Hi folks

I was wonndering if anyone could help me?

A brief history first, I have a Y reg 1.2 Punto. before xmas I had a new exhaust fitted then last week my car displayed some erratic running, kind of like misfiring combined with smoke\steam from exhaust, leaving the car to idle meant the car would run as normal again. Car was booked into get an airbag light reset and the night before temprature light came on. Garage diagnosed a faulty head gasket and duly replaced the head all skimmed and pressure tested etc. Got the car back last night and this morning on the motorway the ECU light started flashing again but when I slowed down it went off but then came back on and flashed for a few more seconds. I thought this was a warning about the Head gasket but it's obviously pointing at something else.

The guy at the garage has very kindly offered to check the error codes again for free.

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas as to what could be wrong? I want to avoid randomly replacing sensors as I just cant afford it.

My new exhaust was sounding a bit rumbly could it have anything to do with that, woould the ecu ligth even come on for that.

Am I doing my car any damage by driving it when this light is flashing?

Sorry for the terribly long post am a bit new to this and am alsoa bit stressed this car is costing me a fortune. It's already on it's 3rd clutch!!

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers
Ross

PS. I read somewhere on the forum that cars can become 'behave strangely' if you reset them by disconnecting the battery to reset the ecu. If the garage reset all myerror codes could my car just be sorting itself out again.. ie. is it possibke that this will all just go away.

Was also wondering... if the guy at the garage says its my lamda sensor is it worth getting my exhaust checked out incase it just hasnt been fitted correctly?

it will take a while to settle down, but the exhaust fitter could have nackered or forgot to reconect one of your lambda sensors

could also be MAP sensor

Thanks for the prompt replies. Do you know how much these sensors Lambda and MAP cost, are they tricky to fit etc?

Just bracing myself for another repair bill that I cant afford.

Could either of these sensors (or perhaps even the exhaust) been damaged by the head gassket letting go?

Cheers
Ross

the lambda, i believe your car has two. they're in the exhaust, so the head gasket cant have damaged them. however, the exhaus manifold has to come off to take the head off, so its possible they've dropped/knocked and damaged the sensor. not sure on prices, upwards of 50. fitting is easy, unbolt the old one and screw the new one in

map sensor isnt likely to be damaged by the head gasket going, they're around 40quid i think and are just as, if not easier to fit.

if the injector light is coming on, the car should be logging faults in the ECU. first thing they should check is what fault code is being stored. the stored error code will relate to a specific fault. saves replacing bits that dont need doing

Hi folks.

again thanks fopr the quick reply. Have been to the garage to get the error codes checked out and apprently it's the ignition coil on cylinder 2 thats the problem. But he said no to worryto much about it at the mo as it's just raising it's head, hopefully see me through unitl payday! yet more expense!!

Cheers
Ross

get one from motor factors then, dont get one from fiat they 3 times the price

I thought if the light 'flashed' it was due to phonic wheel?
The fact it goes off again then on later would point to a EOBD failure resulting in possible catalyst damage.Usual suspects are misfire(leads/plugs),coil(but this would produce cyl 3 misfre aswell)or lambda...also dreaded ecu!
Had a focus that done this on overrun & light would always come on due to a misfire on cyl2(water),light comes on as warning to protect the cat.