4th Jun 2010, 02:18

Fiat Mia 2001 Y Reg.

I brought my Fiat from new, followed all the service requirements to ensure that I was doing everything I could to maximize my new car's life - what a mistake.

From new I had the following problems:

Wipers not working on intermittent wiper function.

Intermittent wiper judder.

Engine management light flashes on now and again.

All the above Fiat refused to cover until eventually I approached Trading Standards, and then Fiat covered the cost of replacing the wiper solenoid, engine management unit.

Head gasket went at 52,000 miles - Fiat inform me this is acceptable wear and tear!

Sump has become porous and needs replacing!

Engine management light back on and new coil fitted and reset, and guess what, 2 days later engine management light is back on - having spent over £1000 - I've had enough and will NEVER NEVER purchase Fiat again - I thought buying a new car would give me worry free driving - how wrong I was!!!

Fiat's idea of after sales care has been NON-EXISTENT - I would never recommend a Fiat to anyone.

29th Sep 2010, 04:31

I have a Fiat Punto 1.2 2001 reg.

I read up in the forums that the problem with mine would most probably be the lambda sensor! The problems I had was that the car wasn't ticking over properly when ticking over (low idle). When I started the engine or was waiting at lights etc it would stall or splutter like it was only running on 2 or 3 cylinders. Also there would be no power to the car, then you would have an instant go like a turbo. So I changed the lambda sensor, but was still having the problems.

So I had the car plugged in to the ECU (I have a mate who did this for £10 it normally cost £40-£45). It showed up the coil pack needed renewing, so off to the breakers I went and got one off a scrapped car for £25 (cost for a new one is around £60), and now the problem has gone, although I'm still going to change the sparks and HT leads. My car has done 116000 miles, so it was advised to get these changed as with all wires that have been used for some time as they don't work as well as they once did.

I hope this will help anyone with the same problem. I was so confused as to what the problem could be, I was told it could be a number of problems including a new ECU or cat converter which are very costly, but gladly it wasn't these things.

I hope this helps. :-)

21st Feb 2011, 08:33

Hi all,

I have just brought 2001 Fiat Punto 1.2 8 valve Y reg.. It is my 1st car, and I am not sure what is what with these cars or any other cars, it's done a lot of miles (126000). I have a tapping noise coming from the engine when I start it up, and it carries on until the ignition is off. I am really starting to wonder if I've made a terrible mistake. I am having it serviced this week, as it hasn't got a full service history, although I have a lot of receipts for work that has been done on it. Do you think the full service will help with finding out what the tapping is??

I don't suppose my driving will help the car, so I suppose I've got to just hope for the best, fingers xxxxxxxx.

21st Jul 2011, 06:41

I agree, my Punto is fine as well.

11th Mar 2012, 05:23

I have a Y reg Punto 1.2, and every time I start it up in the morning, it struggles. Like if I rev it, it will cut out. I need to leave it for a few minutes, then it's fine, but when I drive it, it seems to misfire a little bit until warm. Any suggestions anybody?

7th Apr 2012, 09:00

Every car can be a bad car. In all fairness, FIAT are prolific for it. But I have had my Punto MIA for a while now, and no problem at all. The only work I had to do was replace the cam belt, but on the 8v engine it is an easy job. People put their trust in Volkswagen and Seat all day, but no problems with my Punto, but my mate's Arosa had the gearbox fall out of it.