What is wrong with my Fiat Punto?

[Phill41]

2 days ago I bought a second hand W reg Fiat Punto 1.2 5 door hatchback for my daughter and today she has encountered her first problems. The speedometer keeps going off and then coming back on again and secondly, although the car has a city parking button, it now feels when driven as though the city parking is constantly on. Can anyone advise on either of these problems as I do not know very much about cars and hopefully it is something and nothing that I can sort out myself with a bit of help.
Many Thanks
Phill

[ELVIS68]

I recall seeing a clip on Top Gear about 2nd hand Puntos and something about having a "red" key as well as the normal ignition key, the "red" key was something to do with the "brain" under the bonnet, and if you didn`t have that it would cost a packet to get repaired

Not sure if this went back to W reg cars though

[leyenda_tres]

Old fiats are notoriously unreliable.
Goes way back to the old fiat strada.Handbuilt by robots and fell apart with rust.
Could be loose spedo cable or just faulty as for city parking it may be a simple switch problem.If you cant afforda fiat dealer try a local garage to diagnose the faults .

[ELVIS68]

If you google "w reg fiat punto city parking button" you`ll find you`re not alone

Good luck

[david1702198]

the blue keys do not interfere with the "ecu" in a different way to the red key, the red key is just the master key. it is advisable to have the red key though but it doesnt cost a fortune to get one, we used a guy up here in glasgow who would cut and programme them for �80.00

[Toureman]

Ask here for a deffinative answer........

http://www.fiatforum.com/forum

[bigboots]

Your W reg punto (188 model) does not need a red key and has nothing to do with steering or speedo,
The speedo drive is electronic and could be just a loose conection on the top of the gear box, or the transducer that the the wires connect to could be faulty, the electronic power steering is speed sensitive so any prolems with the speedo will affect ALL the systems as they are linked by a CAN system this includes air bags and the ABS.
Bad connections and tansducers are both common faults and are cheap and easy to fix

[Phill41]

Just want to say a big thank you for everyones suggestions, especially big boots as we didn't know any of this and with the problems she is having, and the fact we have both sets of keys, it does seem the most obvious answer. Thanks again, fingers crossed my daughter won't be having any more problems for a while. I know where to come now if she does.
Cheers
Phill