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Technical First Fault :(

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Technical First Fault :(

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kingchris

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Parked in the garage
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Jan 10, 2005
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Hi,

Picked a used 2003 stilo up on Saturday,

Now when I start the car the computer has decided there is a loose connection.

The ASR light (on the plastic button) is on.

The handbrake light stays on even when its not

The speedo does not work.

Any sugestions on an easy fix or is it a trip to the fiat dealer :bang:
 
I think it sounds like a trip to the dealers - I presume you purchased it from the same dealer?

Never heard about the speedo not working before - must be a first :(
 
Everything is normal?

I have found that over my time of owning the car, reckon I have had every sensor go off. A switch off and on again, and let car reinitialise, usually does the trick. The only fault worthy was the no 4 coil pack failing, replaced by the AA under warranty.

Car is second hand - still in 2nd year of warranty, or now in 3rd year? I would get down to the dealer anyway, and ensure warranty is in your name, valid, and service book up to date by the previous owner. This way, should be no problems entering the 3rd year dealership warranty.
 
Does this fault occur everytime you turn the ignition on, or was it a one off?

It sounds to me like a dashboard fault, or perhaps a Body Computer fault. Take it to Sidwell Street in Exeter (come highly recommended by me) and they can plug it into the Examiner and check it out. If it does occur, leave it in error status for a minute or so to ensure that it all gets properly logged by the Body Computer.

Let us know the outcome!
 
I've had a whole mess of electrical/ECU problems that have come and gone without anything being done to the car to cause or relieve the problems. The last time something happened I took my car to a local garage who said I'm not going to touch Fiat electrics and I can't say I blame him. I didn't have time to go to a Fiat Dealer at the time, but it was another self resolving problem, so no major harm.
 
Hi,

The first thing you must do is to check the battery light, if you have a white light you must add some water in. I had problems with my ABS and GPS system because of that, when you start the motor the system runs a complete check of the ABS system, and if the baterry it's not at the maximum capacity it will not work properly.

I've done that and now everything works well. It's simple and a little bit unbelievable, but it's true, it's a Fiat.

Regards
 
One thing to consider is that stilos that come from a car supermarket or auction is that they probaly have had a flat battery and have been boost started, and they dont like it at all, can really screw the electronics on them up ( i have replaced several engine e.c.u's that have been destroyed from boost starting). One thing you can try is to disconnect both battery terminals and touch them together, this basicly clears any "ghosts" out the electrics, (this is actually a fix for the puntos with dash light problems but also works on stilos :) ) re-connect battery and see how you go, but im guessing your gonna need a visit to have examiner plugged in. Other times i have seen this sort of problem is when the fiat radio has been swapped for a non-standard unit and the CAN LINE plug was fitted to the non-fiat radio, throws non standard info down the can lines and messes everything up. Can lines being the high/low speed network that connects ALL the nodes on a stilo together and shares info between them - abs, speedo, engine e.c.u, stereo ect would be sharing speed related info, plug the can into a non standard stereo (usualy blaupunkts have the same plug fittings as a fiat strereo) and you get problems. If you have a non fiat radio fitted, whip it out and remove the green/yellow/blue plugs if there connected. Im still guessing your gonna be having a visit to the dealer though as not many stilos come with non-standard stereos.
 
Hope you're ready as this is a far more technical answer than you'll be prepared for......re the non working speedo.......have you giving the top of the dash above the speedo a firm tap?

If this sounds like rubbish it might be.....but I've had 3-4 cars with non working speedos and this always works........ :p
 
@ Fiat Tech; after having my non standard fiat radio fitted for a few month now i did know that this could cause a problem; with the can lines still being connected! (and i havent had any problems because or this as yet and wont to sort it out asap to make sure it dont cause any :) )

After looking in the fiat stereo manual (to make sure i cut the right wires) i could only see two can line wires marked down! But you sed about three wires! Could you post the number of the relevant 1's that need removing (i.e. they are number a1, a2, etc...)

cheers for your help in advance! (y)
 
sorry wasnt clear on the can line/stereo problem, i refer to the coloured plugs, not the wires, and if u had stereo fitted for a while its likely theu wernt connected, (only certain stereos have the sockets that these plugs fit).
 
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