Technical 2015 fiat 500x issues

[X500Taif]

Hi all, decided to join a fiat forum for some help and guidance.. the story so far
My daughter purchased a 2015 fiat 500x from a private seller.. lovely car, really smooth perfect car for her, but it developed a fault
She hadn't used it for a while and as she went to pull away from the drive the engine light came on for a few mins and then went off, thinking it just needed abit of juice put back into the alternator I suggested to take it for a spin on a 60mph road..all seemed ok but the engine light came back on, so tested the battery and all seemed fine and not worthy of a new one plus I recalled the previous owner saying that they had put a new one on when the start/stop started playing up just before we purchased it
Then more things started to scroll through, bonging the alerts up, such as passenger airbag, driver assistance, driver mode, electronic power steering ( causing total loss of power steering)
MY wife took it to the local fiat dealer and the suggested it needed a new body control module at a cost of £700 and couldn't be fixed for a couple of weeks which was abit of a headache as she was about to start her training period , 60 miles away and hour and half journey time
Thing was the symptoms of a dodgy BCM didn't relate to the symptoms what the car was doing so we decided to take it to a local garage and seek advice of what they could find.The night before it went to the local garage I reversed it onto the drive and the usual alerts scrolled through, lost the power steering and switched the engine off. With the keys in my hand and out of the ignition barrel the car continued to run for a good minute all by itself, total disbelief
The garage diagnosed a new steering column with a rather large hefty pricetag attached, we didn't know what to do but was 100% assured it was that and the car was worthy of a repair so we went ahead and got it done..3 weeks in the garage as the part had to come from Italy and they had issues coding it remotely so it had to go to main dealer and get it done
We got the car back on Friday, my daughter took it to work Saturday and on the return journey all of those previous issues came back, including the engine running on its own with keys out of the ignition again
Cars gone back into garage today
So any ideas, anyone had similar issues?
It's getting of a pain now
Many thanks in advance

 

[the green vanper]

Hello,

I'd first invest in MultiEcuScan and the appropriate adapters. Then I'd check if the culprit is not the earth strap (in the 500 it's a very common cause, but I have no idea if it's in the same location and the same part).

Attached the 500x eLearn docs on the power supply and earths.

 

[AnthonyH]

What did the garage say?

 

[X500Taif]

Many thanks,i didn't realise most things had their own earths, the 1st thing I checked was the earth on the negative to chassis ..
Although I'm not electric minded let alone electronics

 

[steveras57]

Also hope your demanding your money back for the completely unneeded repair to the steering column!

 

[rmjbn1]

+1 for MultiECUScan, were error codes read when you took it in?

Certainly sounds like electrical possibly earth issues. Power steering draws a lot of current and shuts down if it can't draw enough. Bad earth can cause all kinds of issues

Some people have had success on other models by replacing the main earth strap, even if it looks ok, or adding extra earth cables between engine and body.

Could try running a jump lead from battery negative to metal on the engine to act as an extra earth and see if that helps?

 

[arekp]

What error codes did you get with MultiECU?

 

[X500Taif]

What error codes did you get with MultiECU?

The dealership and the garage that we've used haven't disclosed any fault codes with us, other than there have been quite a few of them

 

[X500Taif]

What did the garage say?

Today they've changed the ignition barrel and no fault codes as yet
Picking it up tomorrow and driving it around to see if any pop up.. fingers crossed

 

[AnthonyH]

If you want my opinion...then you have a battery, earthing or alternator problem.

I'm not going to be surprised if the new ignition barrel doesn't fix the problem.

Post back with what happens, I've got my fingers crossed for you!

 

[arekp]

Buy MultiECU scanner & red OBDLink-SX dongle - you have a 10 year old car that will need maintenance and repairs.

Lots of DIY's on this forum.

 

[X500Taif]

Just an update, the car after having the ignition barrel changed ran perfectly fine for a few days, then she broke down at 3 am on her way home from work on the motorway.. had to get recovered home ( well straight to the garage) and they diagnosed that the turbo boost sensor wasnt functional.. another £180 later and it's ran ok on the way to work ( 60 miles)and on the way back engine lights popped up and start stop unavailable on the dashboard.
The saga continues

 

[AnthonyH]

Aye. It does feel like a saga, but all sagas come to an end sooner or later, you've just got to keep plugging away at it.

What are you going to do next?

 

[varesecrazy]

Many thanks,i didn't realise most things had their own earths, the 1st thing I checked was the earth on the negative to chassis ..
Although I'm not electric minded let alone electronics

Did you replace it.. Or just look it over?

They can rot internally.. Not always obvious

 

[varesecrazy]

Just an update, the car after having the ignition barrel changed ran perfectly fine for a few days, then she broke down at 3 am on her way home from work on the motorway.. had to get recovered home ( well straight to the garage) and they diagnosed that the turbo boost sensor wasnt functional.. another £180 later and it's ran ok on the way to work ( 60 miles)and on the way back engine lights popped up and start stop unavailable on the dashboard.
The saga continues

Hello, that is really disappointing

So,
at 3am did it physically stop? ,

or "become undriveable" so was parked for safety

Many of your symptoms have been caused by mundane items failing on other 2015 era FIAT cars, Punto and 2 door 500 being typical

We don't see many issues with the 500x on here considering the age they have now reached..

Interested to hear more

 

[ZaphodB]

If you want my opinion...then you have a battery, earthing or alternator problem.

This

Ten year old car, check main engine earth strap first

 

[AnthonyH]

Hello, that is really disappointing

So,
at 3am did it physically stop? ,

or "become undriveable" so was parked for safety

Many of your symptoms have been caused by mundane items failing on other 2015 era FIAT cars, Punto and 2 door 500 being typical

We don't see many issues with the 500x on here considering the age they have now reached..

Interested to hear more

I agree, the Fiat 500X is a good car. I think its been poorly diagnosed by the garage(s).