General Amber Engine Management Light

[Craigf]

Hi, completely new to this site. I bought my first car , a 1.6 Dynamic Stilo, 6 weeks ago and I'm having a few problems. Three days after buying the car I got an amber engine light with the message "check engine". Took the car to my local fiat dealer and was told I needed a Lamda Sensor, got one fitted and everthing seemed fine for a while. But today I was driving along and up pops the amber engine light again with the same message. Anyone any ideas what it may be ? And while I'm on does anyone know where I can lay my hands on a battery/fuse box cover and a centre disc for the alloys.

Apologise for the long first post.

Craig

 

[muppet42]

Could just be a loose wire under the seat(s), I'd check that first as that caused an issue on mine a few times with just such a warning. Dunno if the wiring is much different on a 1.6 compared to my 1.2 though.

As for the other bits, some may pop up on eBay, though it can be a bit hit and miss. I'd type in "Fiat parts" on Google and it should bring up one or two decent places as far as I remember. Of course there's always the local scrapyard, but Stilo's are few and far between in my experience down there. Last gasp, I'd try Fiat directly for the parts, but they'll take you to the cleaners with the prices compared to the other places I've mentioned.

 

[Deckchair5]

As it's an engine management light then it won't be anything to do with airbags or wires under the seat.

Without knowing what the fault was before or why the lambda sensor was changed and no symptoms then it's a complete guessing game so invest in a cheap fault code reader -available from talktomycar.co.uk - give them a call and tell them what you want- as you'll for certain use it many times.

Or you could buy an interface and software for your laptop as the 1.6 connects easily

 

[Craigf]

As it's an engine management light then it won't be anything to do with airbags or wires under the seat.

Without knowing what the fault was before or why the lambda sensor was changed and no symptoms then it's a complete guessing game so invest in a cheap fault code reader -available from talktomycar.co.uk - give them a call and tell them what you want- as you'll for certain use it many times.

Or you could buy an interface and software for your laptop as the 1.6 connects easily

Thanks Deckchair. As i'M new to cars are you able to tell were I can buy this "interface and software" as that sounds like a plan.

 

[Deckchair5]

www.talktomycar.co.uk
Have all you could want.
EOBD software is freely available on the net if you do a search so dont pay a whole load for software if you don't need it
Interface+ download= away you go

 

[muppet42]

As it's an engine management light then it won't be anything to do with airbags or wires under the seat.

Without knowing what the fault was before or why the lambda sensor was changed and no symptoms then it's a complete guessing game so invest in a cheap fault code reader -available from talktomycar.co.uk - give them a call and tell them what you want- as you'll for certain use it many times.

Or you could buy an interface and software for your laptop as the 1.6 connects easily

Interesting, when I had the fault at first, I had had a problem fixed at Fiat and went to the car to see a "Check Engine" message flash up. Mechanic went out and came back after sorting it, saying it was a loose wire. I've had a look under my passenger seat and there is one that's dodgily rapped in electrical tape. Thankfully haven't had it for a while now, so must have been sorted. Hopefully.

 

[Deckchair5]

With a poor contact on the airbag connectors under the seat it might have said "STOP ENGINE"
It usually goes all panicky
BEEP oh my God
AIRBAG FAILURE Warning! Warning!
STOP ENGINE everybody run

 

[muppet42]

With a poor contact on the airbag connectors under the seat it might have said "STOP ENGINE"
It usually goes all panicky
BEEP oh my God
AIRBAG FAILURE Warning! Warning!
STOP ENGINE everybody run

Fair do's

If it happens again, I may give this interface and software thing a go myself.

 

[calebz]

Hey

Could you post some software examples ?
There are tons of those interfaces around auctions but I think a lame user like me will have problems selecting proper interface and software to go with.

http://allegro.pl/item373662852_diag_obd2_elm_327_euroscan_2008_can_usb_promocja.html

I know this is polish but you can take a look at the pics. This one is fairly cheap about 60e.

 

[Deckchair5]

Well you need the interface first and that will depend what connection you have at your laptop eg serial port or usb. Go for usb if you can as that's less trouble and is plug and play. You don't want an interface that is VAG (Volkswagon etc) so you can eliminate them from your searching

The interface you've shown looks correct but by far the best plan is to contact the seller and it's then their fault if it doesn't work. Hardware and software improves all the time

Software
A lot of the demo software is free to download which enables to check that it connects properly etc and you can read fault codes and even clear them on some but for fully featured copies you'll need to pay a one off licence fee

Her's some to go on with but there's loads on the net if you do a search. They either work with your car or they don't

http://www.talktomycar.co.uk/drivers.htm


http://www.palmerperformance.com/products/pcmscan/index.php

http://www.obd-2.de/downst.html

http://www.scantool.net/?mode=displaySoftware&os=Windows%20XP