(G) Cars died on me

I just opened the car with the remote, internal lights come on and dash etc. Put key in ignition to turn it on and everything dies on me. No lights no electrics at all. It happened as I turned the key.
I got out closed door left it for a few seconds and its all working again but again when I turn the key it dies.
This happened several times but I managed to get it started by disconnecting the battery earth and it all seem fine again and drives ok but I think my memory sticks now knackered.

Anyone experience this or know what the hell happened should I go straight to the dealer with the problem - at least log it if not actually take it in ?

Jake

I would. And mention about the memory stick, I assume you mean the memory stick for music?

Poor negative battery connection, probably. Enough there to work the internal light, but when you hit it with the starter motor the high resistance could not pass the required current. When you took the terminal off and re-connected it, the problem went away. That is the most likely scenario, that I can think of anyhow.

John

The dealers suggests that this is due the car doing short distances and not being fully charged. !!

I'd be more inclined to go with the above about poor connection on terminal.

Seen it a few times on cars that seem fine till you try start them. Jiggle or tighten battery connection and problem is usually fixed.

There seems to be several threads running around here at the moment with a theme suspiciously similar to this one

I'm hoping with all the wet weather we in the UK have been having lately that there isn't a design problem with the electrics and water in the car

Modern cars have increasingly complex power management systems with circuitry that disables components depending on supply available.

Suggest that anyone who suffers a problem of this nature gets it logged with their dealer and Fiat to help them see if there is a trend.

Of course, if there is, I'm sure they wouldn't care to go public too hastily.

on pdi the 500s come with the battery terminal quick release opened and the battery terminal just placed over the battery

the reasons for this is to allow people to remove it during storage at various ship yards and storage depots on it's way from Poland to you to stop it going flat

now on pdi it's just a case of making sure it's pressed onto the battery properly and closed

but my guess is someone has just tightened it without pushing it fully home

also a few days ago i pdi'd one and looked at the battery terminal and found it was closed so i gave it a jiggle and it came off the post with ease so had obviously been closed then placed on and pushed down this may have happened

Yes - one of the threads was started by me! I got the same from my dealer - could be due to short trips!!!! I've had a car for 20 years now, and frequently used them for short trips without them misfunctioning and needing to go to the dealer! Also, isn't the 500 supposed to be a small city car - er... short trips??? Honestly - I still love my car, but just wish people wouldn't say stupid things and make situations worse. Wouldn't that be a great sales pitch for a brand new car - 'all the mod cons, but it can't be used on short trips'. How can that possibly justify the car as functioning correctly?

I have made quite sure the negative battery terminal is not secure. Hopefully this was the problem, in the passed when using a flat battery things dimed but didnt just switch off like that.
I have reported it to the dealer and will take it in if it happens again.

Thanks for the advice- the moral is check your battery terminals !!

I think that quite a few of the irritating little problems that owners have reported with the 500 have probably been due to a poor PDI. Pip is the honourable example of a concientious technician who does bother to do it correctly in the first instance, but we have not all been so lucky. So far we could list (from my own experience and others here) -

• Hub cap clips broken
• Incorrect tyre pressures
• Number plates wrongly fitted
• Negative battery terminal not fastened correctly
• Service book not stamped for PDI

We should expect better on a brand-new car, if only for the reason that the price of the thing does actually include the PDI.

John

it bugs the hell out of me watching coleuses doing pdi's on cars and not even raising the vehicle to have a look underneath it's just plain lazyness and it makes me sad specially after fiat have spent so much trying to make sure the new 500s are pdi'd properly as it's a huge milestone for fiat but i suppose some people you just can't change

Well said Littlepip, The future of Fiats reputation and standing in the UK lie in the dealers hands IMO