Fiat Punto 51 plate Engine Management System

[Chrissy Boy]

A pal at work has a problem with the above. He has had 7 visits to the garage (main dealer) when the light appears on his dashboard. The garage have renewed certain parts but the light keeps coming on. Is this a general problem and what should he do; he feels that the garage are not dealing with the problem but by the very fact they replace items indicate to me that they are trying.

[tony_s1]

I (or to be more precise, my wife) have got a 51 plate Punto. The EMS packed up when it was just over 3 years old. Although Fiat will not admit it, I believe EMS failure is very common. Since then the car has suffered from intermittent flashing warning lights (usually, the airbag light!). It's been back and forth to Thames Fiat (in Slough) a fair few times without them ever solving the problem. Their failure is, I think, a mixture of incompetence and Punto unreliability. Most main dealers are really only any good at routine servicing. If it were not for the fact that my wife really loves the car, I'd ditch it and buy something reliable (Japanese?) instead. I think the best advice is to avoid Puntos like the plague - unless you want to buy mine, of course!