Fiat Technicians advise needed
Stilo 1.4 Dynamic 2005 model year. Problem from new with the climate control. Most times when you start the engine with the climate control set at for example on 16 or low (in other words set to come on), the clutch throws in the cooling fan starts. (In other words what you would expect to happen)
But then the compressor clutch disengages after a few seconds.
If you press the off control or the compressor control switch briefly off and on if fires back up again sometimes staying on as it should. On occasions you have to go through this routine several times to get it to work correctly. But mostly only once.
When you get it working all appears to function as it should.
Now the question: has any technician any thoughts where the problem might be
Obviously the car is near new with full dealership warranty but I would deeply appreciate any fiat technicians’ thoughts on this problem.

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Claim warranty - As the car is new it could be as simple as lose wiring, nothing major.

Regards,

Omer

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

could be one of many things,i'd start off by connecting to air-con machine & checking pressures while examiner starts up.

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Forgot to say that that the system has already had a re-gas. This has not fixed the problem.

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

has it been over gassed?

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

I would have to say it’s not over gassed checked by two independent sources

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

continous switching on/off fan is sign of overfilled system however after a while you say its ok? How cold is it getting?

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

The temp seems ok

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

4-6degrees?

next step...examiner for errors/interogation (assuming air-con gauges indicate all ok)

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

T14086 Although I am a Technician my self I am not a Fiat Tech...As stated before the car is new only having done 500 miles. It’s booked in at local Fiat Garage to have the problem sorted.
But I was hoping a Fiat Tech on this forum may have come across a similar problem. The thing is I hate other people messing about with my cars.
I presume you are a Fiat Tech with Access to “Examiner.”
If so would you expect it to pick up this unusual fault?

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Its very difficult to diagnose a problem without actually seeing it...quite sure you are aware of this.Like I said I would switch the aircon on & observe the low & high pressure gauges of the air-con machine.This alone should give you a good indication of the fault,if not then you would need to connect examiner.
To be honest beside the 'broken pipe' problem theres little else that goes wrong with them.
Sorry I cant help you more but without physically working on the car theres not alot more help I can give,could be switch/module fault etc...I'd rather not 'guess' & lead you the wrong way.

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

: Update: Problem still on going selling dealer has had three attempts to fix it. They have had it a total of five days and I still have the same problem.
I am finding it hard to believe they can’t fix it, Do Fiat not give there dealers very good back up?

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Take the car back and ask for a replacement. Or ask for a loan car of similar specto yours and dont accept your one back till its fixed. Just a thought

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Update the car is back with the dealer again had it 3 days so far this week. If any body on this forum has any thoughts about this problem please help.
I am getting frustrated by the lack of effort that the long established Fiat dealer seems to be putting into this problem they have so far had a total of 9 days of not fixing this problem.

Please Post your thoughts A: do I continue to let them fix it B: do I ask for my money back or C: shoot my self

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

I would check out the voltage coming out of the A/C linear pressure sensor as that decides whether the system pressure is correct and whether the compressor clutch engages or not. A faulty contact there or a faulty linear pressure sensor would cause your problems

If you know what you're doing you can temporarily override the linear pressure sensor for testing purposes with a variable resisitor and simulate a correct A/C system pressure just to eliminate the sensor and test the system cuts off correctly

Logic is either the system pressure is out of limits or the sensor thinks the pressure is out of limits. If you believe the pressure is ok then it's most likely the other

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Thanks for the thought But was told by garage this has allready been replaced. any more thoughts?

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Yes take the linear pressure sensor out of the circuit and do the variable resistor check at the linear pressure sensor connection to see if the ECU engages the clutch when it should. When the sensor output voltage is correct the compressor clutch should engage and stay engaged.
If it does then you know where the problem is


After that it's petrol and matches

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

Thanks for that but sure they MUST have done this allready. My thought are the frost sensor or the managment ecu. Do you know of a quick way to test out the frost sensor?

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

How about giving the full story of what they have done? Cuts down on the guessing

Re: Fiat Technicians advise needed

When I purchased the car less than two months ago, on the first day of driving the car, it was obvious to me that the climate control was not working correctly because the compressor kept cutting off for no apparent reason. Now in my opinion this fault should have been picked up on the P.D.I. and sorted before I was handed the Keys.
Ok on the first visit (one day) they re-gassed it, On the second 2 day visit the changed the pressure switch, On the third two day visit I was again told “Quote its fixed we have replaced a control unit” When asked what control unit I was told by reception “not sure the technicians not hear at the moment any way it’s fixed. “ Driving it two hundred yards up the road told me it was not fixed. It was a warm evening the climate control was set to Low as I left the garage all working o.k. then no more than two hundred yards later the compressor switched off.
I phoned the garage the next day to tell them. “Quote we will have to get back to you after we have spoken again to Fiat”
A few days later had a call to say can you let us have your viecule tomorrow as we have a guy coming from Fiat tech to take a look at it.
Forth visit and the car is still with them, 4 days as of today a total of 9 working days. I am told to day they have found a fault with the pollution sensor and replaced it but this has not fixed the problem. (Why should it I don’t think it’s on the same circuit as the compressor) also they have told me they have replaced the Frost censor and this has not fixed it. They now say they have ordered an ECU and it’s looking like Tuesday before I get the car back.

This will be a total of 11 or 12 working days to fix a problem that should have been fixed in my opinion before I got it.
I could go into naming names and telling every body the garage in question but I don’t think that would be ethical. We all make mistakes some times.
But I think the time scale to fix this problem is not what is expected from Factory trained technicians. I have spent most of my, working life as a mechanic, a panel beater, and sprayer in the motor trade, and it’s this type of service that gets us all a bad name.

I would just add that apart from this fault I am generally pleased with the car. Also if any body from the franchise concerned ever reads my comments and I am sure they will know by my comments and there responses who they are. You will loose customers treating us in this way
I have wrote this in shear frustration please try to get it right first time !!!!!