Hey everyone
I'm Stu from Malta.
New to the Forum and indeed new to Fiat's (I was never brave enough to buy one before) as i was always told FIAT means Fix It Again Tomorrow


I recently bough a Punto 1.2 16v ELX from year 2000, It was owned from new by an old lady and has covered only 11k miles, so as you can imagine it's almost like a new car with hardly any wear and tear whatsoever.
There were some minor issues which were all related to lack of use, such as window mechanism and adjustable mirrors seized, HT leads old and perished, etc but these were easily fixed.
The car was driving great, just like driving a new car.


Now I have a problem, and no idea what to do.
Last week I opened the car and the central locking was not working, When I got inside and tried to open the electric window, this also is not working, Then I put the key in the ignition and the fuel light is flashing and gauge shows empty, The engine turns over but will not start, I have checked all connections to the BCM, checked fuses, Checked the antenna ring around the ignition, and everything seems ok, no damp, no corrosion or loose plugs / wires. also checked earth points to ensure they were also good.
Yesterday I noticed that the right hand indicator lights were all illuminated, but not flashing, I disconnected the battery, and after reconnecting today, they had gone off.

I'm sure this is a fairly common fault, but I have no idea what should be the next step, Is it a case of replacing BCM / ECU etc as they are all coded together, or can it be fixed with some diagnostic software ?

A 20 year old car no longer has good electrical connections between the wires and the connectors at the end of the wires and the more connections the less voltage you get where you need it. The problem does not get solved by removing the wires and cleaning the connectors. The problem exists inside the length of cable even if the connectors are replaced and recrimped. You then get internal cable problems and problems between connectors and other connections. Cleaning solves one problem and leaves the other unchanged


If you are persistant and know how to use a voltmeter you can probably get the car in good condition again without thinking about replacing everything. Some cables will be worse than others. When testing voltages you need to be aware that without an electrical load on the cable you will not notice a problem when the problem is the internal resistances of the old cables and old connectors.

Well, Its been several weeks now, and nobody has replied having had the same issue ?
1 reply from Judderbar regarding the age of the wiring, which whilst is appreciated, my mechanic has confirmed is definately not the issue.

Seems the BCM (body control module) is prone to failure, and needs replacing along with the ECU and chip for the immobilizer code.

has ANYONE had this issue, or am I seriously the only person ?