Hi,
I have punto Y reg, . I went to the "local" garrage to have my wiper motor and lights done. They rang me and said that its almost 72000 so i need to change my timing belt. No problems .
When I have picked up my car , from the beginning my engine emergency light started to flash. I came back but they constantly has been trying to convince me that this is nothing seriuous and i should drive and see....(rubbish) I rejected to pick up the car. I left it but today they said it is still the same and they are unable to locate any fault. I have seen computer and it indeed does not show any errrors. Again - car drives very well. no problems whatsoever. Hovewer - when i stop i can hear like water flowing sound coming from dasborad. Something is definetely wrong,. I have informed garage that i will make official complaint and will ask for my monies back.
What shall i do then? Shall i just go to any official dealer to have look or is there anything i can do by myself? I have this Puno 1.2 for a year now but I know once problems start then its one after another. Is ther anythink which I can check by myself or is there anyone who can help me? I live in Leyton East London . Thanks all

8V or 16 Valve engine?

John

Hi , sorry , 8v .
Regards

Darius, I had this problem on a mk1, and intermittent flashing of the ECU fault light after work which involved disconnecting the battery. I took it straight back to the garage, they took off the battery negative lead, cleaned it up, put it back on and greased it up. That solved it; the intermittent battery connection was causing the ECU to go into a fault state.

MikeSalt said:

Darius, I had this problem on a mk1, and intermittent flashing of the ECU fault light after work which involved disconnecting the battery. I took it straight back to the garage, they took off the battery negative lead, cleaned it up, put it back on and greased it up. That solved it; the intermittent battery connection was causing the ECU to go into a fault state.

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Hi Mike
Thanks a lot for quick reply.I will have look if i can do it myself. I know that they did unpluged the battery and tried to unplug once again. However still ,that noise of water flowing behind by dashboard seems little bit odd to me .
Once again . Than You.
regards

As part of the cambelt replacement, did they replace the water pump? That's the only reason I can think of for disturbing your coolant system. That sound you are hearing is most likely due to an improperly bled cooling system. Since air bubbles in your head can lead to localised hot-spots, and head gasket failure, I would recommend that you follow the How to Bleed a Punto Cooling System guide immediately.

Disconnecting a small coolant pipe from the top of the thermostat along with the bleed screws also helps to get rid of any trapped air.

MikeSalt said:

As part of the cambelt replacement, did they replace the water pump? That's the only reason I can think of for disturbing your coolant system. That sound you are hearing is most likely due to an improperly bled cooling system. Since air bubbles in your head can lead to localised hot-spots, and head gasket failure, I would recommend that you follow the How to Bleed a Punto Cooling System guide immediately.

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Hi ,
Yes they did replace the water pump. They obviously said that there is no problem with water pump however i have noticed this when I already left the garage. Im not coming back there , and I said to them that i will be claiming my money back. I just wont let it go. No way.
Another question - Im at work now in Hertford - around 22 miles from home. Shall i try to come back ? Otherwise it will be difficult here to do anything .
I had my head gasket done once already, year ago with a good result.
Regards

If you have coolant and water with you (yes, I am sad enough to carry these at all times), then bleed the system there-and-then, before you start the 22 mile journey. It's sod's law now that something will go wrong if you chance it now.

If you only have access to water, then I'll leave the choice up to you. If you do the bleeding there-and-then, you will dilute the coolant, but only by as much water as will fit in the expansion space, so this won't be too bad. If diluting the coolant concerns you, go to your nearest motor factors (with a container of water) and get some coolant there-and-then.

Well, I do have an access to water here. I will try to do what is necessary if not i will catch a train today. Can i get some coolant in Halfords?
Regards

You'll pay through the nose at Halfords, but in this circumstance, they'll do. Don't just trust the doughnut behind the counter to give you the right stuff, check the label yourself and compare to the age of your car. Also, note the colour of the coolant you already have in the car. Different colour coolants should not be mixed.

The 8v engines are virtually bulletproof, but their one Achilles heel is their intolerance to any sort of cooling system fault, resulting in head gasket failure. Chances are that you will be fine driving home first, but I would be much happier if you sorted it ASAP.

MikeSalt said:

You'll pay through the nose at Halfords, but in this circumstance, they'll do. Don't just trust the doughnut behind the counter to give you the right stuff, check the label yourself and compare to the age of your car. Also, note the colour of the coolant you already have in the car. Different colour coolants should not be mixed.

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Thanks Mike for all your help. I will see what I can do and what will happen.
I got a feeling that it will be a long journey home today....
Regards

Flashing Engine warning light signifys a misfire or the phonic wheel needing calibrating.

Given the belt has been changed, I'd put money they haven't performed the Phonic wheel learn and their diagnostic computer is not capable of reading the ECU properly.

D4nny8oy said:

Flashing Engine warning light signifys a misfire or the phonic wheel needing calibrating.

Given the belt has been changed, I'd put money they haven't performed the Phonic wheel learn and their diagnostic computer is not capable of reading the ECU properly.

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HI ,
Do you think then I should contact any Fiat Dealer then? It looks like they can not read the ECU i agree. I have seen this guy with machine and it was saying - no error detected. But it is a bit silly that they cannot perform basic tasks then. I have decided to claim my money back whatever will happen as Im really anoyed now. Only thanks to you guys on this forum I do have some idea what might happened.
Anyway - Is it a huge mistake not to perform a calibration? Can it cause any more damage as i was advised to Drive! This is absolutely gross!
How much they will charge me then for phonic whell calibration? As far as I know calibation is rather simple task.
Thanks all
Dariusz

Isn't it shocking that when you take an older car in to a so-called professional garage you are nervous as hell that they have done things like put the timing belt on correctly, or bled the system properly? You know that it is so easy for a garage to claim that a fault that develops as a result of their mistake can be blamed on old age of the car etc etc.
Why don't we try to set up a database of garages/mechanics that members have found to be honest and reliable when it comes to working with Fiats? Split up in to regions of the country.
I don't mind paying a fair price to have a proper job done if it is beyond my capabilities, and I am sure most people are the same.

Sounds bad but its easy.

Disconnect the battery or the ECU and leave it for a while. I left mine overnight.

Start the engine and warm it on tickover until the fan kicks in. Drive it allowing the revs to go above and below 3000 a few times. The electronics learn the throttle settings.

Job done.

pooroldcodger said:

Isn't it shocking that when you take an older car in to a so-called professional garage you are nervous as hell that they have done things like put the timing belt on correctly, or bled the system properly? You know that it is so easy for a garage to claim that a fault that develops as a result of their mistake can be blamed on old age of the car etc etc.
Why don't we try to set up a database of garages/mechanics that members have found to be honest and reliable when it comes to working with Fiats? Split up in to regions of the country.
I don't mind paying a fair price to have a proper job done if it is beyond my capabilities, and I am sure most people are the same.

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Well, I agree. Im always very concern when going to any of the professional garages. This time they told me in the face that they do not know what is wrong and advise me to drive.
I do not mind to pay decent money for decent job. Simple as that. I like my car and i do not want to change for any new one.I need my car as Im working 20 miles away from home and the last thing I want to hear from so called mechanic that he does not know what is wrong! Who should then???????
Thanks all

The phonic wheel learn procedure has been posted on here loads of times and doesn't require a Dealer visit, Whitesei- what you've put there is wrong and not the phonic wheel learn.

(No need to disconnect battery) Start engine and warm-up until the temp needle reaches normal/top rad hose is hot. With the vehicle stationary and out of gear, floor the throttle and then release as it passes 5,000rpm (only has to be for a split second) and allow to idle. Repeat this 2 more times, and the EML should stop flashing. Job done.

It shouldn't cause a problem to drive it, it just means the ECU can't detect a misfire via the crank and cam sensor timing signals. As long as the timing is right, the whole procedure takes no more than 10 seconds once the engine's warmed-up.

D4nny8oy said:

The phonic wheel learn procedure has been posted on here loads of times and doesn't require a Dealer visit, Whitesei- what you've put there is wrong and not the phonic wheel learn.

(No need to disconnect battery) Start engine and warm-up until the temp needle reaches normal/top rad hose is hot. With the vehicle stationary and out of gear, floor the throttle and then release as it passes 5,000rpm (only has to be for a split second) and allow to idle. Repeat this 2 more times, and the EML should stop flashing. Job done.

It shouldn't cause a problem to drive it, it just means the ECU can't detect a misfire via the crank and cam sensor timing signals. As long as the timing is right, the whole procedure takes no more than 10 seconds once the engine's warmed-up.

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Thanks a lot for all advices. I will try to perform this tomorrow. My only concern is that I do not have temp-meter or on my dashboard and speedometer gives my only indication how fast im driving withouth rpm.Anyway I will try to perform this anyway.
Thx