Hi,
My daughter has some weird electrical problems with her Y reg 1.2 Punto 8V. Having thoroughly searched the forum, I've come to the sad conclusion that I may need a new body computer, but before I bite the bullet, I'd like to poll some opinions from those who've got the tee shirt! Bearing in mind criticisms of posters for not telling the full story up front(!), I've tried to list all events to date.
Car has done only 40,000 miles (bought from late father in law) with full dealer history in Coventry until 2 years ago when we bought it. Since then it has done <2000 miles, but has been fine until a couple of weeks ago:
1. Battery had gone flat last autumn, so removed from car , recharged & all OK. (no jump starts done at all).
2 .Battery flat again (unused for 6 weeks or so) in March, so removed & recharged overnight , again car started fine.
3 .Following day I drove car 25 miles to Swansea & back - OK. That night, wife drove 3 miles to get take away & car wouldn't start outside shop. I drove to pick her up & saw fuel light flashing, guage empty etc. Tore wife off a strip for running out of petrol etc etc.
4. Following day, took 2 galls petrol to car, filled it & noticed guage still showed empty. Car turns over fine but wouldn't start, so towed home & investigated. Fuel light flashing, no lights, indicators hazards, elec windows, turns over but no start.
5. Realised it wasn't just running out of petrol (it was over half full) & had to make grovelling apology to wife<sigh>.
6. Checked all fuses inside & under bonnet. Ditto relays – all OK. Checked all earths under bonnet gearbox/body checked battery cables for continuity.
7. Removed all connections from fuse boxes (footwell & bonnet), disconnected standard FIAT radio (screen was always iffy with that). Re-made all connections (all look as clean as new).
8. Bought new battery (can you tell I was getting desperate?). Car fine, leave on drive. 2 hours later, find all indicators are on but not flashing. Fuel light flashing, electrics all awry, no start. Disconnect battery. I hour later, reconnect battery & all is fine car starts, runs OK.
9. Next day drove 20 miles to meet mates for shooting, 1 mile away from meet, fuel guage & speedo fail, fuel light flashing, indicators lights hazards elec windows all fail, but car still runs fine. I return home (19 miles) park car & disconnect battery.
10. Check all alternator cables & connections, double check earth on gearbox, body & battery cables. All OK. Battery shows 12.7 volts no load, 13.8V engine running with all electrical loads on, 14 – 14.3v with no electrical loads on. Current drain is 170mA dropping to 8mA after 5 seconds with battery negative disconnected. All connections looked fine, but were scraped, Coppaslipped & remade. Continuity checked 100%.
11. If left with battery disconnected, on connection car is fine, but really cannot be used until this is sorted. It seems to fail within an hour or two of the battery being re connected, sometimes showing a light or indicators on, sometimes not...
12. Footwell is not wet to the feel , doesn't smell musty etc.
Is there anything left for me to do before looking at the body computer? How easy is it to remove fusebox in footwell (I have LARGE hands) & is body computer clipped to the back of that? I have unmade & remade all the connector plugs on the fusebox & all looked OK from an inspection with torch, but I haven't actually removed the fusebox yet.
My daughter has some weird electrical problems with her Y reg 1.2 Punto 8V. Having thoroughly searched the forum, I've come to the sad conclusion that I may need a new body computer, but before I bite the bullet, I'd like to poll some opinions from those who've got the tee shirt! Bearing in mind criticisms of posters for not telling the full story up front(!), I've tried to list all events to date.
Car has done only 40,000 miles (bought from late father in law) with full dealer history in Coventry until 2 years ago when we bought it. Since then it has done <2000 miles, but has been fine until a couple of weeks ago:
1. Battery had gone flat last autumn, so removed from car , recharged & all OK. (no jump starts done at all).
2 .Battery flat again (unused for 6 weeks or so) in March, so removed & recharged overnight , again car started fine.
3 .Following day I drove car 25 miles to Swansea & back - OK. That night, wife drove 3 miles to get take away & car wouldn't start outside shop. I drove to pick her up & saw fuel light flashing, guage empty etc. Tore wife off a strip for running out of petrol etc etc.
4. Following day, took 2 galls petrol to car, filled it & noticed guage still showed empty. Car turns over fine but wouldn't start, so towed home & investigated. Fuel light flashing, no lights, indicators hazards, elec windows, turns over but no start.
5. Realised it wasn't just running out of petrol (it was over half full) & had to make grovelling apology to wife<sigh>.
6. Checked all fuses inside & under bonnet. Ditto relays – all OK. Checked all earths under bonnet gearbox/body checked battery cables for continuity.
7. Removed all connections from fuse boxes (footwell & bonnet), disconnected standard FIAT radio (screen was always iffy with that). Re-made all connections (all look as clean as new).
8. Bought new battery (can you tell I was getting desperate?). Car fine, leave on drive. 2 hours later, find all indicators are on but not flashing. Fuel light flashing, electrics all awry, no start. Disconnect battery. I hour later, reconnect battery & all is fine car starts, runs OK.
9. Next day drove 20 miles to meet mates for shooting, 1 mile away from meet, fuel guage & speedo fail, fuel light flashing, indicators lights hazards elec windows all fail, but car still runs fine. I return home (19 miles) park car & disconnect battery.
10. Check all alternator cables & connections, double check earth on gearbox, body & battery cables. All OK. Battery shows 12.7 volts no load, 13.8V engine running with all electrical loads on, 14 – 14.3v with no electrical loads on. Current drain is 170mA dropping to 8mA after 5 seconds with battery negative disconnected. All connections looked fine, but were scraped, Coppaslipped & remade. Continuity checked 100%.
11. If left with battery disconnected, on connection car is fine, but really cannot be used until this is sorted. It seems to fail within an hour or two of the battery being re connected, sometimes showing a light or indicators on, sometimes not...
12. Footwell is not wet to the feel , doesn't smell musty etc.
Is there anything left for me to do before looking at the body computer? How easy is it to remove fusebox in footwell (I have LARGE hands) & is body computer clipped to the back of that? I have unmade & remade all the connector plugs on the fusebox & all looked OK from an inspection with torch, but I haven't actually removed the fusebox yet.
