Technical Winter warning light fun! No noticeable effects though

[mahol]

Planning to get it looked at properly once Christmas is out of the way but wondering if anyone else has had this issue before, and what was the cause.

So got a 1.2 16v sporting from 2002 so it is getting on now but I seem to be blessed with random lights usually steering warning light and very occasionally the EML if it’s cold/damp/wet. If it’s really wet I may get a bit of misfiring too.

9 times out of 10 pulling over - turned off the ignition and restarting and letting it run for a couple of mins makes all the lights vanish and misfiring stop. And the strangest thing is even when the lights pop up I notice no difference in behaviour or sound (obviously with the exceptions of the misfiring but most of the time it’s just lights and nothing else)

If been happening last couple of years and last time I had it service last year the fiat garage I used said no codes were showing

Any advice/tips/info would be greatly appreciated

 

[UpfrontWAV]

Planning to get it looked at properly once Christmas is out of the way but wondering if anyone else has had this issue before, and what was the cause.

So got a 1.2 16v sporting from 2002 so it is getting on now but I seem to be blessed with random lights usually steering warning light and very occasionally the EML if it’s cold/damp/wet. If it’s really wet I may get a bit of misfiring too.

9 times out of 10 pulling over - turned off the ignition and restarting and letting it run for a couple of mins makes all the lights vanish and misfiring stop. And the strangest thing is even when the lights pop up I notice no difference in behaviour or sound (obviously with the exceptions of the misfiring but most of the time it’s just lights and nothing else)

If been happening last couple of years and last time I had it service last year the fiat garage I used said no codes were showing

Any advice/tips/info would be greatly appreciated

I recently had an issue with various random warning lights and messages occasionally coming up and then clearing (2013 Qubo). The root of the problem was a faulty battery connection caused by the quick-release connector slipping upwards due to vibration from bumpy road surfaces. Eventually it slipped too far and the car became electrically dead. The RAC man opened the connector, tapped it down a few mm and then re-clamped it - problem solved! So simple, and I felt sheepish for not having checked first.

 

[Mike1alike]

Also, check the earthing cable and it's connectors, from battery to gearbox, with intermediar chassis one bold. That gets corroded or the connectors gets oxidized. After checking it visually, you can do a measurement check using a multimeter. You measure the tension on battery terminals, then you keep the (+) probe on battery terminal and you move around in different points the (-) probe, on the chassis, on the gearbox, on the engine. If the tension is lower on any of those points than on the battery, it means that you don't have a good earthing connection. You can also measure the alternator, if it charges correctly. Having the engine running, you mesure the tension on battery terminals (should be beetween 13.8-14.2 V) and you also mesure it on the alternator's connector. It must be the same.

 

[markdarbypearson]

Also, check the earthing cable and it's connectors, from battery to gearbox, with intermediar chassis one bold. That gets corroded or the connectors gets oxidized. After checking it visually, you can do a measurement check using a multimeter. You measure the tension on battery terminals, then you keep the (+) probe on battery terminal and you move around in different points the (-) probe, on the chassis, on the gearbox, on the engine. If the tension is lower on any of those points than on the battery, it means that you don't have a good earthing connection. You can also measure the alternator, if it charges correctly. Having the engine running, you mesure the tension on battery terminals (should be beetween 13.8-14.2 V) and you also mesure it on the alternator's connector. It must be the same.

Where is the "chassis" ground connection??

 

[judderbar]

Where is the "chassis" ground connection??

if you have the original gearbox earth cable it is bolted to the car at the mid point of the cable just below the battery. On the same bolt is a small plastic box with many earth wires.

 

[markdarbypearson]

Thanks mate I thought it was that one!
Thought I'd missed one somewhere!
Check out my latest conundrum post!