(T) Dealer won't fix flashing mileage or any other niggles

Oh god why do I always cause trouble !!! i so don't mean to !!!! The problem that people are having is a widely known problem ...my own 500 odometer is currently flashing and noone is saying it shouldnt be fixed but nobody has been able to fix it for two years including Fiat technical. The examiner doesnt understand the flashing mileage reading and we have been tearing our hair out over it...the complaint on this thread is nothing to do with Alan Gibson Ltd but we have a problem with it like every dealer. We have a 5.6% retail market share in our area which is better than Toyota and Honda and a customer satisfaction score 8th out of 155 dealers but nobody knows why the 500 and Punto are doing this and yes maybe my comments are astounding but they are true. For people like me who care about their Fiat customers it is frustrating that we are tarred with the same brush as other Fiat sales staff especially when both me and the dealership come highly reccommended.......maybe you need to research your subject a bit better before slating us Mr New Panda !!!! just friend to friend advice !!!

I have a different perspective on this. My 500 has the flashing mileage thing intermittently. I've noticed it tends to happen if I start the car before the system is fully "booted" up. I've worked a lot with computer software systems and there's a lot going on when you power-up the ignition on this car (with the microsoft based stuff). If I wait until the fuel guage is fully working, (I think that's fully booted0 and then if I start the car I don't get the flashing mileage thing. If I jump in the car and don't wait a few seconds, it tends to flash. I don't consider my car has a problem - it works fine. I don't consider it's worth taking to a dealer for this. The car works and the dealers (with respect to you all) are not set up to deal with tracing what's going on with the cars "operating system". If the car's working fine, as mine is, I wouldn't worry about it.

we really do want to deal with the flashing odometers but the bottom line is that the odometer flashes when there is no available warning light for the problem ...we have some Grande Punto owners who have had this problem for two years ..its tough for a customer to understand that there is no quick fix ...astounding !!!! but true...please try to understand !!!

Chris, nobody is pointing the finger at you or Alan Gibson Ltd (and no offence but were not interested in the share of the market where you are,you have no need to justify anything to anybody) or criticising(sp?) in anyway and we are well aware you & the dealership are doing all you can but you cant deny the fact the car has a fault (the same as yours?) and the customer has a right to be annoyed which like it or not is what this is all about. In my opinion 'taking the car back' doesn't resolve the matter, what will resolve things is for everyone,and by that I mean the dealerships / techs / Fiat and the good people of this forum (who after all provide us with vital information on the fault) to help each another to get this sorted.

Right on a technical level, have you tried subsituting any parts (convergence unit for example) and checked all CAN wiring? Something is knocking out the CAN system and in the past I have had EPS,plugs & starters causing similar symptoms. Other than this then are looking at a software issue?

Give us some idea what you have tried so far and maybe some suggestions can get thrown in from owners here that might help.

I will ask our DET to post on here as he also keeps an eye on what you good people are saying and being a mere salesperson he is better qualified to answer....its good that we are all looking to resolve problems together as it is pointless moaning about each other. which it has been said has gone on before !!! You might not be interested in our local sales shares but maybe you should be as it proves that not all fiat dealers are bad.... I thought you might have congratulated us on it but you by self admission are not interested in our success. never mind

Look foward to it personally we have never had a unfixed flashing mileage problem so maybe can help? and many excellent technicians are members of this forum

I think your success is not contributing or relevent to this thread however by all means post about it in the garages section.

As far as 'not all fiat dealers are bad' then you wont find another member on this forum more pro-dealer than myself which i'm sure many who know me here will agree

ok Im just a passionate fiat man !!!

things are changing in the network and its good you are giving us the benefit of the doubt !!! im going to bed as I dont want to be knackered looking after my very impotant customers tomorrow !!!!!

CB
x

v v funny !!! im sure my customers are not impotent !!!! just important !!! ha ha !!!

maybe some are but better not ask them

So what is the problem then? It is just 'a glitch'

well the flashing mileage is simply the cars way of telling tech or anyone who cares that the can net work is not aligned

after alighnment it should stop doing this

now sometimes it's doesn't that means something is knocking it out

as t4 says power and earthing isues starter motors or alternators are the most common cause on older vehicles but no entirely impossible on newer ones

or anything connected to the network most commonly the convergence systems as fitted to puntos 500 pandas hence why the problem althou it can happen on any fiat vehicla with a can network dating back to 2000 it seems to be isolated to newer fiats as listed above

then the less likelly things bad connections or wiring on the can lines it takes 20 seconds to test can wires coincidently not a majour warranty time claiming issue ay

pin 6 and 14 on the diag plug iirc t4

then there are the 2 items that contain the the acurate timing clocks for the can network body computer and dash pod

i believe there are some other procedures to carry out aswell as proxy alighnment on cars that have rear parking sensors and convergence to make sure they are properly configured with the body computer and dash pod not sure i'll try find out unless t4 knows

a wile ago i wrote this don't know how you all missed it

http://www.fiatforum.com/500-technic...g-mileage.html

and again it's absolutely not axceptable for a dealer to justify not doing anything

all they need do is check on fiats system for updates and install as appropriate there may be some buy now much like you computer at home is constantly updating it's self from windows again updates for convergence

proxy alighn the car after installing anything

configure what needs to be as said i'm not sure on that i'll check thou

then check can lines and send car out again

i can gaurantee in most cases this lot wil have been overlooked and at the most a proxy alighnment done witch tbh in most cases does the trick

if it still plays up then the garage need to open a case with fiat technical and they will then advise on what they are allowed to change in order to fix the car and more importantly for the garage point of view what they are going to be allowed to claim time and money for

if this is not being followed and there telling you there's nothing wrong with your car then simply contact fiat customer services who will then give the dealer a good telling off ok

hope you get your car fixed soon and good luck to all who are affected buy this new problem fiat are working to solve

i'm thinking it might be a good idea to put up a sticky threat to ascertain exactly what customers are doing at the time it starts to flash be it turning on the main beam or connecting an ipod anything

for a usefull database in order for tech using the forum to get to the bottom of the problem quikly and try to work out what is actually causing it tbh it's the biggest customer feedback we have so might work out well as allot of people on the forum have had this happen

@steaknotburger
sorry to hijack your threat and for everyone else it's a little blown out on one of your problems but i agree also your other niggles should be fixed and that is unacceptable and another matter to bring up with fiat customer services

A little over my head in parts

So other than the fact it flashes and is anoying, is it a problem. I mean does it stop the car recording the mileage?

Jon.

no

Pip, I agree, it always helps to have as much information as possible when trying to track down the cause of intermittent problems or ones that have already happened and therefore cannot be duplicated.

In my case I was reversing into my drive and I have rear parking sensors (factory not dealer fitted). Parked car in garage overnight and have been OK ever since.

I never slated you at all. I merely stated I was astounded by your initial reply which was not very helpful, and stated the problem needs resolving! Thats just an observation, and Im not judging your dealer as I have no experiences of it. Sorry if I offended you but I was fully justified in my comment.