Changing a battery on a Fiat Punto (97)for the first time

gazzer

Guys.. i hope some of you might be able to help me.

I went to start my car last week (after being away for 2 weeks) and it wouldnt start.. I realised i had left the radio on (not loud enough to hear though) and so i take it the battery is dead.

I bought a battery yesterday and was going to install it myself.. However i have been told from a few people in work today that if i have electric windows that i may need to reset the code to get them to work again.. Where would this code be..??

I have a 97 Fiat Punto (which i bought last year) and as far as i know the battery in the car is the original one so it does need to be replaced and anyway i want the experience of doing it.. i just dont want to mess up the windows .. I dont have an alarm in the car (just a steering wheel one from Argos) so i wont have a problem there.. I dont want to get somebody else to install the battery if i can help it as i imagine the call out charge would be pretty high.

Thanks in advance

bazz26

gazzer wrote:

Guys.. i hope some of you might be able to help me.

I went to start my car last week (after being away for 2 weeks) and it wouldnt start.. I realised i had left the radio on (not loud enough to hear though) and so i take it the battery is dead.

I bought a battery yesterday and was going to install it myself.. However i have been told from a few people in work today that if i have electric windows that i may need to reset the code to get them to work again.. Where would this code be..??

I have a 97 Fiat Punto (which i bought last year) and as far as i know the battery in the car is the original one so it does need to be replaced and anyway i want the experience of doing it.. i just dont want to mess up the windows .. I dont have an alarm in the car (just a steering wheel one from Argos) so i wont have a problem there.. I dont want to get somebody else to install the battery if i can help it as i imagine the call out charge would be pretty high.

Thanks in advance

Never heard of electric windows needing a code to be reset. Are you sure they were not talking about the stereo?

If the stereo has a security code on it, when you change the battery the stereo may ask you to imput the security code in order for it to work again. If you don't have this code you may have to contact the previous owner or a Fiat dealer.

Rovi

The windows may have some sort of 'one-touch' feature, where they can be opened or closed by flicking the switch in the desired direction and the window moves until it either reaches the end of its travel or you use the switch again to stop it.

I don't know if Fiats have this feature, or if disconnecting the battery resets it if they do.

My Audi has this, and there's a procedure for resetting it detailed in the handbook.

Cerdito

Hi,

I changed the battery on my girlfriend's 00 Punto a few months back. Simply disconnected terminals on old battery, put new one in and reconnected terminals. Nothing had to be done with the electric windows (front only on her car).

The car ran fine after that.

Kimbot

Yeah, never heard of that!! Maybe on Audi, Merc and BMW's and the like but deffo not on a punto!! Just disconnect, reconnect and away you go!!

gazzer

Thanks for all the help guys.

I just assumed that because there is a button to open/close the window rather than a lever to rotate that there must be some electrical element to it that might be messed up when i put in a new battery... im a mega car mechanic virgin so just want to make sure i am not missing out on anything that could fcuk up the car when i put the battery in.. I think my radio will be fine too cos its a fairly old model so dont think it will be reset when the battery is changed.

Thanks again.

Lex Luthor

gazzer wrote:

just want to make sure i am not missing out on anything that could fcuk up the car when i put the battery in..

Obviously, don't let the + & - wires touch at any point.

Does the radio have the keycard?

My wife had a 97 Punto and it had one of them. If it doesn't then it may have been one of the Blaupunkt ones that had the code on them, so best find out first. Some head units you can obtain the code by getting into the menu system. Do a google on your head unit.

Also, check the manual first. Do you have the brown key? I seem to recall something about having to use this key if the elctrical system had a fault or the battery went dead. I could be wrong but its worth noting.

As for the electric windows, I've not heard that about them needing a reset. However on my 91 Vauxhall Cavalier, when I replaced the battery, the one touch feature didn't work until I closed the window and then kept my finger on the electric window switch while it was in the closed position for about 10secs to reset the one touch feature.

Esel

Your 'old' radio will probably lost all the preset stations. Just set them again.