Start stop unavailable, fuel cut off unavailable

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Start stop unavailable, fuel cut off unavailable

Laurers

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Hi there, I know there are a few threads about this post however I have yet to find an answer as to what to do.

Recently the gearbox ans clutch went in my 2012 500,both replace and I drove approx 200km only - parked one day and when I came back to the car 5 mins later it was showing a fuel cut off unavailable fault, start stop unavailable and also at times mentioned the air bags. I have tried the indicator reset sequence to no joy, checked the battery and that seems fine.

Is this something that needs to be reset by a diagnostic check or any idea what I can do? Cars not startibg and so it won't drive, when I turn thr ignition on it makes a tick tick tick noise like something is trying to start but that's it.

Just spent a lot on a new gearbox and clutch on a car I only bought 5 months ago so any advice would be appreciated

Thanks :)
 
Hi there, I know there are a few threads about this post however I have yet to find an answer as to what to do.

Recently the gearbox ans clutch went in my 2012 500,both replace and I drove approx 200km only - parked one day and when I came back to the car 5 mins later it was showing a fuel cut off unavailable fault, start stop unavailable and also at times mentioned the air bags. I have tried the indicator reset sequence to no joy, checked the battery and that seems fine.

Is this something that needs to be reset by a diagnostic check or any idea what I can do? Cars not startibg and so it won't drive, when I turn thr ignition on it makes a tick tick tick noise like something is trying to start but that's it.

Just spent a lot on a new gearbox and clutch on a car I only bought 5 months ago so any advice would be appreciated

Thanks :)

Hi.

Your battery is probably flat (not charging) :(

Borrow another..to see if it will start.

The tic tic tic.. is the small part of the starter motor attempting to crank the engine.. a sign of low electrical power


Big question:
Did they do something wrong when parts were removed..

Maybe had a big cable come loose.. :eek:

The engine turning should charge the battery.. you say youve covered 200km

Dead at the end of driving... or parked for days..and then dead?

More info please :)

Charlie
 
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I agree with Charlie. That "ticking" noise you are hearing is very likely the starter solenoid attempting to kick in but not being able to complete it's job once the starter motor itself starts to draw current - so it's kicking in and out, hence the ticking.

As Charlie suggests, a slave battery would be my next step too. As poor earth problems (the one on the chassis, next to the gear box under the battery tray, is favourite) are so well known on our cars I would be connecting the pos on the slave to the pos on the car's (flat) battery and the neg on the slave to the engine block on your car. If it starts you'll know you've got either a flat battery or a poor earth.

I've suggested you try it this way because there is a small risk in connecting directly to the dead battery's terminals (apart from the risk of igniting gasses). If there is a poor earth sometimes the current (and a starter takes LOTS of current) will find it's way via another route and "fry" something in the process. I'm thinking either a bad earth or an earth that's come loose after the gearbox job? Going straight to the engine block should prevent this happening. Of course you should then check for a bad earth before fitting a new (or fully charged up old) battery.

Good luck
Jock
 
Charlie also asks for more info and mentions that as you've been running the car it would be expected that the alternator would charge the battery. By asking whether the battery appears to be flat immediately after the car has been driven or after it's stood for some time he's trying to do a bit of clever "remote diagnostics".

If you have no diagnostic equipment available (not even a Multimeter) you can often get some indication as to whether the alternator is charging by doing this: Find a nice dark corner in a building or do this at night. Point the front of the car at a wall or similar surface. Start the engine and run it at about 2,000 rpm - the actual rpm is not critical and many will actually charge quite strongly at tick over but by running at around 2,000 rpm you can be sure it should definitely be charging - Now turn on the headlights and concentrate on how brightly they are shining against that wall. Now turn the engine off and you should see the lights dim. This is because there will be a drop of around 2 to 3 volts when the alternator stops charging due to the engine stopping and you can see this. If the lights don't dim then the alternator may not be delivering current to the battery.

Of course if you have one of those "clever" new cars which switch off their headlights when the ignition switch is turned off then this won't work.
 
Hi.

Your battery is probably flat (not charging) :(

Borrow another..to see if it will start.

The tic tic tic.. is the small part of the starter motor attempting to crank the engine.. a sign of low electrical power


Big question:
Did they do something wrong when parts were removed..

Maybe had a big cable come loose.. :eek:

The engine turning should charge the battery.. you say youve covered 200km

Dead at the end of driving... or parked for days..and then dead?

More info please :)

Charlie

Thanks so much for the detailed reply.
I drove the car for approx 100 km motorway driving, stopped for 5-10 mins max and when I got back in this problem had started.

I read on another forum it could be the earth wire disconnected or loose from having the gearbox replaced recently?
Apologies for my lack of knowledge
 
Charlie also asks for more info and mentions that as you've been running the car it would be expected that the alternator would charge the battery. By asking whether the battery appears to be flat immediately after the car has been driven or after it's stood for some time he's trying to do a bit of clever "remote diagnostics".

If you have no diagnostic equipment available (not even a Multimeter) you can often get some indication as to whether the alternator is charging by doing this: Find a nice dark corner in a building or do this at night. Point the front of the car at a wall or similar surface. Start the engine and run it at about 2,000 rpm - the actual rpm is not critical and many will actually charge quite strongly at tick over but by running at around 2,000 rpm you can be sure it should definitely be charging - Now turn on the headlights and concentrate on how brightly they are shining against that wall. Now turn the engine off and you should see the lights dim. This is because there will be a drop of around 2 to 3 volts when the alternator stops charging due to the engine stopping and you can see this. If the lights don't dim then the alternator may not be delivering current to the battery.

Of course if you have one of those "clever" new cars which switch off their headlights when the ignition switch is turned off then this won't work.

Yes the car had been running and starting fine, it was only left for a max of 10 mins before I went back to start it again.

Thanks for thr tip, unfort in this case it won't work as the car isn't starting at all but good to know for future!
 
Thanka all for the replies, I really appreciate it.

To give a bit more info I had the gearbox and clutch replaced approx 9 days ago. Since then I have driven the car around and over the Christmas drive it home, around and back up again (the final 100km).parked for 10 mins came back to this problem.

All warning lights are coming on, radios playing, main lights etc so I'm not sure it's the battery directly as the battery does look new.

Someone had mentioned a bad earth in the chassis next to thr gearbox, could this be it due to the gearbox being replaced?

Again apologies my knowledge of cars would not be the best so any further info or even ideas of how to get it running are appreciated.

I tried the indicator sequence from the manual as it seems to me like the car has gone in to this mode as nothing has happened and it had been driving well. Is there a fuel button anywhere that can override the fuel cut off warning or any other override tricks that have worked for anyone?

Thanks again
 
Someone had mentioned a bad earth in the chassis next to thr gearbox, could this be it due to the gearbox being replaced?

Thanks again

This is a good possibility as the earth strap would most probably have been removed to get the gearbox out.

As for the lights, radio, etc working then this is probably to be expected as there will be another earth strap from the battery to the chassis. Sometimes there is just the one strap that goes from battery -> chassis -> gearbox so in this case the garage would have had to remove the gearbox end so again the main vehicle chassis earth for all the other electrics with still be OK.
 
This is a good possibility as the earth strap would most probably have been removed to get the gearbox out.

As for the lights, radio, etc working then this is probably to be expected as there will be another earth strap from the battery to the chassis. Sometimes there is just the one strap that goes from battery -> chassis -> gearbox so in this case the garage would have had to remove the gearbox end so again the main vehicle chassis earth for all the other electrics with still be OK.

Great thanks for that, hope to get it over to the mechanics tomorrow to check that so.

Thanks again
 
Thanka all for the replies, I really appreciate it.

To give a bit more info

All warning lights are coming on, radios playing, main lights etc so I'm not sure it's the battery directly as the battery does look new.

Someone had mentioned a bad earth in the chassis next to thr gearbox, could this be it due to the gearbox being replaced?

Again apologies my knowledge of cars would not be the best so any further info or even ideas of how to get it running are appreciated.

Thanks again

Hi again.

No.1 suspect is the earth cable..

It goes from battety negative to the metal parts of engine-gearbox.

I know from experience .. a low power battery will work pretty much everything..except the starter. :(


I will add a link about the main electrical points on a FIAT..
https://www.fiatforum.com/grande-punto/318839-electrical-gremlin-thread.html

Charlie
 
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If I could just ask one (final) and possibly silly question - a bad earth wire could bring up the fuel cut off unavailable warning and also the start stop warning?
 
If I could just ask one (final) and possibly silly question - a bad earth wire could bring up the fuel cut off unavailable warning and also the start stop warning?

They are sensors.. anticipating 9volts +

When you attempt to start the motor.. it probably drops to @2 volts..

So it just flags up the unexpected voltage..
 
It's pretty obvious, but just in case, you should talk to the garage that did the gearbox work before letting anyone else work on the car (other than recovery). Be nice about it , "This has happened, could it be related to the work you have done, maybe a loose connection?" is likely to get better response than "You've broken my car fix it now!"


Robert G8RPI.
 
It's pretty obvious, but just in case, you should talk to the garage that did the gearbox work before letting anyone else work on the car (other than recovery). Be nice about it , "This has happened, could it be related to the work you have done, maybe a loose connection?" is likely to get better response than "You've broken my car fix it now!"


Robert G8RPI.

Thanks a mil will do - hoping they're back open tomorrow.

Will report back what the issue ended up being.

Thanks again for all the advice everyone
 
Thanks for letting us know your outcome and I'm glad for you that it wasn't something expensive. This seems to be a very common problem on our cars. Some time ago I noticed the earth cable - box to chassis - on one of ours - don't remember if it was the Punto or Panda - was looking rough with lots of green flaky corrosion on it. This thread has reminded me I need to do something about it before it becomes a problem!
 
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