Technical Hill Holder not available

[MrSmith]

Hey all,

I'm 3rd owner of a Fiat Panda Pop registered in 2017, under 33,000 on the clock and 9,000 of that done by me in the last 15 months. Twice this has happened and last time the car shop put it through diagnostics, couldn't find fault, did whatever they need to do for the fault light to disappear. The last time it happened, I was reversing to park at the end of a drive.

This time, the specifics are:
I started engine, travelled about a mile and a half through 30, 50 and 70 zones. I moved to overtake on the motorway, the car in front pulled out at the same time. I dropped acceleration, I might have touched my brakes, then accelerated.

The message on screen was "Hill Holder not available, check owners manual" (or refer to users manual, whatever phrase used). The ASR indicator changed and the power of the engine dropped so that I couldn't exceed 60. Since then, starting the engine gives warning "check engine" and yellow engine light. I've not driven it fast enough to see if it is still in "limp mode" (I suspect not). The ASR indicator has reverted to default state.

It looks like it is on its original battery. It passed MOT in April with no advisories. My gut feeling is battery. I changed the in-car radio from FM/CD player to Android headunit and more often than not, when starting the engine, the power to the headunit drops enough for it to reset itself.

 

[ZaphodB]

If you have a multimeter you can check battery terminal voltage (after the car has been off for 30 minutes or so)

(It'll give a very rough idea of what the health is)
Report back

 

[koalar]

Wrong section should be in post 2012

Normally on a pre 2012 panda the hill hold and asr is associated with the brake pedal switch going temperamental, common fault

Twice in 9000 miles isn't going to be easy to diagnose

The switch is self adjusting, the plunger is on a ratchet and may just need pulling out slightly

Doesn't normally cause limp mode

 

[koalar]

Limp mode + hill hold + asr

With the presence of one of the following errors: P0120, P0220, P0226

Would be throttle pedal


Engine check light was on, there must have been a code stores in the ECU, any ideas what it was before the garage cleared it

 

[koalar]

For around £5 and a smart phone, you can read the codes yourself

A stand alone unit that just plug and play but will only read engine codes and able to log data is around £15

Reading the code although not 100% would point you in the correct directions more reliably, than just educated guessing

 

[Txuchin]

Replace the pedal switch before doing anything else. It's cheap and only takes 5 minutes.