Hi

My engine management warning light came on yesterday - 130 Multijet Grande Sporting. Stopped the car, turned ignition off and restarted it but light stayed on.

Had to carry on driving home but the car was normal - no loss of performance, no noise, no smoke - other than the light on the dash, there appears nothing wrong.

Im going to pop to my dealer to see if they can tell me what the error is, but I have read on various sites, that FIAT warning lights/codes can clear themselves after a certain number of "cycles". I assume this means stop/start cycles and only if there is no underlying problem causing the issue? Does anyone know if this is correct, and how many stop/start cycles will I take?

Many thanks

Membership Number: 11325

Most modern Fiat engine ECUs will/should clear the MIL light after the fault has been fixed and about 5 drive cycles of about 15 to 20 minutes have been completed successully with no further faults.

The number of drive cycles and duration of drive cylces can vary by car/model/ecu. I don't know of any ECU that requires more than 10 drive cylces but I could be wrong.

Membership Number: Yes

Hi

Thanks for the info Nick.

Took the car to my local dealer, and they more or less checked it there and then - the fault is that the EGR valve is stuck closed and needs to be replaced. Not good news on the second day of the new year !

Wondered why the valve was sticking though and I wonder if "cheap" supermarket diesel could be a factor? I always used to put Shell fuel in but as "times are hard" I started going to my local Tesco.

Is there a link between a sticking (maybe clogged) EGR valve and Tesco fuel? Or is it just another "wear and tear" item on modern cars?

Cheers and have a great new year - mine starts next Monday after my EGR valve is replaced!

Simon

Membership Number: 11325

EGR valves on diesel engines are generally bad news.

You don't say how old your car is (mileage & years). Due to the problems these valves have caused there have been one or more design / P/No: changes over the years.

I only know about EGR valves on the 1.9 Multijet 150 (16V) engine.

There are three common fixes/mods for EGR valve issues (besides cleaning or replacing)

1) Blank of the EGR
2) Fit a restrictor plate
3) Have EGR completely mapped out of the ECU code.

1) will work on some engines/ecus but on many/most of the later models the ECU will eventually turn the MIL light on

2) this works by reducing EGR flow to a lower level without upsetting the ECU

3) this works but is technically an ECU program change which may or may not be accepted by your insurance company.

Membership Number: Yes

Hi Nick

Thanks for the info. I had read on the web about removing the valve etc but surely that can cause problems for the MOT etc?

The car is just over 5 years old and has 33k miles - mainly motorway commute of 40 miles a day.

I suppose the valve is another one of the so called "quality" German made parts - that seem to always go wrong on cars!

Im having the valve replaced - no offer of it being cleaned, but that looks like a very messy job.

I still wonder if supermarket fuel would have a negative impact on the life of the valve? I read that supermarket diesel has a higher content of plant based additives, to get the price down but still achieve the octane rating? A relative had a problem with the fuel pump on his Land Rover, and that was supposedly due to the quality of supermarket fuel?

Problems with EGR valves are a diesel car problem only?

Thanks

Membership Number: 11325

I have heard that Tesco Fuel is of good quality from a Porsche owner but that could be just the petrol. A lot of manufacturers always seem to blame supermarket fuel as an automatic 'get out' clause to poor quality components and we are then left to prove them wrong. Does it say anywhere in the handbook that you can only use certain fuels!

Membership Number: 12302

Earlier this evening I wrote two big replys to this thread. For soem reason they never ever made it to the forum.

I'm NOT going to try and recreate what I posted.

I'll just say EU/UK and Fiat diesel fuel standard is EN 590 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EN_590)

All reputable sales outlets in the UK (Shell, Esso, Texaco, Jet, Sainsburys, ASDA, Tesco ..... etc) all supply EN590 spec fuel as Fiats requirements.

Choose whichever you feel comfortable with.

Membership Number: Yes