Technical Need help badly, weirdest error light I've ever seen

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Technical Need help badly, weirdest error light I've ever seen

Bronstig Hert

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Hello everyone,

Attached is a photo of Fifi the Fiat, and she's my first love.

Me and the wife have had her for many years now. Our first car with too many epic memories to recollect. Always taken good care of it, had it checked regularly. But this time I am just losing hope. I'm no expert in any way, we're completely dependent on our garage.

A few months ago, this weird light came on (also attached a few jpg's of this) and the engine lost all power. I immediately stopped the car. Was able to ignite the engine, but it would shut off the moment I tried to actually press the gas pedal and rev it. It also made a strange, deeper sound, and it felt like it was vibrating harder. I ended up pushing her home (luckily this occured when we were like 200 meters away from there) while the wife steered her.

I couldn't find anything about this light anywhere. Not even in the manual. I found maybe 1 or 2 topics on the entire internet about it. Wrote down the stuff mentioned in there for my garage to check. We eventually had it taken away to our garage. They checked everything and also replaced almost everything. There was new stuff with the brakes, something was replaced within the starting motor thing, all kinds of filters were cleaned, electric cables replaced, the battery was replaced and more. To my surprise, they admitted they had done a lousy job checking her the last few times, which led to so many parts being crap. They apologized for that and gave us a big discount.

Today I picked her up again. Took her through the car wash. Cleaned the inside. Fueled her up. Checked oils, tire pressure etc. Ready to rock again. Because after all those fixes, the problem HAS to be gone, right? Well, I took her for a test drive on the motorway and after 30 minutes of testing it at 130 - 140 km/h without any issue, I was almost back home, pumped that Fifi was working great again. The weird light did come back up a few times, but went away again a few seconds later, so I didn't think much of it. Until literally 1.5 kms from my home it came back up for a while longer and I felt the engine losing power once more. The deeper engine sound was back. It didn't lose power entirely this time, though. Completely flooring it, I was able to keep driving at 100 - 115 km/h. This happened right at the highway's exit so I was freaking lucky again. I had to press the pedal like 75% down to drive 70 km/h. Then I had to shift down to 4th gear to take a turn at ~30 km/h and suddenly the light turned off and I felt that the engine had full power again. 50 was the speed limit for the remainder of the drive, it had no issue despite the light coming on and off like crazy. I felt power loss for half a second once, until it abruptly returned to full power.

As I said I'm no expert, and still getting this crap after spending so much money on it and replacing so many parts is just heart breaking. I want to fix keep her badly, but the wife is so done with this crap that she's actually thinking of shipping her off to the junkyard. :cry: The thought of that makes me cringe, guys, I may be melancholic and overly attached to my first car like so many people are but I don't care. This stupid crap just makes me want to weep. Man I hate that I can't do this.

Do you guys have any idea what this light may mean? Do you think I should try a different garage because they might have missed something stupid again? Is there anything I could try myself with some easy guidance? Is she saveable..? What should I do? I am completely hopeless and clueless... :( :cry::cry:
 

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Hi.. :)

Looks like it signifies 'injection'

But that is often just a broad term for 'running properly.. or not when the light comes on'

1st thing.. does it run ok when the light shows.. or seem a little 'wrong'

Any error like this SHOULD store an error code.. so an OBD code reader can be a good guide here

Tell us more :)

Charlie
 
Hi.. :)

Looks like it signifies 'injection'

But that is often just a broad term for 'running properly.. or not when the light comes on'

1st thing.. does it run ok when the light shows.. or seem a little 'wrong'

Any error like this SHOULD store an error code.. so an OBD code reader can be a good guide here

Tell us more :)

Charlie

Hello Charlie, and thank you so much for replying.

So right now the light comes on every now and then and turns back off after a few seconds. Absolutely nothing felt off when this happened most of these times, until that part at the highway exit, when it slowed down significantly.

We're now usually going to this random garage that's closest to home. Do I need to bring it to an actual Fiat dealer, or should I buy one of those OBD code readers to try this myself?

For now, it looked like driving at higher speeds makes it worse, as things returned to normal after I started driving slower.

I was supposed to go to a friend tomorrow, but he lives a 2 hour drive away. I suppose I shouldn't try this anymore, should I? Not even if I take things easy and drive a bit slower. :-(
 
I wouldn't use that garage again. Rather than just randomly changing everything and hoping for the best, they could have done a diagnostic test and found the issue in seconds and fixed the actual problem.

I would put my money on it being the crank position sensor
 
That sounds like it makes sense. Would it also make sense for the engine to lose some power if the problem is that sensor?
 
That sounds like it makes sense. Would it also make sense for the engine to lose some power if the problem is that sensor?
Think of that warning light as the cars MIL light. Malfunction indicator light.

No one knows why it has been on until the ecu is "asked" why it turned the light on. the ecu remembers why it turned it on and if you ask ecu nicely using a code reader it will tell you.

You will need to find the diagnostic port(socket) in your car(obd port) when you do post a picture of the port for further help.
 
Depending on which model, this might not be OBD.
Looking at the MES website, they list the 899 engine as needing the 3-pin connector, which I think is under the bonnet somewhere. The 1108 looks like should be OBD.

Need to find the diagnostic port before buying any code reader. Could be why the garage didn't go the proper diag route.

Only reliable way to diagnose this is with MES and the proper cable.

The injector light I think was an early example of an engine management light. Might suggest a problem with the injector(s), or might just be reporting a problem with oxygen sensors. Fault could well be a failing oxygen sensor.

Not sure about this model, but might have one or two oxy sensors, I'd expect two.
 
Think of that warning light as the cars MIL light. Malfunction indicator light.

No one knows why it has been on until the ecu is "asked" why it turned the light on. the ecu remembers why it turned it on and if you ask ecu nicely using a code reader it will tell you You will need to find the diagnostic port(socket) in your car(obd port) when you do post a picture of the port for further help.

Alright, I found a YouTube video of its location and will search for it myself tomorrow, as I am currently not allowed to get to the car due to a nationwide COVID curfew lasting till tomorrow morning. I also read up on stuff about these sensors now that I know what the injection light is. MAP, Oxygen, Lambdasonde, Temp and Crankshaft. It surely sounds like my issue is one of these. It would be great if it is 'just' one of these 20 bucks cable things I suppose. Am also very interested in buying a code reader, sounds like it will come in handy in the future as well.

Depending on which model, this might not be OBD.
Looking at the MES website, they list the 899 engine as needing the 3-pin connector, which I think is under the bonnet somewhere. The 1108 looks like should be OBD.

Need to find the diagnostic port before buying any code reader. Could be why the garage didn't go the proper diag route.

Only reliable way to diagnose this is with MES and the proper cable.

The injector light I think was an early example of an engine management light. Might suggest a problem with the injector(s), or might just be reporting a problem with oxygen sensors. Fault could well be a failing oxygen sensor.

Not sure about this model, but might have one or two oxy sensors, I'd expect two.

We have the 1108 model, so I suppose it will be OBD, but I will know for sure tomorrow. I really hope this will show me which sensor to replace.

Thanks a lot guys, I have already learnt a lot and it doesn't seem so hopeless anymore. :)

Do you guys think I could still try the 2 hour drive tomorrow if I take it easy, or will this be a ridiculous, doomed to fail attempt that can only further damage the car?
 
Last edited:
Sooo I decided to go for another test drive before doing anything. Once again it drove like a dream until the engine was warmed up. Light came back on, power loss etc.

Managed to get it home. And this time I tried calling roadside assistance services, as I no longer trust my garage. Usually you'll get someone who can't do much more than tow it to a garage to begin with, but hey, I was desparate.

Got lucky - this guy knew his stuff and was actually a Fiat enthusiast. He checked the crankshift and lambdo/oxygen sensors etc. Nothing seemed off. He ended up finding the real culprit: a broken ignition coil. One of the four cylinders kept shutting down as soon as the engine was warmed up because of this. He will be back momentarily with a brand new one for 50 bucks and I will still be able to go on my work trip, it looks like. Thank god man. I am so insanely glad that I got to be this lucky with his help today and that it looks like such an easy fix will repair my car. Also means that my garage never even bothered to test it to the point where the engine was warmed up.

So to anyone experiencing the injection light stuff -- next to those sensors, ignition coils might well be worth checking. Thank you all so much!
 
Sooo I decided to go for another test drive before doing anything. Once again it drove like a dream until the engine was warmed up. Light came back on, power loss etc.

Managed to get it home. And this time I tried calling roadside assistance services, as I no longer trust my garage. Usually you'll get someone who can't do much more than tow it to a garage to begin with, but hey, I was desparate.

Got lucky - this guy knew his stuff and was actually a Fiat enthusiast. He checked the crankshift and lambdo/oxygen sensors etc. Nothing seemed off. He ended up finding the real culprit: a broken ignition coil. One of the four cylinders kept shutting down as soon as the engine was warmed up because of this. He will be back momentarily with a brand new one for 50 bucks and I will still be able to go on my work trip, it looks like. Thank god man. I am so insanely glad that I got to be this lucky with his help today and that it looks like such an easy fix will repair my car. Also means that my garage never even bothered to test it to the point where the engine was warmed up.

So to anyone experiencing the injection light stuff -- next to those sensors, ignition coils might well be worth checking. Thank you all so much!
I am so happy for you(-:
I was going to post that a flashing mil light usual indicates a misfire ( that is one or more cylinders not working) but without reading the codes from the ecu like everyone else it would have been a guess.
The road assistance guy sounds very good and interested in really helping you, if he hasn't checked the spark plugs to see if you need new ones(I expect he has) ask him to do that.

Thanks for letting us know.

Jack
 
I am so happy for you(-:
I was going to post that a flashing mil light usual indicates a misfire ( that is one or more cylinders not working) but without reading the codes from the ecu like everyone else it would have been a guess.
The road assistance guy sounds very good and interested in really helping you, if he hasn't checked the spark plugs to see if you need new ones(I expect he has) ask him to do that.

Thanks for letting us know.

Jack
Yes, he was the best. He did check the spark plugs and gave me the broken one to keep. Also tipped us a new (Fiat oriented) garage that's not even far from here. It is the same place he got the new part from. We will be taking the car there from now on and I'll soon ask them to replace the other spark plugs/ignition coils, just to be sure & safe, and I can bring along broken one he gave in case I forget which part it was or what it was called.

Too lucky to be true, I actually got to go on the 2 hour drive yesterday and arrived back home today. She behaved perfectly smooth on both trips, no issue whatsoever. Problem is truly fixed and it was great to go Sunday driving with her again.

Thanks a lot guys! (y) :D
 
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