Hi first time on here, wondered if anybody could help. I have an 02 Punto 1.9JTD. The engine keeps cutting out and engine management light comes on. It will not restart. By time RAC arrive and connect jump leads and it starts and does not show any problems on computor. First happened 3 weeks ago and has got more frequent. I have found that if I wait 10 to 15 minutes and try to start it will work but has failed 3 times today. Anybody got any ideas.

Hi Pennines and welcome to the forum.

Punto problems are often related to electrical connectors being poor contact but there are lots of connectors in there! It's difficult to suggest anything outright but one approach would be to get an ECU reader and see what error is putting that light on (see "Guides","Punto" for cheap solution ECU reader). The FiatECUScan programme covers 1.9JTD.

red

Hehe Red, are you on comission for the VAG leads?

Only kidding, tis a really useful bit of kit!

No commission! I've no idea who these guys are that distribute the leads (there are several about, I just suggest going for the cheapest on e-Bay) but it seems that every other new thread relates to someone needing to arm themselves with this cheap bit of kit, hence at risk of sounding repetitive I say "see my thread on tester for tenner and a laptop".

My own story is that I had the airbag warning lights on for a couple of years and begrudged paying £40-£50 for a professional to extinguish them (OK, they probably paid £2000 for a Snap-On set-up with bells and whistles for all makes of car and need to recover it). I actually got a VAG-COM lead recently to try to bottom out a poor starting issue (which I still haven't fixed). However, the lead, with the link added between pins 7 to 3, allowed me to turn out the airbag lights, so in that regard, it has paid for itself already. Now... back to the poor starting....

red

Hi mate,

By the sounds of it, you are suffering from the very common "crank sensor failure". This is very common on the JTD and you have classic symptoms of it.

Have a look here for a guide on how to fix it yourself. Will cost you around £20

As you quite rightly say, it often doesn't show a fault code.

Hope that helps,
Alan