just clocked 13k with no problems until last week when the fuel guage, speedo, odometer and auto lock doors started playing silly buggers. This happened intermittantly and had the unfortunate side effect of adding miles to the odometer. Took the car in to the dealer last week and they have changed the spark plugs apparently because of stray high tension spikes causing the computer to trip. Unfortunately, this hasn`t completely cured the problem but it seems to have stopped most of the faults. I will be taking the car back in, I`ll let you know the outcome.

I had a similar, but less serious, problem when I'd occasionally get failures for the ABS, ESP (usually at the same time) and gearbox temperature sensor failure "blips".

However, I had to call the AA out when my brake lights became stuck on. When the AA guy removed the brake switch all these failures (and more) came out in quick succession. Anyhow, a nice man at a Fiat garage replaced the switch and so far (touch wood) no more failures.

It was probably the faulty foot brake switch which caused these phantom faults for equipment on the same electrical circuits. With things like that it must be pretty hard to trace intermittent faults like I'd experienced.

I just wonder whether your problem is a similar cascading effect with the high tension spikes interrupting some unsheilded electrial circuits.


Barbarian
3dr Stilo Abarth, Leather, Broom Yellow and Sky Window

FYI - If your brake lights get stuck on because the brake pedal switch is stuck, stick your foot under the brake pedal and pull it up. This should free up the switch and get your brake lights back to normal.

The problems Barbarian had with ABS, ESP and GBox Temp are all a result of sticky or faulty brake light switches. Can also cause a GBox failure warning and stop the auto mode from working. Seems to be quite a common Stilo thing and dealers are well aware.

Roja

2003 Silver 3-Door Abarth with graphite wheels and all the toys

When I first noticed that the brake lights were stuck on that's exactly what I had to do.

However, as soon as I pulled my foot away the lights came back on. Kind of annoying when you're in crawling traffic (that's how I first noticed there was a problem when I looked in the rear view mirror and thought that my rear lights were rather bright!). I'm just thankful I didn't have a clutch as my left foot was constantly holding the brake pedal up.

As a temporary fix the AA man made a spacer out of some gaffer tape and it worked a treat. The Fiat garage then adjusted the switch, but this only lasted about 24 hours before the lights became stuck on again. A new switch later and [sharp intake of breath] things appear to be OK .

It's interesting that if the dealers are aware of such a problem they faffed around before fitting a new switch.


Barbarian
3dr Stilo Abarth, Leather, Broom Yellow and Sky Window

Whatever you say about Fiat cars, most Fiat dealers leave a lot to be desired!!

Maybe I should have said "dealers SHOULD be well aware!"

Roja

2003 Silver 3-Door Abarth with graphite wheels and all the toys
NOW FOR SALE - £9995ono

the spark plugs didn`t work. The car is going back next week to have five new ignition coils fitted. This is on instructions direct from Fiat. I`ll kep you posted.

New to the forum, but been lurking for a while. I've found the information here very useful and I'm looking forward to participating.

I have almost identical problems to harrycat, the speedo and fuel needles go haywire, relays trip in the passenger footwell and miles are added to the odometer every time this happens.

The fault is intermittent, usually occurring when the car is under load (accelerating, not necessarily hard). It happens several times in any given journey, sometimes in quick succession.

I'm hoping Harrycat (or anyone else) can shed some light on this problem for me as my dealership don't yet have a solution. Harrycat, are you still out there? Did you ever get this fixed? What was the solution?

As an aside, is it likely that the dealership will be able to adjust the odometer to reflect the actual mileage, or am I stuck with an additional (so far, and in just 6 weeks' of driving) 1,390 miles that I haven't driven?

Took the car to the dealership today to show them the fault. The service manager came out with me for a drive so he could see for himself the extra miles being added to the odometer.

The car was due to go in to be repaired on Thursday, but I'm not going to let them fix it just yet. If they do I'll have no evidence that the problem exists, so they could just say that I've done the miles that are on the clock including the extra 1,400 that I estimate the car has added on it's own..

Spoke with Trading Standards to get some advice on my position and they said that I'm entitled to a refund or a replacement despite having had it since October and driving for 2,500 genuine miles as the car was/is not fit for purpose.

So hopefully, I'll be getting a replacement Stilo soon.

in reply to Realriledone, yes the replacemnet ignition coils did solve the electrical problems. The cars now done 18k with no further problems apart from rear tyre wear
.

Thanks for the reply harrycat. The dealer has now agreed to replace the car, I should get it sometime this week.

I wasn't happy that my car would have an inaccurate odometer reading as you are obliged by law to tell whoever buys the car from you that the odometer is incorrect. This may affect the value at resale time.

Basically as the odometer reading cannot be changed legally I considered it to be a fault that could not be repaired and so asked for a replacement car. I think the dealer eventually convinced Fiat to buy the car back from them.

RRO

RRO, so you getting another Stilo or an Alfa?

53 3d Stilo Dynamic JTD - Sprint Blue

Hi James - I'm getting another Stilo, but a 3 door this time. I think the spec is slightly higher than my current one. The new one has a sky window, xenons and (I think) 17in rims. It also has fewer miles than mine had when I bought it in October and comes with a private plate! All in all not too bad, just waiting for it to arrive as it's coming from a dealer in the North.