Technical Help. Engine died.

[AnthonyH]

Ignition on ...self check process...the orange code/padlock light does not go out

It doesn't go out no, i've not forgotten that. I was thinking maybe it goes out when the engine actually starts? I really don't know. I find it unusual that the engine and cranking seems to have various different strengths, which feels like an electrical problem.

 

[AnthonyH]

I've just been sat here with my hand over my mouth, looking up to the ceiling, its that sort of day, ya know?

 

[jackwhoo]

I've just been sat here with my hand over my mouth, looking up to the ceiling, its that sort of day, ya know?

Take a break from it all if you can.
BBC iPlayer "The music and meditation podcast" may help

 

[spidermania]

I've just been sat here with my hand over my mouth, looking up to the ceiling, its that sort of day

In the states there is a saying, "nickle & dime'n you", (that's 5&10 pence) and it means every time you turn around you are having to spend money and it can apply to anything, when we talk about cars it's to keep them running.
It may be time to drive that thing over a cliff. (make sure you jump out before it goes over)

Check your insurance policy over to make sure you are covered for theft, then file a police report for your insurance. The story is you took a drive to London to shop the high street and didn't realize the Palestinian's where protesting and when you came out of a shop to go home the car was gone.
If it keeps going on you may eventually end up on anti-depressant medication.

 

[AnthonyH]

Take a break from it all if you can.
BBC iPlayer "The music and meditation podcast" may help

Sage advice, i'm not doing any more today, tomorrow will come soon enough. I took a look at the podcast, was good. I went out to buy some trainers, took in the sun, it was briefly 19 degrees.

In the states there is a saying, "nickle & dime'n you", (that's 5&10 pence) and it means every time you turn around you are having to spend money and it can apply to anything, when we talk about cars it's to keep them running.
It may be time to drive that thing over a cliff. (make sure you jump out before it goes over)

Check your insurance policy over to make sure you are covered for theft, then file a police report for your insurance. The story is you took a drive to London to shop the high street and didn't realize the Palestinian's where protesting and when you came out of a shop to go home the car was gone.
If it keeps going on you may eventually end up on anti-depressant medication.

I have 3 Puntos, 1 SORN/spare, this one won't start and an EVO, now if the EVO breaks down i'm going to have 3 cars and none on the road, that'd be very tragic/very FIAT lol. I certainly won't be driving any of them off a cliff - because they won't start lol

 

[FiatMatt94]

I've read through this thread & am wondering whether it's one or 2 likely suspects

1) Fuel pump:
When you turn the ignition on you should be able to hear the pump prime, usually on Punto's the priming noise is very noticeable as it's quite loud compared to other cars so if there's no noise when you turn the ignition on then the pump is likely knackered, most Fiat's nowadays the pump lives in the tank which most are accessed underneath the rear seat.

2) Crank Sensor:
I see there has been no mention about the crank sensor as on these small Fiat's they are starting to become more & more common, with a faulty sensor it'll still crank as yours is but not fire up, you might be able to get away with just cleaning the sensor with some carb/throttle body cleaner or if not a replacement sensor is the next step, the sensors are not usually that expensive. I'm not sure whereabouts on the Punto's the crank sensor is positioned.

After seeing your video of the cranking these are the 2 likely suspects that I would think of as it would still crank with both these issues but not fire up, I hope this helps.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

If the code light is not going out, you need to sort that problem, I will never start as long as the code light is on, reguardless of anything else that’s going on

Code light should go out after a few seconds regardless of if you go on to start the car

 

[AnthonyH]

The immobiliser light doesn't turn off at ignition on, so i'm going to investigate that first.

 

[AnthonyH]

The potential gravity of the situation has landed, ahhh.

I watched the video below and the upshot of the story is that the person who uploaded the video bought a GP just like mine, with the immobiliser on, as scrap. The previous owner had a new ECU put in it that didn't solve the problem, left it on their driveway for 9 months and then got rid of it as a non-runner. The new owner put another ECU in it that also didn't work, before doing another deep dive and finding a single wire that was broken. Mmmm, oh no for me comes to mind. Hopefully i'll have a simpler time of things.

I've bought a MultiECU scanner which should arrive on Tuesday/Wednesday. I need as much info as possible, because I could easily go down the wrong track and break something which was working.

 

[jackwhoo]

Clean the electrical connector to the antenna ring around ignition first - you can do that and it is a sensible first step.

Make sure you only have one car key near ignition when trying start.

 

[AnthonyH]

The antenna for the key came off without too much difficulty. It didn't look dirty but I wiped it anyway. The steering collumn looked in good condition from an initial look, little dust, no dirt, no water, original grease, no frayed wires that I could see.

In hindsight i didn't give the electrical connecting wires enough attention, i will recheck those and see what a voltmeter says.

It occured to me that I could get a new key made on the basis that the one i do have is broadcasting the wrong FIat code. That does seem unlikely though.

 

[jackwhoo]

Each key has a code that the immo has to be programmed to recognise.

Did you see if immo light turns off now you have unplugging wires to ring and reconnected wires?

I was hoping poor connection .

 

[AnthonyH]

The immo light is still on. So i've exhausted this as a possible cause of the problem.

I put the aerial back on, reconnected the pins, turned on the ignition and the immo was there. I then re-read your previous reply and realised I didn't look at the aerial connecter and pins closely enough, so I took it off again just now, checked its in good condition and put it back on. The immo light is still there.

 

[AnthonyH]

I bought the MultiECUscan kit below. Hopefully it arrives tomorrow and i'll get some kind of clue as to why the immobiser is on. The advert states it works with Fiat cars, so i can't see a connection problem this time, but we'll see.

For FIAT USB Modified ELM 327 lead & 6 adaptor set Works With MultiEcuScan V5.1 | eBay

Also all 6 coloured adaptor cables included. This kit is for CAN based vehicles. The main programMulti Ecu Scan can only be downloaded from the author's website.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[AnthonyH]

WTF?!

So i went to the car just now to see if anything had changed, and the battery was dead, completly dead - it had drained overnight to a complete standstill. So I thought righto I'll get that off. I put a spare battery on and then the immobiliser went off and the car started immediately.........WTF?!

I put three different batteries in it a couple of days ago and it wouldn't move a budge. So how long does this car need to realise there is a new battery in it? 3 hours, 6 hours, 12 hours? Stupid piece of ****** LOL

These Grande Puntos are alot of trouble ya know? I mean at auction they're always the very cheapest option by an enormous margin....Anyway, i'm temporarily back to happy - the car is on the road again for now LOL. And I get to play with MultiECUscan!!!!

Gotta love Fiat cars, always entertaining, frustrating, I mean, me and my son were just reeling in laughter when it started - never a dull moment

I'll let you know if it starts tomorrow...tomorrow.

 

[varesecrazy]

Good it's running,

But nothing more infuriating than dodgy batteries..

Maybe the actual battery leads / connections are not the best

 

[AnthonyH]

Good it's running,

But nothing more infuriating than dodgy batteries..

Maybe the actual battery leads / connections are not the best

I cleaned the battery connections a few days ago.

I think the dead battery triggered the immobilizer and then when I switched batteries there was a cooling off period, and I didn't wait long enough with a good battery on there.

Or perhaps overnight with no charge at all to maintain the ECU, it reset.

If I had a machine to test the health of a battery I could have avoided this situation.

Besides this, It'll be interesting to see what mutiecuscan says when it arrives.

 

[jackwhoo]

Make 100% sure the key is no where near the ignition when disconnecting or reconnecting vehicle battery

 

[AnthonyH]

OK...i went to pick my wife up from work, got back, tried to start the car, and it won't start, same problem. Immobiliser on. I'm staying calm....

 

[AnthonyH]

And now its working again...is this the key with an intermittent problem?

Until today, it hasn't been an intermittent problem, it was just permanently immobilised. I've seen an intermittent problem on youtube videos and its always noted as the key. So i'll get a new one.

Maybe the key battery is going? But the remote locking works just fine 100% of the time.

I could really do with a battery tester too.

My brain hurts lol