Rattlebang
New member
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2009
- Messages
- 6
- Points
- 2
I have a Punto Evo which until now had not displayed any problems.
The other night my wife went to go out in my car but reported there were two faint red lights showing on the instrument cluster when she got into it.
Accordingly I carried out visual checks with the following results:
On approaching the car no unusual red lights could be seen through the window.
However on unlocking the car and thus activating the interior light I noticed that two warning lights for the battery and oil level were very faintly illuminated.
Normal start procedure was followed and when the bright warning lights went off these two faint lights remained.
Now comes the weird bit. When I switched off the engine and removed the ignition key the interior light came on as normal. Instead of getting out of the car I sat and waited for this to go off and when it did the two faint warning lights went off as well. When I opened the door to get out the interior light came on as usual but I noticed that the faint warning lights came on as well. I locked the car and all lights went off.
I contacted the local FIAT agent who, in great technical terms, explained that the instrument cluster was at fault and required replacement.
Cost of this exercise to replace the faulty item is £603.54 for the cluster and about £80 for the diagnostics check afterwards, almost £700.
Needless to say my local garage are removing the cluster themselves and sending it away for repair, a service FIAT do not offer.
Total cost £150 to £200.
Having had several marks of the Punto series and suffered many faults I think that this might be the end of the line for me with Fiat.
:slayer:
The other night my wife went to go out in my car but reported there were two faint red lights showing on the instrument cluster when she got into it.
Accordingly I carried out visual checks with the following results:
On approaching the car no unusual red lights could be seen through the window.
However on unlocking the car and thus activating the interior light I noticed that two warning lights for the battery and oil level were very faintly illuminated.
Normal start procedure was followed and when the bright warning lights went off these two faint lights remained.
Now comes the weird bit. When I switched off the engine and removed the ignition key the interior light came on as normal. Instead of getting out of the car I sat and waited for this to go off and when it did the two faint warning lights went off as well. When I opened the door to get out the interior light came on as usual but I noticed that the faint warning lights came on as well. I locked the car and all lights went off.
I contacted the local FIAT agent who, in great technical terms, explained that the instrument cluster was at fault and required replacement.
Cost of this exercise to replace the faulty item is £603.54 for the cluster and about £80 for the diagnostics check afterwards, almost £700.
Needless to say my local garage are removing the cluster themselves and sending it away for repair, a service FIAT do not offer.
Total cost £150 to £200.
Having had several marks of the Punto series and suffered many faults I think that this might be the end of the line for me with Fiat.
:slayer:
