Limp mode!!

[fullpint]

Left work today and my Stilo JTD was not playing game.. Felt like my turbo and 2 cylinders had dropped off.. 35mph max up a hill 
Just dropped it off at my local garage and they will hopefully sort it out tomorrow..
Is happened before (back in Feb) but seemed to sort its self out.. This time I felt the need to get it looked at by the pro's...
HOpefully my bill wont be toooooo bad

['The Gaffer']

Just wait for the usual suck of air through the teeth followed by a "Hmmm, that will be your overhead dinglethrasher sir, out of stock for six weeks and will cost twenty zillion pounds"

Hope its nothing too serious though

[Grin-a-lot]

I experienced this in an Astra TDi once and it turned out to be the dump valve.  Fingers crossed its nothing too serious either way.

[paintman]

My Fiat Scudo Jtd was a right pain with lack of power pronlems; left it to the garage, 4 days later and £475 they said it was a corroded wire in the lome cutting the voltage to 3 volts!

2 weeks later and another "repair" ..... cut off a pipe and put a bolt in it!!!!

I gave up and flogged it on and bought a Transit.

   Tony

[fullpint]

Im hoping it just the boost return valve switch thingy.. The one located right at the bottom on the n/s.. Its subject to getting all the road crap/water.. Some owners move it up behind the battery tray.. I have told them to check that out first with out telling hem how to do there job 

[fullpint]

Car still not ready!!!!!! Popped into the garage on friday and the part that was sent didnt fit 
So they have ordered one direct from FIAT, so my bill of £148 is going up to £182 now 
Should be in on Tuesday so hopefully I can have my Stilo back late afternoon...

[fullpint]

Well I got my Stilo back on Tuesday evening.. It's booked back in for tomorrow 
When I picked it up they said; Mr Turner did you know 1) your rear n/s wheel bearing is shot (yep) that will be £130.. 2) Supect water pump leak, replace (inc cambelt kit) you are talking £300 on top of the £140 I said it was only done in June 2011.. He said, haha who done that? So I showed him the bill!! YOU DID 
Anyway ive told em to go ahead with the bearing but NOT the suspect leak untill I am 100% sure that it is leaking. Trouble is I'm not losing any fluid so how can it be leaking??
They will take a closer look tomorrow which I'm sure will be added to the bill  . Watch this space 

[fullpint]

This is becoming a bit of a story now!!!!!!!!!
New shocks and wheels bearing all done.. Well after they had to return the first wrong bearing 
Picked it up yesterday only to be told. Sorry Mr Turner but you still have a knocking on the rear.. So car is going back in on Monday to have the old shocks put back on and to investigate further.. Ive told them to CHECK the bushes..
As for the water leak. The reckon after taking off the cambelt cover there is a small leak so that may be done in the new  year..
So lets see what news I get on Monday afternoon regarding the knocking on the rear suspension, I must stay 

[fullpint]

So the new rear shocks are back off and being returned so NO CHARGE.. They now reckon (after I told them) its the rear bushes. Quoted me £220 all in to do the job. Told them to go ahead. So bushes should arrive at the garage Thurs am and car will be ready for pm but I reckon it wont be done till Friday..
Looking on the fiat forums its a good 4 hour job and the bushes are a pain in the butt to fit!! I hope they have a HD press?? If not perhaps I could hire mine out to them at a cost of £220 

['The Gaffer']

Just what you need before Christmas

[dikkie]

They now reckon (after I told them) its the rear bushes.

I think you should charge them £220 finders fee...

[fullpint]

Trouble is although I knew what all the problems were I just couldn't be bothered to do it myself..
I just hoe they don't have any issue with the bushes.. They are meant to be a real pig to get out let alone in... £220 is a fair price to pay I think 

[Lucky Ed]

Hope you get it sorted soon, it's turned into a bit of a saga

It seems there are too many garages that just throw new parts at a car instead of actually diagnosing what the problem is - pleased you got them to take off the shocks you didn't need

[fullpint]

Guess what? MY CAR IS NOT READY...
Reckon they had two guys on it today to remove the old bushes  Now I do know that its meant to be a real pain in the butt to get them out.. Wait till they try pushing the new ones in (as we speak)  . So looking good to be ready tomorrow after 1pm so I may finish ealry to collect it and pay that lovely bill 
If its not raining in the morning I may treat myself to a ride to work in the Mk Indy to finish the year off..

[dikkie]

Looks like the weather held out for you, did you make it to work in the Indy?

[fullpint]

Looks like the weather held out for you, did you make it to work in the Indy?

Yep.. Although I woke up at 430 this morning I hung around till 730 before getting the Indy out. WHAT A LOVELY DRIVE INTO WORK. Followed up by a phone call at 930am to say 'Mr Turner your car is ready'..
YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE..
Ok total so far spent is £540 for  a new valve (turbo side), rear n/s wheel bearing and the bushed in the rear beam. Car sounds great now. No noisy bearing and no knocking when going over a bump.
Next job for them (1st week of Jan) is to replace the waterpump and cambelt so good-bye to £300.. Well happy tho 

[fullpint]

 
At what point should you say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH...........
Started the Stilo today and every thing was fine. Apart from ther only light working on the dash is the pasanger airbag warning light. No speedo, rev counter, temp or fuel gauge..
Just filled her up and will have to make sure I dont run out of fuel. Fuses are all fine cause I popped down the garage and asked them to check it over. No faults could be found!! 
FIAT Fix-It-Again-Tomorrow so true..

['The Gaffer']

Maybe they have dislodged a connector during the work? Have a quick look around to see if anything is loose. Either that or scrap it

[paintman]

Get rid of it fast!    Once things start going wrong with a Fiat they keep going wrong!!!     Had to get the daughter a 6-speed gearbox for her Punto couple of months back, by the time it was fitted by the garage it would have been cheaper to scrap it.....now all the brakes want doing!!!!!!       HAPPY XMAS!!!!!

Ps.   Could have got you a mint Stilo few months back for a couple of grand.

[fullpint]

My Stilo is a 1.9 JTD 115 Station Wagon. Had it over a year and it only cost me £1900 so cant complain. Only has 82K on the clock.
Ive been on the Fiat forums and it looks like yet another common fault with the Stilo. I takes about an hour to remove the instrument panel and people either just clean the contact and hope for the best or buy a replacement unit for about £60..
If it cures its self by the New Year I may sell it!! But to be honest these are cheap cars so I would lose out. I may try to get another year from her, we shall see 

[fullpint]

Is this EVER going to stop!!!!!!!!!!!
LEts pop down town we thought.. The Stilo did not want to turn over enough to start.. Battery currently on charge at the mo. Question is why lose so much juice. When I hooked up the jumps leads to the wifes running car as soon as the + was connected is started to sap juice from here car which was only just able to tick over.  Thats with out the Stilo even being turned on, as if its pulling power from the battery with out being turned on. Fingers crossed the battery will charge ok but still wont have any lights on the dash tho..

[Bulldog Bri]

Sounds like a major short has developed somewhere to me. 

I'm carry an old Land Rover battery around in the boot while we've got this cold/wet weather. The main battery was new at the beginning of last year and still struggles when cold.

[fullpint]

Charged ok but need to see if it holds the charge over the next few days. I have found a replacement instrument panel. £60 delivered which is good.. Just hope that it cures my problem and that I don't have a nasty short in the system.
Back to work tomorrow so that will test my battery life at 7am. Will take my charger with me just in case tho 

[Bulldog Bri]

You could also disconnect the battery and if its still got its charge later then that says you've got a short somewhere.

[fullpint]

You could also disconnect the battery and if its still got its charge later then that says you've got a short somewhere.

Good tip Bri. If it does not hold a charge I will give that a go. Will also get the multimeter out to make sure the alternator is doing its job 

['The Gaffer']

Sounds to me like a bad battery. A short big enough to cause a current demand that effects a jumper battery with the engine running would be huge. A duff battery itself could do that on it's own.

Other possibility is starter motor has gone bad or has bad earth.

Let us know how you get on.

[fullpint]

I just cant understand why its happened right after from being in and out the garage. My guess is that its where they have been moving it around over the past week or so and therefore draining the battery. Car had a 20+ mile run today and will be the same tomorrow so lets see how it gets on..

[fullpint]

500 post
And its good news.. Replacement dash came today. Managed to get the old one out (a bit of a pain) plugged in the new one and yippeeeeeeee every thing is working. Battery also seems fine..
Only thing is I need to get it proxy aligned to show the correct mileage and that will stop the milage reading from flashing..
I'm so happy I could suck a grape 

['The Gaffer']

500 post
And its good news.. Replacement dash came today. Managed to get the old one out (a bit of a pain) plugged in the new one and yippeeeeeeee every thing is working. Battery also seems fine..
Only thing is I need to get it proxy aligned to show the correct mileage and that will stop the milage reading from flashing..
I'm so happy I could suck a grape 

Well done on both counts

[fullpint]

Can I use the 'F' word on here.
Bloody Fiat  One week on and the dash has failed again 
Guess a visit to a main dealer is called for 

['The Gaffer']

Can I use the 'F' word on here.
Bloody Fiat  One week on and the dash has failed again 
Guess a visit to a main dealer is called for 

You can try typing it and see what happens

That car is getting close to the scrapper is it not

[Bulldog Bri]

Mine, being so old hasn't got a limp mode, but on my way home last night my Bulldog really started to struggle. My first thoughts were that the head was finally sercoming to running on unleaded fuel (even though I been using additives). So this morning I removed the plugs, They were faily clean, Checked compression (160,130,160,160) that was fine. Float chamber for dirt, no that was clean and plenty of fuel in there... Air filter.. that was a bit grubby so that got washed... then I tried the neadle valve float that was STUCK!!! Yay at last found something that was not working So gave that a quick clean fresh oil and hey prosto... its running great again.... 

Don't you just love old skool mechanics... 

[fullpint]

Old Skool is defo the way to go I think.. Standard tool kit and a couple of spare nuts 'n' bolts and away you go 
Glad your was sorted Bri with little or no money involved un-like my Fiat
Fiat dealer wants £80 just to recover the car because its against the law to drive it with out a speedo working!!! Told em that I would get it there.. Then £80 to put the mileage correct on the speedo plus what ever the wish to add to find (and hopefully solve) the problem

[Bulldog Bri]

Lol. Got to work yesterday and scraped one of the speed bumps going into our car park (they are quite large) a little heavy and dislodged the exhaust pipe. So all the way home it was banging away underneath.  Should be another quick fix. 

[fullpint]

 
Took the Stilo to my local Fiat garage today to get the dash sorted!!!!!!!!!!!
My car was in the workshop for 20mins.. Then I was kept waiting 20mins before the bill was ready!!!!!!
They could not find a fault and advised its not worth spending any money to sort try and local the problem due to the age of the car??
Its a 2005 plate with 80k on the clock..
Any way they still gave me an invoice for £74.00
For 20mins work.. Thats taking the piss.. I have sent an email (for what its worth) to Fiat Customer relations..

[Hairy Santa]

Surely they should have said it wasn't worth doing prior to starting the work  - right out of order   

[paintman]

Get rid of it fast!    Once things start going wrong with a Fiat they keep going wrong!!!   

What's the total sum you've spent now on it?.......getting past being a joke surely!!!

[fullpint]

Get rid of it fast!    Once things start going wrong with a Fiat they keep going wrong!!!   

What's the total sum you've spent now on it?.......getting past being a joke surely!!!

In the past 4 weeks thats about £700 so far 
I'm going to try the brake pedel switch to see if that brings the dash back into life.. If not the car will be sold on fleabay as excellent runner spares or repairs.
Just the rear beam is worth £180 on its own and the ERG valve £20 easy.. Don't have the room to break it at home tho..

[paintman]

Hope it works out ok for you.