Technical Not so elegant Eleganza

[George Baker]

The Service manager told me (in layman's terms) that the ECU was erroneously thinking that the particulate filter was clogged/blocked and the response was to drop into 'limp home' mode which is why I was experiencing loss of power. In reality the filter was not blocked which is why it was proving difficult to track down the reason for the warning message. One reading for the filter showed 70+% but after the ECU was changed the reading was 1% - "well within the parameters ". I'm afraid that doesn't mean anything to me but I'm having to take the experts word for it.

 

[T14086]

Think hes saying the ECU was at fault.Has it been ok since?

 

[George Baker]

I've done about 130 miles since getting the car back and so far no problem - keeping everything crossed !

 

[George Baker]

Aaargh !! I spoke too soon -- precisely 303 miles after being back on the road and 2 hours after telling a next-door neighbour that the car seemed to be "OK at last", guess what ? Up comes the ecu warning light and the fateful message on the dashboard display. Experienced loss of power on even modest inclines. It may be a genuine fixable fault but I 've had enough - the car is only 12 weeks old and this will be the 4th time I've had it back for this seemingly untraceable fault. I know that I am legally entitled to a full refund but can I demand a replacement 'like for like' car instead (minus the defect, of course) ?

 

[George Baker]

Well, at last the inevitable - I've now been given a full refund by the dealer after two weeks of argy-bargy. Perhaps my 7-day letter threatening legal action did the trick - the cheque came the next day !
The sad thing is that I couldn't fault the car apart from this mysterious ECU problem but which made the car wholly unreliable. Apparently Fiat are sending some technos over from Italy to puzzle things out - not my problem now. Fiat UK were not particularly helpful in my negotiations - you can never get to speak to the person who is supposed to be the decision maker and they tell me one thing and the dealer another. I've had Fiat cars for over 25 years but that's it I'm afraid - I'm going green and using the buses from now on; I can't be bothered with the hassle of dealing with unhelpful dealers and manufacturers.