2003 Fiat Stilo Dynamic from UK and Ireland - Comments

I have a 1.6 stilo dynamic which I have found to be very reliable until now. Whilst driving my engine fault light came on, I had no power in accelerating, car was vibrating and my wheels were shaking. anybody have any ideas on what could be the problem?

I have had a Fiat Stilo 1.8 Dynamic for a few months now the service light has been on since I've had it, but I just have not been able to get the money together for a service. I have had no problems until recently now randomly the ASR and ESP turn off along with an error message and tone. This isn't a major problem as of yet maybe a service will solve the problem. I am however running a very powerful amplifier off the battery maybe the huge draw of current is messing up the ECU. Hopefully I won't end up with any problems with the airbags ETC. If anybody else has this problem and knows how to fix it please email me at greeny200399@hotmail.com. I will post again if the service does fix it. I'm about to try reset the ECU as well.

Cheers.

Andy.

I have 1.8 dynamic anyone no how much to replace weight sensor in passenger seat?sharonwong@cwctv.net.

I have a 53 plate Fiat Stilo Active, about 1 month ago the engine blew up, cracked cylinder head, a complete melt down, with no warning. This was about a month after a service, I've regularly serviced the car and had every problem fixed, I even spent £60 on having a headlight bulb replaced, but only once, I must have had 6 or 7 in its lifetime. I now have the error message Oil pressure switch faulty, which I can't clear, I'm going to try the switching the ignition on and off a number of times, to see if this works, but knowing my luck it will probably cause another fault! Took it to the main dealer and told them the problem, they charged £80 and told me I had a problem and wanted £140 to look into it plus the prospect of having to replace the loom. I can't imagine ever buying a Fiat again, they look nice, but the build quality and backup is rubbish.

I have a 2001 1.6 Active. We got it September 07.S ince we bought it we have had the following:

Random Engine warning lights going from intermittent to solid at will.

Loss of power, heavy vibrating, over revving under acceleration, burning oil, pulling to the left, shredding tyres, on board computer failing, clutch disintegration, head gasket blowing, all the sparks replaced twice.

Long story short, it’s not working too well and has cost us a fortune to keep on the road. I should never have got another Fiat after the last one I had almost killed me when the steering failed (wheel spun completely independently of the car) while I was on a round about. I know this much; I will never so much as think of getting a Fiat ever again.

I have had a 2002 Stilo 1.2 active for three years. The car, like all other Stilos, has the incredible ability to fix itself when faults occur. For instance the radio failed and was out of commission for a few weeks then started working again. The usual lights come on, rear fog bulb, airbags etc - in fact some times she goes through the lot when I switch the ignition on and then all go out again. I have the airbag light on at the moment and the driver's door wont lock with the key fob. The rear doors squeak although I have emptied cans of 'Three and One' over every joint. If it was not for these problems the car would be very good. It always starts and has never let me down on a journey. Would I buy another one - no. Am I selling it - no - not for a while anyway.

I have a 1400 stilo. biggest problem was the passenger door locking mechanism failing locked. my 60yo sister was not happy trying to climb out through the drivers door. Surely this is a safety hazard, thank god we were not in an accident, sis would still be sitting there calling me names.

Have warning light on at the moment to say a fog warning bulb has failed when the thing clearly lights up when switched on.

My dealer has gone into liquidation, I think I must have been on some liquid to buy it.

I have a 53 plate Stilo Multiwagon Dynamic JTD 45,000 miles. Bought from main dealer last February. Has been in the garage 8 times, one of those times for seven weeks and then again for 3 weeks.

Faults:-

Engine stalls - Alternator failure & Low Oil Pressure warning - dealer says there is no problem. I would beg to differ when you are pulling out into a busy road and your car just cuts out.

Had to have complete new rear axle and front anti-roll bar but still drives like it has no suspension, bangs and knocks - dealer says there is no fault.

Had to replace CD interchanger.

Passenger seatbelt is stuck, need to replace it for MOT.

Had to replace front door straps.

Paint on door sills is pitted and we have lots of rust.

Boot locks up and won't open. Luckily we have the opening rear window so I can get my dogs out through there when it happens but it isn't fun, they're big dogs!

Brake light switch faulty, after 5 attempts and a new switch dealer refuses to look at it again. Cannot drive car like that as brake lights come on intermittently causing power to engine to fail (not related to engine stalling with alternator failure as described above). Fixed problem with blu-tac and cardboard!

We have an oil leak, supposed to be caused by a faulty gasket which was replaced but we still have an oil leak.

Engine management system has failed now so we cannot start the car at all at the moment. It is sat on drive as we cannot afford this new and costly repair.

My problem is partly dealer - mostly car. Have emailed Fiat - had no response. Have phoned Fiat - no one ever gets back to me. Enquired about buying a new Fiat to the same email address, had a reply within 24 hours...

Had similar experience with Cinqucenco Sporting (R reg) - bought from new. Fiat finally agreed to swap the car after 14 trips to the garage in 6 months and the engine bursting into flames, whilst I was driving!

Had a Punto SX (S reg) was fantasic, couldn't fault it at all which lead me to forgive Fiat and invest in the Stilo. Not this time though. Never buying Fiat again, ever.

In October 2003 I got delivery of a pre-ordered (6 months) Fiat Stilo 1.8 Dynamic with all associated extras of my choice. My wife and I have been all around Europe in this car and I am very surprised that so many people are having the problems they say they have. My car will shortly be five years old, I have regularly taken it in for servicing and quite frankly it has been a superbly reliable, fast, comfortable etc.

However, this car which I ordered through the local agents in Gibraltar was specifically built for continental europe as one can expect. Could the problems being suffered in the UK be on account of having to change, structures, wiring, mechanical fittings etc. because you drive on the wrong side. I have had 15 yes 15 Fiats to my hearts content.

Man oh man! How pleased I am (tongue firmly in cheek) to realise I am not alone in the problems I've been experiencing with my Fiat Stilo 1.6 Dynamic (Dynamic??? Are you kidding???!!!)

Constant engine management problems (light coming on, & just now flashing on & off, car juddering scarred me to death!!) As for burning oil, don't get me started!

Oh yes, not forgetting the good ol' pulling to the left routine! Gonna take it into Fiat this week, hope the brakes don't fail as I'm driving into the showroom...

Regrets? Yeah, ever buying the damn thing in the first place!! 02 plate, 6 years old. You really don't expect it. Anyone got a Lada?

Hello everyone.

I just bought a Fiat Stilo 1.6 Dynamic from 2004 with 67.500 KM. Just reading all comments about the Stilo here..

I hope mine has less problems, but now I had once had the engine failure light on a few seconds and it went back to normal.

For now the car runs very good. Only the cruise-control does not work.. Have to change the brake light switch.. hopefully it works again then.

Yesterday I bought some new tyres. The old ones where from when the car was bought so I think the alignment is good.

Today I changed a head light bulb. The screen wash reservoir had to be removed, but I knew that before I bought the car.

Also I have a little moisture in the taillights; anyone has this problem too?

I think I'll take the tail light units off, dry them and extra seal the both parts with a polymer compound (did that before with my Volvo 480)

As for now I hope to drive in my Stilo for a long time.

Best regards

Ate from Holland

a_j_polman@hotmail.com

Just bought a 1.6 Dynamic Stilo about 2 days ago (cost £2,850 and it's a '05 plate), it appears to be a very nice car even though the front end looks like it was designed by a different person that did the back.

When I turned the key in the ignition "engine failure" appeared and the salesman told me that it was because the previous owner had lost the master key and it was nothing to worry about.

Where was my head...

Anyway, the car actually drifts to the RIGHT, unlike others who have had problems with it going to the left, and the engine isn't sounding convincing at all.

It stalled as I was idling at lights, and waiting in a queue for a round about, Oh, and when I was pulling off from a round about.

It could be put down to it being a cold day and the engine not being warm, but when I was idling after an hour of driving the rev counter was going from 700rpm to 1,500 on its own.

I've got a bad feeling about this car. :(

I have bought a 2002 Fiat Stilo 1.6 dynamic model at 46k miles. Since I bought it gave me very similar problems to what I have read from other comments. Here is a list of problems I have suffered:

It stalls, fluctuating revs, vibrating, airbag failure, light failure, pulling to left, steering problems, CD changer fault, doors jammed in freezing weather and working again after warmer temperature, burning oil, and many more.

Has anyone got an idea of replacing the light bulbs? How horrible are the headlights put together as it is impossible to change the light bulbs. Many problems...

It is a real shame to be so problematic, as apart from that it's a nice car, strong enough and comfortable with useful extras if it wasn't to be so problematic.

I bought an 02 Fiat Stilo active (1.2 16v) at the end of Jan 2009.

Where to start... The engine management light started coming on from about the first week of buying it. I took it back to the dealer who said it could possibly be a sensor mapping error and if the problem continues to let them know and they would order a new sensor. Although saying this, the diagnostic they went through also told me that the air conditioning was suffering from intermittent faults..."Very intermittent" I thought as this model doesn't actually have air conditioning!

Then the rear fog light sensor would come on at random even though the bulb was fine. A closer inspection and "tightening" of the cable sorted this issue.

The engine management and Air bag light then came on. I contacted the dealer who surprisingly had "sold" up and moved, even though I seen him in a local shop a couple of weeks later. However, a day later and the air bag and engine management light has fixed them selves. One of the more endearing features of the Fiat Stilo.

I have had 2 whole weeks of no lights/problems whatever until yesterday when the engine management light came on and the car started juddering...I've had experience of this before and basically one of the ignition coils has gone. A little bit of testing and I've sorted the which one it is, however, a standard car... HT lead...Ignition coil for the Fiat Stilo...£120 whack, luckily it's an easy enough job to fit yourself so that'll save me another hundred quid.

Its quite annoying though, as the car is great inside and when it works properly (ie no warning lights etc) this is a brilliant car to drive. I can see I'm going to have a love/hate relationship with the computer.

Before investing in the Stile I had an old M reg Micra.. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't fast but in all the years I had it, nit never let me down. I've had to look at the Stilo more in the last 2 months that in the entire time I had the Micra, and this worries me.

I wouldn't recommend one.

Hi, I bought a Fiat Stilo 1.2 Dynamic 52 reg in July 2007. Before that I had a Fiesta and Mazda 323f, and was not ready for problems. Though after reading these comments, mine doesn't seem too bad now.

As soon as I got it, I drove up and down country several times and got scared by it as it decided to lose power to the wipers, lights and heater, while traveling in winter whilst at night in the rain.

Also after fitting a stereo, which was fine in other cars, went to Butlins for a weekend for find the battery dead in the car park. It has been in and out of Fiat dealers til they have given up trying to find out how the car is losing electrical power. Had a diagnostics test, which cleared the history, but that didn't cure it, almost ending up crying about it cos I've just spent my savings on it. They said something about it's supposed to have two keys, and they must have touched each other to get problems, they couldn't detect any problems and said bring it back once it's gone wrong again. It must have heard them cos that was 2 years ago now and I haven't seen a Fiat dealer for a little while.

After few months I got used to the little things it does; it's like Herbie.

I have to drive it every 4 days or so or it's flat, and living in a city where public transport is better value, it's a bit annoying. I have to drive it to the centre.

I has a airbag failure that tells me to stop the engine, cos its the drivers airbag that comes up every now and then, and it can stay on from 1 day to 2 months, and stops the date updating etc. The dealer said it's OK to ignore it.

I have to take the fascia off the stereo or the car's flat in 2 days, even when the stereo's off.

You need the rev the hell out of it, but then it is a 1.2 that weighs approx a ton, so that doesn't really surprise me.

It an Irish import that is 2 years older than the registered date, and it's impossible to find on the insurance registers.

The steering wheel looks like it's turning left, and it seems to pull to the left until I do the pulling tests.

The handles do freeze, but it's the same as door sticking in frozen weather.

Had trouble at garage cos they didn't get rid of the service due message, and I had to get them to take it to Fiat to get it done.

Both my headlight bulbs went at same time randomly just minutes before I was supposed to drive 260 miles. And had to fit both bulbs in the dark, lucky wasn't the first time I had to do it, drivers side is a bit of squeeze but the passenger size almost carves up my hand and arm after feeding my arm though middle of engine.

The latest problem is I think gearbox oil is slowly leaking, cos the transmission has got more clunky and not so smooth. Also I can hear when I accelerate. Gonna use synthetic when I can afford it.

So now if I get a warning light, I just ignore it and wait til it goes away. I really like the gadgets, storage, comfyness, room, interior, colour, and overall style. I can act really flash in front my friends with all the snazzy stuff it does. But I don't think I could bring myself to buy another one.