General Bravo feeling the cold (?)

[sattyb]

Got in my bravo this morning to get some milk, eggs etc. from the local shop. Don't think my Bravo liked the cold but:
first i couldn't skip tracks when in media player. The buttons up/down buttons on the steering wheel wouldn't work. Neither would the windows button or the button with the receiver symbol (even though my bluetooth was connected!?) But when in raidio/cd mode i could skip/change radio channels using the up/down button on wheel but still not able to control the phone through the wheel buttons.

Thought that it would probably be ok if i restarted the car after getting my groceries. But...
As well as the above still out of action 2 warning messages came up on the dash - "Hill Holder currently unavailable" and "ESP unavailable". Tried to press the ASR button on the dash but nothing. Thought to myself "just what i need as it gets icier!"

Drove home and left the car of for approx 30 mins. Restarted and still the same. So got on the phone to the dealer i bought it from only to be told that services/parts dept was now closed for the day and will re-open 08.00 mon morning.
Then after about 10 mins tried again and everything is back to normal.
Has anyone else suffered something similar or is my Bravo getting a cold???

 

[stiloryan]

Well something happened to mine yesterday morning

went to shop at 6am in freezing cold, car started no problems and everything was fine and dandy.

i had the heasting controls on full and the fan on full to get warmed up quicker.

but after ten minutes of driving around, the car was warming up but then the temperature guage was dropping from half way to quarter way and the heat was getting colder?????????????????????


i dropped the temp knob to half way and turned down the fan speed and the temp guage started to rise again???????????????


after driving the car for an hour everything seemed fine even when i turned on heat to full and fan to full the guage did not drop.


so my question is does the car need to warm up fully until i turn the heat on full and fan on full????

surely not as this seems very prehistoric?????????????????

 

[Tad-bravo]

the car needs to warm up fully on cold days before you get in it and turn the interior heating to maximum.

the interior heating uses the engine cooling water as source of heat, if you turn it on before the water even got warm then it will take longer to heat and that's very bad for the car.

 

[Hellcat]

It's not rocket science. The internal heater uses the same coolant as what flows around the engine and radiator. When the engine is cold then there isn't much heat in the coolant to warm the passenger cabin.

Some cars get around this with electric heaters in the air ducts but this draws a huge amount of power (60 amp fuse!) so this puts more strain on the battery and altenator..

 

[fenton_jd]

Just turn the fan off, set temp to cold. set air recirculation on. drive for a few mins. Engine will warm up a lot quicker.

 

[Juliet Bravo]

doh, of course it started dropping as you were using up all the heat that was available, you might as well not have it on for the first few 5 - 10 mins as it will just blow freezing air anyway

 

[tenpastnine]

I knows its abit diffrent but in my cinq when im in traffic i turn the heating up to stop the car over heating, as i currently dont have a much of a rad

 

[JTD_Liam]

Ive had the same thing in a 2002 Clio, 2000 Punto & 2004 Stilo, if the temp gauge has just reached normal level on a cold day and i turn the heater right up, sometimes the gauge will drop if it's really chilly outside. Its just the gauge telling the truth - the coolant is getting cooler as youre extracting the heat from it. It won't be a problem.

 

[neilshep]

Ive had the same thing in a 2002 Clio, 2000 Punto & 2004 Stilo, if the temp gauge has just reached normal level on a cold day and i turn the heater right up, sometimes the gauge will drop if it's really chilly outside. Its just the gauge telling the truth - the coolant is getting cooler as youre extracting the heat from it. It won't be a problem.

:idea: And / Or, car gets up to temperature, good old fashioned thermostat opens, letting cold water from the radiator circulate, so gauge drops............

 

[Hellcat]

:idea: And / Or, car gets up to temperature, good old fashioned thermostat opens, letting cold water from the radiator circulate, so gauge drops............

Thermostat should only open enough, and for long enough to keep the coolant at optimum temp. It shouldn't drop it - just maintain.

 

[nca]

This is what happened to my Bravo:
On 12.01.2010 while I was driving at about 100km/h, suddenly, I sensed that I can not speed-up although I was keep pressing the gas-pedal. I took a look at the multifunction display and I saw the following messages on it:”ESP unavailable, ASR disconnected, Hill Holder unavailable, Check engine”. Meanwhile, the ESP warning light on the instrument panel comes on with fixed light. Also did the engine warning light.

 

[wreckmaster]

This temprature thing has also happend on my Bravo. Between christmas and new years eve I came home from Stockholm and it was most of the way around -14C, then it got colder and the outside temp dropped to -25C! The gauge inside the car also dropped from straight up to less than a quarter reading! I also noticed it got very much colder inside the car.
This was after driving for about 6-7 hours, so it was not right after start.

Then last week it happend again, but now it was only -9 to -12 outside... I went to the dealer and they have ordered a new termostat for me, as the belive the one I`ve got might be faulty. The car has always been extremly slow to heat up, since I bought it in November( new ).

I kind of get the feeling it is just not made for these norwegian winter conditions.

Another thing I have noticed is that when I use the windscreen washers and the wipers, the leftover water from the windscreen goes on the top of my side windows making them freeze. Which make them impossible to open at toll stations etc... A bit annoying

And the opening button on the trunk door freezes all the time, so it is just possible to open it with the remote key, and to do that I have to turn the engine off

Just minor stuff I guess, but not something I would expect from a 2 months old car

Other than this I love it to bits Great engine( 1,6mjet, 90 bhp), with lots of torque and it has got a beautiful look

 

[Dynamo150]

Well something happened to mine yesterday morning

went to shop at 6am in freezing cold, car started no problems and everything was fine and dandy.

i had the heasting controls on full and the fan on full to get warmed up quicker.

but after ten minutes of driving around, the car was warming up but then the temperature guage was dropping from half way to quarter way and the heat was getting colder?????????????????????


i dropped the temp knob to half way and turned down the fan speed and the temp guage started to rise again???????????????


after driving the car for an hour everything seemed fine even when i turned on heat to full and fan to full the guage did not drop.


so my question is does the car need to warm up fully until i turn the heat on full and fan on full????

surely not as this seems very prehistoric?????????????????

Ahh now if you had bought a bravo with "climate control" it would have done all the work for you

Ive just got mine back with climate control after having the courtesy car with standard air conditioning and "IM LOVING IT" copyright accepted

 

[nca]

This is what happened to my Bravo:
On 12.01.2010 while I was driving at about 100km/h, suddenly, I sensed that I can not speed-up although I was keep pressing the gas-pedal. I took a look at the multifunction display and I saw the following messages on it:”ESP unavailable, ASR disconnected, Hill Holder unavailable, Check engine”. Meantime, the ESP warning light on the instrument panel comes on with fixed light. Also did the engine warning light.

Oh no, ****! It happened again today! Tommorrow I'll go to the service!

 

[nca]

Well, finally my Bravo is alive again. I don't know for how long. I hope that it will be for good. The electric engineer has said: "The problem were from a connector wich has oxidized and this greenish oxide has made a short-circuit with the nearest connector. This short-circuit was made on the 5V circuit and has caused a drop down in voltage of around 1.3V. ABS, ESP, ASR, Hill Holder and air conditioning compressor are working on 5V circuit. Because of this drop down in voltage, everything related to this circuit run amok. This connector can be found in the area between right fog light and the air filter". Can you believe it? I attached some photos with the oxidized connector.

 

[Ulpian]

Connectors should be gold plated, like in good stereos and the better cars, then this oxidisation wouldn't happen.

For the poster wondering why the car takes so long to heat up - if at all - when they have the heater blasting away at full from cold: why the surprise? All you are doing is adding one more fan blowing cold air through the radiator (the heater matrix is a radiator too) and preventing the engine warming up. Modern cars waste as little heat as possible - that's burnt fuel don't forget - so let the engine heat up before using the heater. Wear a coat for short journeys and you won't even need the heater.

And silicone will stop rubber seals freezing in cold weather. Cars sold in the arctic usually have enhanced heating systems, and owners winterproof them for the worst weather too.

 

[wreckmaster]

Connectors should be gold plated, like in good stereos and the better cars, then this oxidisation wouldn't happen.



And silicone will stop rubber seals freezing in cold weather. Cars sold in the arctic usually have enhanced heating systems, and owners winterproof them for the worst weather too.

I dont think the Fiats are You are absolutely right that most cars sold here in the north has enhanced hethers, but it seems Fiat dont. At least both my Fiats are much slower to heat up than any of my previous 25-30 cars... But I guess that is why local tests always complains on theire heaters also I asked the dealer if I should put a plate in the front of the radiator, like we did back in the days! But he said it should not be necesarry on a modern car Anyway he said my heater seems to work very slowly, together with poor engine tempratures. So it is going in to change termostat, when theire new garage is up and running Will see how it gets then