I have had a piece of rubber pipe with whats left of a plastic box on the end strapped up under my Stilo Multiwaggon for sometime. No-one seemed to be able to tell me what it was. I have just called into B S Marson Fiat Dealer in Newcastle under lyme and they have solved the problem of what it is. It seems this is glued to the Air Cleaner casing on the bottom of the half with the air intake pipe attached on the top (its the bit sticking out just above the number 5 on the diagram). Needless to say you cant buy this box but have to buy a full Air Cleaner casing at £105.99. Ive been told the little box doesnt do a great deal but I think it must be there for a reason. Is it OK to just ignore it as another bit of plastic falling off my Stilo or could it cause problems if not replaced? This analysis was done after lifting the car up at the dealers and buying a jubilee clip for 82p. Not all Fiat dealers are bad.

Most people (garages) use a cable tie to keep it in its correct position under the air box.

You can fit a new air box if you really want (of which the vapour trap is part) but the engine wont run any better.

Whatever you do - don't remove it

Thanks for that. There is very little of it to remove. What is left resembles one of those plastic scoops you can use to get stuff in the Pick & Mix sweet shop. My Stilo recently kissed the backside of a Citroen at a junction and i'm trying to persuade the insurers that it came off in the shunt so they will replace it.
I sometimes get a scary symptom where the engine almost dies on leaving a juction and it needs the accellerator pushed to the floor before it picks up in about 30 seconds but sometimes stalls. I'm guessing that there may be debris in the butterfly valve on the air intake which the broken vapout trap could have contributed to. I plan to take a look this weekend. Other than that could it be fuel lines, turbo trouble, fuel pump?

PhilM Star said:

There is very little of it to remove. What is left resembles one of those plastic scoops you can use to get stuff in the Pick & Mix sweet shop.

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Sounds like it's been dragged along the road surface and acting a bit like a dirt and water scoop

Make sure it's blocked off as otherwise the turbo will suck in unfiltered air and rubbish. If that's not bad enough then this air will also be bypassing the MAF sensor - which could affect how it runs.

Talking of the MAF sensor, this could be the cause of your other problem but make sure you block the vapour trap first.

Use Search to find plenty of threads on this topic.

....and yes; I'd say a very good chance your air box was damaged in the shunt

Thanks, I always suspected that garages were wrong when they told me it didnt do anything. I was about to drive home from work without the MAF sensor having read all the other posts about this and your problem with cracked tubes. I'll leave this till the vapour trap tube is blocked off.

Non Starting Stilo

Ive pasted this from a previous thread which I think has gone stale as i have had no replies and it has gone quite a bit of topic from the main thread I posted to.

Yesterday evening after an afternoon of snow and cold I left work, jumped in my car and nothing. Dash showed EBD failure which most people say is the battery. Called out breakdown and it still wouldnt start with the jump leads from the breakdown van. The guy proved fuel was getting to the engine no blockages in air supply. I had cleaned the MAF and the turbo body at the weekend so no issues there. I had put a J cloth over a broken vapour trap pipe so no crap going into the turbo. When trying to start got the occassional flicker of the glow plug light and injector sysmbol before it gave up trying to start. The mechanic said everything was in place and there is no reason for it not to start so he assumed the fuel was either not getting through the injectors or not being atomised properly. I got the train home. Car taken to garage today and I await their findings. Hope this is the root cause of the judder/ low power I have had laterley and the car will come back as good as new till the next thing happens

Ive had quite a few problems with this car but garages have advised me that most cars these days can have problems due to the complex nature of the technology now used. The new Mondao has been singled out by one garage as very unreliable in his opinion. I have had new steering column after it failed when jump started, new clutch which failed after 3 months and took the gearbox with it, new gearbox and another clutch. two new front springs. Three bonnet release levers as they just fall apart, all the plastic protection has broken of the underside, skywindow jammed (fiat said bring it in and well try and fix it, this forum told me just hold the switch in and it resets. Phoned local Fiat back and told them what to do next time!), plus all the usual items that wear out - brake disks and pads, tyres regularly, and light bulbs. Despite all this I really like the car and when it works its absolutley brilliant. I'm expecting the rear suspension to be next as i have done 124000 miles in it and am adding 130 a day weekdays. After this last thing I have to admit that i may have to let it go if this continues but what will i get instead of it? There's nothing on the market that appeals to me. I like the new Panda but its too small. A bigger version would be great so i guess the new Multipla is the nearest thing.


Well it took two weeks for the garage to get my car to start. They said they had found part of the J cloth that was covering the vapour trap pipe in the inlet manifold. I was still getting glow plug message but thought this would clear itself after a few starts. It took some starting after collecting the car and leaving it outside work a few hours. Once I got going the car really flew and I thought everything was OK. I should have known better! Started getting the drop in power problem the next day and still the glow plug warning plus ABS and occassionally EDB. Travelled about 200 miles in it in three jouneys but on Saturday morning having loaded up with baggage and family the thing wouldnt start. Engine turned and I got the occasional splutter of a start which died after a few seconds. I would have thought that having turned over a couple of times the glow plugs wouldnt have been an issue but maybe i'm wrong. I ve started to think this is a genuine message and am going to get the multimeter on them when a get a minute and try spraying the connector with contact cleaner.

Ive recently had a new gearbox and having read about a gearbox earth connector wonder if this is related.
Today I had a fan heater warming the engine for about half an hour but it still wouldnt start and I drained the battery.

Do you guys out there think I am on the right track with the glow plugs or could this be more debris in the inlet manifold. Fuel is definatley flowing so what could this be? Around £2500 has been spent on this car in the last few months so its getting to the point where It'll have to go if it doesnt get sorted soon!

Re: Non Starting Stilo

Diesel engine = fuel,compression & air. Needs all 3 to start so check them all.

Re: Non Starting Stilo

Thanks, I agree but they all seem to be in place unless there is a further blockage that has developed since I picked the car up. There is fuel getting to the top of the injectors which I tested by uncoupling the feed pipe and turning the engine, fuel flowed. The garage said they checked the injectors and these were OK. I ve got Redex in at present and driven 200 miles so that should have cleaned up some debris. I asked the garage to check for a gasket leak and they said coolant would have frothed out if there was one plus Ive driven this some distance since collecting. I will check the coolant level though. Compression seems ok in that the engine sounds like it should and tried to start. I need to rule out the glow plugs, is there a fuse for these?

Re: Non Starting Stilo

There's a very easy test for glow plugs in Guides but I think you'd need at least two down to stop the engine from starting.

Another possibility is you might have an intermittent heater relay fault. Basically if you get a dash error but all 4 plugs read good then the relay would be very suspect.

I'd be very concerned as to how a bit of J-cloth has gone though the turbo Aside from damage to the turbo itself then the next stop is the engine and I'd dread to think of what other rubbish it's sucked in

How'd that happen

Re: Non Starting Stilo

Ive read the test for the glow plugs using a multimeter. Just waiting to be home in daylight to give it a go. The J cloth was fastened to the end of the tube that goes to the vapour trap while the trap was broken and looking like a pick n mix scoop. This has now been replaced. The cloth was fastened on with a jubilee clip that couldnt have been any tighter and a fair amount of cloth behind it so I'm also very puzzled as to how this happened, is there a great amount of suction from the vapour trap hose? Ironicly, I put this on because FIAT advised me it could suck in a plastic bag or something. The turbo seemed to be working fine for the 200 or so miles I drove after collecting the car. Garage told me it turns so fast that anything in there would be shredded. I'm going to check the glow plugs, coolant level (as an indication of gasket leak) then move on to the heater relay. I'm wondering if an engine strip down is going to be on the cards and how much that will cost!

Just merged your other thread as they seem very related to me.

I've never stuck my hand down there but I'd imagine the actual suction could be very high (think what a vacuum cleaner picks up).

Not really ideal to have something like that close to the road surface

maybe slightly off topic, but is this part thats casuing the hate relationship with the JTD gsr induction?

Argonought said:

I've never stuck my hand down there but I'd imagine the actual suction could be very high (think what a vacuum cleaner picks up). Not really ideal to have something like that close to the road surface

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Maybe It was false enonomy to hold out for the insurance to pay for a new air box and I should have coughed up the £105.99 for a new one. All the mechanics I asked about this didnt seem to think it was a big deal so I didnt panic about it.
The Fiat service CD says to check the air filter first if there are problems starting or loss of power when runing. As this is a new box maybe the garage havnt fitted the filter back in properly, I'll have a look at that as well.

Sounds like I was right on post #4 (was partly joking!)

Normally if the vapour trap breaks away from the air-box then it's no big deal as it then sits on top of the undertray

.....but if you don't have an undertray

OzMoSiS said:

maybe slightly off topic, but is this part thats casuing the hate relationship with the JTD gsr induction?

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The GSR kit does away with the vapour trap completely (obviously it's completely blocked off). It could cause issues with large amounts of oil blow back (which would go straight into the turbo and/or contaminate the MAF without the oil trap) but aside from that I don't think it's an issue.

It was causing blow back Argo and an oil trap was being looked into for the kit..but the modifiacation was going to cause more problems and added cost so that is just another reason why the kit was dropped from production..

I think the undertray is there for a reason and I'm thinking of having one fitted. I still might have my old one but the wheel compartment follows through to the underside of the car to fit the undertray to. Unfortunatley mine have broken and so i will need all the plastic from wheel to wheel refitted. Recent posts about water ingress causing low power and my interesting problem seem to suggest its worth it in the long run. Im not seeing many Stilos in scrapyards so may have to shell out again!

PhilM Star said:

I think the undertray is there for a reason

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You think! shame you had to find out the hard way

PhilM Star said:

Thanks, I agree but they all seem to be in place unless there is a further blockage that has developed since I picked the car up.

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Without seeming cheeky they can be or the car would start.

PhilM Star said:

The Fiat service CD says to check the air filter first if there are problems starting or loss of power when runing..

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Dont waste too much time on the CD's,they are out of date and the diagnostic procedures are general basic stuff (on a diesel engine it tells you to check spark plugs)

I saw the reference to sparkplugs

Ive asked quite a few mechanics and it seems to be a commonly held view that the undertray is not very significant. I would say that if you are lucky you could get away with it making no difference to the ownership experience but clearly I am not

I have had the multimeter on the glow plug connector and found that three measure 0 ohms which seems impossible. Im taking it that the reading is so small it doesnt register on my dial. The final one reads 30 ohms so seems the error on startup is correct. It's the one on the green wire so if I've read Argonauts guide correctly this is plug number 3 and one of the easier ones to change:worship:. Ive read about threads stripping occassionaly so I'll check how much my local garage will charge to fit one.

I still suspect there is another underlying problem but I'll take it one step at a time:doh: