markgraham
New member
My daughter has a 1.2l petrol Fiat 500 registered in 2013. It's been reasonably reliable but, over the last few months has developed a fault that I don't understand and the local garage doesn't seem to either. Can you help, please?
In the morning (this started a few months ago), she would get into the car and it was completely dead. No turning over, no sound, no dashboard lights. It started well enough with a jump start and then continued to be OK for a few weeks but then, exactly the same thing again. The problem often happened atfer the car had been standing unused for a few days.
Off to the garage, they replaced the alternator and battery at significant cost. The car, however, continues to have this intermittent problem. It's recently been back to the garage and (after, apparently, having a car electrician inspect it) they tell me the battery and alternator are OK (I believe them) and suggest a new ECU at a cost of £1,800. The car is worth maybe £2,500 so I'm not going to try that just on the off-chance that it might work (what if it doesn't?).
The battery and alternator seem fine and I checked whether current was leaking from the battery while the ignition key was removed; I put a meter on a 2mA full-scale setting and it registered no current, so any leakage must be less than 0.01 mA which would be immaterial.
I'm at a loss; I need to fix this myself (if possible) but I have no idea what could be wrong. Could you help, please?
I need to know:
1) whether anyone has a good idea what the root cause(s) might be so I can check it/ them myself and get a firm diagnosis. I can then get it fixed
2) whether changing the ECU seems like a good idea? I understand the ECU has a function of controlling battery charging from the alternator. I'm confident I can buy an ECU (eBay, apparently working, second hand, £50) and replace the old one myself but would the new ECU need reprogramming (which I'm not going to attempt)?
Ideas gratefully accepted!
Thanks
In the morning (this started a few months ago), she would get into the car and it was completely dead. No turning over, no sound, no dashboard lights. It started well enough with a jump start and then continued to be OK for a few weeks but then, exactly the same thing again. The problem often happened atfer the car had been standing unused for a few days.
Off to the garage, they replaced the alternator and battery at significant cost. The car, however, continues to have this intermittent problem. It's recently been back to the garage and (after, apparently, having a car electrician inspect it) they tell me the battery and alternator are OK (I believe them) and suggest a new ECU at a cost of £1,800. The car is worth maybe £2,500 so I'm not going to try that just on the off-chance that it might work (what if it doesn't?).
The battery and alternator seem fine and I checked whether current was leaking from the battery while the ignition key was removed; I put a meter on a 2mA full-scale setting and it registered no current, so any leakage must be less than 0.01 mA which would be immaterial.
I'm at a loss; I need to fix this myself (if possible) but I have no idea what could be wrong. Could you help, please?
I need to know:
1) whether anyone has a good idea what the root cause(s) might be so I can check it/ them myself and get a firm diagnosis. I can then get it fixed
2) whether changing the ECU seems like a good idea? I understand the ECU has a function of controlling battery charging from the alternator. I'm confident I can buy an ECU (eBay, apparently working, second hand, £50) and replace the old one myself but would the new ECU need reprogramming (which I'm not going to attempt)?
Ideas gratefully accepted!
Thanks
