
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/423837-maybelline-has-thrown-hissy-fit.html

Post 12 has some pictures of what to look for in the boot. Again, may not be anything to do with it, but it's a check that either you or your father-in-law could do for free.

Other than that, I agree it is maybe worth taking another look at the battery if it is still the original one your car is running on (seeing as it is a 60 plate).

As it never happens on your way home only on your way to work then it could be simply a stall due to the cold start enrichment ("choke" in old language !) just happening to be backing off at that particular point where the engine is not yet hot enough to cope, possibly due to a faulty temp sensor or fast idle not working correctly?
If half a mile from work you are not at a junction then you would passing through this issue without noticing it ?
Easy enough to test by letting the car warm up slightly before leaving home and seeing if it either occurs closer to home or not at all.
The SS error may be simply be the ECU saying "wasn't me" when the engine stops unexpectedly, try stalling on purpose and seeing if the same error appears ?
The TwinAir is basically like a large 2 cylinder motorcycle and the gap between power pulses means a miss on one cylinder due to a weak mixture or slow idle at low revs could easily stall the engine where a 4 cylinder would stumble and recover, and larger single and twin cylinder bikes can be a pain to restart if neither hot or cold but somewhere in between which would also fit your description.
(at least you don't have to kick start it !!)