General Check engine Light flashing

[nickbutler]

Hi,

I have a Fiat Grande Punto, 59 Plate, 1.4, 8v, 71000 miles

I had a timing belt and water pump change as well as a interim service done on Monday.

Drove it home Monday (15miles) without any issues.

Driving to work on Tuesday, the check engine light came on and flashed around 6 times before turning off and not appearing for the remainder of the 30 minutes of my journey. It did the exact same again on the way home, and also on the way to work this morning.

It occurs travelling at around 70MPH (apart from the journey home from the garage on monday) when I have been at that speed for a few minutes, but it only does this once per journey.

The car sounds and feels absolutely fine. Oil levels are normal and fuel consumption seems normal so far.

I will be plugging it in to hopefully read a code once I am home, but does anyone have any initial thoughts?

(Just so you know, I know little about cars! )

Thanks in advance!

 

[nickbutler]

Same happened on the way home..flashed 3 times at around 70 mph then never returned for the rest of the journey.. no codes have been stored either according to my device

 

[DGPunto]

I'm assuming the 1.4 has the same need as my 1.2. When the timing belt is replaced a phoenic learn is needed to realign the cam and crank sensors.


Have a read here: https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/355397-engine-management-light-flashing-over-60mph-2.html

 

[nickbutler]

Thanks for the reply.

I will give it a go once I get home from work tonight and then see if the light appears when driving to work tomorrow. It has happened on every journey so far this week.

Fingers crossed!

 

[DGPunto]

Thanks for the reply.

I will give it a go once I get home from work tonight and then see if the light appears when driving to work tomorrow. It has happened on every journey so far this week.

Fingers crossed!

Mine only happened when the engine was revving faster too. As I understand the issue, old belts stretch slightly over several years as you'd expect so the ECU is able to deal with small moves in the relative position of the signals from the sensors. However you then fit a nice new tight belt and pull everything back into like as it was 70,000 miles earlier! So all of a sudden the messages to the ECU are in a different place to what it is used to and it doesn't have time to adapt.


So the phoenic learn is rather like a reset switch for that particular change.


It really is easy and you can do it anywhere - I did mine at the side of the road in the Peak District just outside Buxton after finding out what it was!


Anyway good luck and let us know how you get on

 

[nickbutler]

Yeah, after reading up over the past few days I had the feeling it was something to do with the new belt!

I will pull over just before I reach home tonight to do it so the neighbours don't think I'm a boy racer haha!

I will post the results tomorrow morning.

Thanks again

 

[nickbutler]

Sorry for the late reply.

I attempted the Phoenic Learn but the light still flashed this morning just like it has been for the past week.

I will give it another attempt tonight. Maybe I didn't hold it above 5000 revs for long enough.

Cheers

 

[DGPunto]

OK apologies:
1. I should have spelt Phonic wheel learn properly!
2. There's a suggestion in another thread that you should remove the battery first: https://www.fiatforum.com/newbie-central/439402-changing-ecu-2.html I assume this is to clear codes or something. Didn't need to do this on my 1.2 though

 

[Eklipze3k]

Whereabouts in the world are you Nick? Perhaps someone local has a copy of MES and can read the codes. Otherwise it's basically just a guessing game.

 

[nickbutler]

Whereabouts in the world are you Nick? Perhaps someone local has a copy of MES and can read the codes. Otherwise it's basically just a guessing game.

Lovely old Burton on Trent! I realised I didn't switch my engine off after I did the phonic learn..but driving home from work today a light didn't come on! Maybe a fluke but if it does this weekend I'll give the phonic learn a go again and report back!

Thanks

 

[nickbutler]

No check engine light came on this morning on the way to work, so fingers crossed the problem has now been solved!

Thanks for the help!

 

[DGPunto]

No check engine light came on this morning on the way to work, so fingers crossed the problem has now been solved!

Thanks for the help!

Yay good luck!

 

[nickbutler]

The light came on again this morning. Flashed 3 times then went off. Grrr!!

I will try the Phonic wheel learn again on my Journey home and I will make sure I do it properly this time.

If that doesn't fix it then maybe a problem with the sensor?

I'm guessing there isn't an issue with my car and that I am OK to be driving it, as the light doesn't stay on??

It runs absolutely fine.

Cheers