Technical 1.2 Active stalling and inconsistent idle

[henrydurham]

Hi everyone, this is my first new post but somehow I don't think it will be the last

I hate Fiats, with a passion. At least I do now. I also hate Fiat dealerships, as they have totally failed me.

I bought a 1.2 Active Grande Punto 06 plate in November. It was bought from a main dealer where it had been a demo car, but only had 500 miles on the clock. I was so pleased with it and it was a great car. It even had some of the warranty left.

Then the problems began. It began to stall. It would not idle consistently. It would rise, dip, rise, dip and then totally die. Whenever you put the clutch in it would stall, depending on where it was in its rise, dip, rise, stall cycle. It would therefore stall at junctions, red lights and roundabouts (where you had to stop).

I have taken in into the dealer three times (a considerable distance from where I live) and they only gave me a courtesy car on the last instance. But they claim that they have never seen the fault. This is the other problem, the fault is intermittent. I am not a very technical person (obviously not a good thing with Fiats) but they have replaced an air sensor, a pump and the ECU and still it has the same fault. Nobody appears to be able to tell me what the fault is and I'm worried that I might be stuck with this forever. I can't afford to replace the vehicle and the whole thing is really getting me down.

The dealership don't appear to care. They have had a good go at fixing it but I am not wasting even more of my time taking it in if they are just going to do more unnecessary work, leave me without a car and then return a car that doesn't work. I spent good money on a new-ish car precisely so that I would not have to deal with this sort of stuff.

My last chance is to try a Fiat dealership nearer my home in the hope that they can find the problem and offer me a solution.

Does anyone know what could be wrong with my car?

 

[T14086]

clean out breather pipe & carry out a throttle relearn

 

[colin79666]

I've been in a similar situation - an annoying intermittent fault.
You have to see it from the garages point though - it is very difficult for them to fix if they can't see the issue first hand. In my case I took my car to them when the fault was occurring so they could see first hand the issue.

You can try a different dealer but the best advice is take it to them with it happening. They can do the diagnostics right there and then you can book it in if it's going to take them time to sort.

 

[henrydurham]

They won't let me bring it in. I have to book it in, and the earliest they can fit me in is the 27th of this month (April). I see your point though. What I don't understand is why they carried out all the work on it and then told me that it was fixed when it wasn't?

Thanks T14086, is that relatively simple? What would it cost to do? How long would it take? I really don't know anything about cars, I bought the GP because I thought it was gorgeous, not a good strategy lol! Maybe you could explain it to me in small words?

 

[T14086]

take off air filter box & see is breather is blocked, you can also see 'mayo' on throttle flap at this point. Cost nothing and worth a try.

 

[henrydurham]

.....what's an "air filter" and what does it look like? I told you I didn't know anything!

 

[colin79666]

.....what's an "air filter" and what does it look like? I told you I didn't know anything!

If you have aa or rac cover you could try getting them out when it happens, they can take a closer look and if its a simple a T14086 suggests it may be then they can fix it there and then.

 

[T14086]

need dealer to carry out throttle relearn

 

[fenton_jd]

My Honda accord does this. Fiats arent as bad as people make out.

 

[Andy Monty]

.....what's an "air filter" and what does it look like? I told you I didn't know anything!

https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto-guides/169682-how-change-1-2-8v-air-filter.html

thats the air filer box in the guide


now 2nd pic down where i have the "screwdriver" there is a 10mm nut between it and the oil cap there is another on the other side........


remove these 2 after removing the front cover or detaching the air intake pipe where it presses into the rubber near the drivers side chassis leg and wiggle and pull the air box up..........

there are 2 pipes on the base of the air box take these off the air box and engine and clean with degreaser dry well then re assemble

whilst your at it clean the throttle body

once you have the air filter off it looks almost teh same as this:

https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-guides/83260-cleaning-your-inlet-control-valve.html



hope that helps

 

[henrydurham]

Thanks for all the advice. However, I don't have anything to undo the nut with to get the filter box, and in any event I really don't want to break anything. Can you call the RAC for something like this? I'm a member but I've never really had to call them out for anything, would they be able to do something?

 

[DannyBoy88]

just ring them when its doing it, tell them you can set off because it keeps stalling, then they should if its simple fix it there and then, if not they might at least be able to tell you what it is thats wrong, then the dealer can sort it

 

[henrydurham]

Thanks, I'll definitely consider that.

However, the fault has again totally disappeared It idles at consistent revs and there is no problem when putting the clutch in at junctions or roundabouts. This is after I have booked it into my local dealer for 0830 tomorrow morning!

It was raining yesterday but it is dry today, might that have anything to do with it?

 

[lampymatt]

have you yet solved this problem as i have just recently bought an 06 1.2 active and it is doing the exact same thing.
It's also my first car and was so happy with it but then discovered it was doing this and i need to get it sorted pretty pronto.

 

[Magic Johnson]

See T's post.

At least you can check this yourself. There are guides on it.