Technical 1.2 16V 188A5 won’t start after fuse box cleaning

[gbrfarkas]

Hi!
I try to be as brief as I can be but there are a lot of details.

I’m writing cause I have read tons of threads related to ‘Car security failure - Loose connection’ in terms of 1.6 engined Stilos.
Now I got the same with my 1.2 petrol but some details are different from those in other threads.


[ FACTS ]

- I have been owning the Stilo for two weeks now and have no diagnostics tool at all, so sorting out what’s happening is quite challenging.

- It all started with a ticking noise coming from my cluster when the car was turned off and no key in the ignition switch.

- I thought it could be a good idea to clean the fuse box under the hood (has nothing to do with it but this action solved tons of problems on my Astra H GTC, so - what can go wrong - I decided to do so).

- I detached the negative cable from the battery and the red power supply from the fuse box. I dismounted and cleaned the box with a contact cleaner spray then let it dry for hours under the sun. I took photos of every phase and put everything back in the same order.

- After this, the car displays ‘Car security failure - Loose connection’, padlock symbol, yellow triangle, engine control light not showing at all anymore, fuel pump does not start in MAR, it cranks but does not start.


[ WHAT I DID TRYING TO SORT THINGS OUT BUT THE PROBLEM STILL PERSISTS ]

- I bought an instrument cluster, an engine bay fuse box, a BCM, an ECU, a key and a cabin fuse box from a breaker. I also got a half cable harness that has been cut before the point it runs into the cabin from the engine bay so I could measure and compare it to mine.

- I checked the other key without the remote controls.

- I removed the transponder and put them closer to the immo ring.

- I checked the voltage on the immo ring, it was about 3-4 V.

- I checked the intertia switch, it is fine.

- I cleaned all the ground connections.

- I cleaned everything around the positive and negative connectors of the battery.

- I swapped the fuse boxes with the ‘new’ ones.

- I put a meter to some points and I can confirm that
- T9 and T10 relays are not triggered; there is no power to fuel pump;
- there is no broken wire between the pin 87 of the T10 relay and the pump, it shows a continuous contact even through the D4;
- pin 85 of T9 relay shows about 3-4 V of voltage on MAR;
- pin 85 of T10 relay shows about 0,08 V voltage on MAR;
- I cannot measure a ground connection on the pin 86 of the T9 and T10 relay;
- there is no broken wire between the pin 87 of the T9 and T10 relays and the blue connector of the ECU (I am bad in knowing what pin numbers are exactly called).

- I cannot proceed the emergency start process because I have no engine light.


[ WHAT I SUPPOSE ]

- As replacing the fuse boxes to the ones from the breaker did not solve the problem and I did nothing else but cleaning the engine bay fuse box, I suppose that there were some old wires around there that broke when I disconnected and moved them but cannot find it.

- Having no engine light, neither before the triangle appears nor after it, I suppose that the ECU is not receiving power.

- My conclusion is the same after not having ground on the 86s (these are CAN triggered ground as far as I know).

[ QUESTIONS ]

- Which wire should I examine?

- What happens if I swap all the stuff (ECU, BCM, key transponder, instrument cluster) from the other car? (It was an 5D with no AC, mine is a 3D with manual AC everything else is the same.)

- Should I keep the battery connected or remove it, in case there is a short circuit?

Thank you

 

[gbrfarkas]

@Maxcaddy I saw your answer via email but I cannot find it here, unfortunately. It may have been removed.
No matter, I just wanted to say thank you to you, too.

Luckily, I did not end up swapping the “fundamental” parts between mine and the breaker’s (I mean, ECU and BCM), so the car is fully functional again, thank God

I’ll keep an eye on the ticking cluster. There is a Stilo specialist garage here in Budapest, I’m gonna arrange an appointment with them to go through the electronics, now that the bella macchina can get there on its own

Remote diagnosis won’t be enough in this case, of course, as I am in lack of tools and expertise.
It was useful regarding the wiring and — yet again — I cannot be grateful enough for this, but this is another level.

Should the electricians find out anything regarding the cluster, I’ll share it here, hope it will help.

 

[Maxcaddy]

@Maxcaddy I saw your answer via email but I cannot find it here, unfortunately. It may have been removed.
No matter, I just wanted to say thank you to you, too.

Luckily, I did not end up swapping the “fundamental” parts between mine and the breaker’s (I mean, ECU and BCM), so the car is fully functional again, thank God

I’ll keep an eye on the ticking cluster. There is a Stilo specialist garage here in Budapest, I’m gonna arrange an appointment with them to go through the electronics, now that the bella macchina can get there on its own

Remote diagnosis won’t be enough in this case, of course, as I am in lack of tools and expertise.
It was useful regarding the wiring and — yet again — I cannot be grateful enough for this, but this is another level.

Should the electricians find out anything regarding the cluster, I’ll share it here, hope it will help.

I removed it as I was replying to what you were doing before I realised that others had chipped in, and that you had solved the problem.

If you have access to a 'Stilo specialist' then you are very fortunate as in the UK they weren't that popular in the first place, and 20 years on most garages won't touch them at all, other than routine servicing. Even the local FIAT main dealer has no interest .

All the time you can keep it running then it's well worth having, but just don't start throwing money at it as the returns will be small. In the UK there are now a lot that are too expensive to repair, and unless the owner has some skill to keep it on the road, then it's off to the breakers yard with it .

 

[gbrfarkas]

I removed it as I was replying to what you were doing before I realised that others had chipped in, and that you had solved the problem.

If you have access to a 'Stilo specialist' then you are very fortunate as in the UK they weren't that popular in the first place, and 20 years on most garages won't touch them at all, other than routine servicing. Even the local FIAT main dealer has no interest .

All the time you can keep it running then it's well worth having, but just don't start throwing money at it as the returns will be small. In the UK there are now a lot that are too expensive to repair, and unless the owner has some skill to keep it on the road, then it's off to the breakers yard with it .

Yes! It’s strange but it exists. They are specialised for 1.6 ECUs but are not scared of other versions. Funny thing, they own two Stilos for experimental reasons
It’s worth a call