Hi all,

been lurking here for a while. Never had any intentions of posting but after 5000 miles and 5 months of ownership my 500 1.4 sport has developed a problem.

When I go over some bumps, I am getting a loud knocking noise. I think it is coming from under the passenger footwell beneath the car. It doesn't do it all the time- it does it most often when you go over a ridge that runs across the road and both front wheels hit the ridge at the same time. It started on Monday and has got gradually louder during the week.

In addition, last night when i turned into my parking space, there was a loud "click" from the steering which I could feel through the steering wheel. Tonight when I got home, it did exactly the same thing in exactly the same spot! There are no bumps there (the carpark is inside and perfectly flat) and I wasn't using full lock. Both times I was only driving at about 5mph.

Do you think these two may be related? I had a quick prod under the car and can't see anything loose or hanging off. Is there anything else under there apart from the exhaust that could come loose? Anybody else had similar problems?

Now before you all start saying "whats ratting in the glovebox" or "have you been going over speedbumps too fast", firstly I keep absolutely nothing in the car. I HATE clutter! My 500 is immaculate and I look after it and treat it with respect.I have checked and there is nothing inside the car that could rattle and as I said the noises sound like they are coming from outside anyway. I even checked the spare wheel well to make sure nothing loose. I am careful over speedbumps and have never bumped the wheels up a kerb.

I have to say, I previously owned a Grande Punto from new which suffered from the continual knocking over bumps as reported in the Grande Punto forum here. I gave up on it the end after just 18 months as the garage were unable to rectify it. I can just see their face when I go and take my 500 in and say "its knocking over bumps again". I am feeling pretty annoyed at the moment that I have a problem with a car which is sposed to be so fantastic according to the press!

Knocking over bumps could easily be something as simple as the droplinks.
Nothing to be too worried about and easily covered by the warranty.

will be interesting to hear exactly what it is, so early into the cars life.

Sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience with the 500 and GP. As mentioned above it seems like an easy fix. Every make has their faults, I've had audi's, fords, bmws, alfa (start laughing) etc and they all have faults. Last one was with Audi (that cheap german brand) which will not accept that they have built a weak auomatic gearbox for their deisel engine, so when it pops they wont warrant it i.e. £3.5k joby.
What I am trying to say is that all makes have problems but the key is how they solve it and if they can fix it. Fiat has had bad press with their services but they are trying to change it. Don't give up on th e brilliant little car.

have to say I've got nothing but praise for fiat's customer service, so far at least. Sure beats the 'snotty' approach of audi, merc et al

the OPs problem does sound like a perrished rubber boot of some description to me.

Well the knocking continued today and, when I got home, there was the same loud "click" from the steering as I turned into my parking space. Out of curiosity, once I was parked and with the engine still running, I turned the wheel approx a quarter of a turn from side to side and there was a horrendous loud "clunk clunk" sound as I did so! I stopped turning the wheel, then started again and the noise was gone!

So the question I need to ask now is "is it safe to drive"? I'm kind of worried that whatever is loose and knocking is fouling on the steering in some way- until the steering moves it out of the way. Don't want to end up going straight on when I should be turning left on my way to the dealers on Monday...

chrome, Sorry to hear about your problems but to be on the safe side I would call the AA and ask them to check whether it is safe to drive. If not then they can transport it to the dealers.

grimwau said:

chrome, Sorry to hear about your problems but to be on the safe side I would call the AA and ask them to check whether it is safe to drive. If not then they can transport it to the dealers.

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Ok. does the AA cover that comes with the 500 include home start?

It is fully comphrehensive and so should cover everything.

Ive got a thud sound coming from rear suspension over speed bumps, Im putting it down to good old Fiat build

nuovapanda said:

Ive got a thud sound coming from rear suspension over speed bumps, Im putting it down to good old Fiat build

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Its not a thud its a knocking sound. To be honest, its the kind of sound I would expect if the exhaust was loose and knocking against the underside of the car. That wouldnt explain the clicking and clunking from the steering though.

Thing is, we could all spend ages guessing the fault but only a mechanic will be able to tell you exactly what it is... get your dealer to look asap for peace of mind.

nuovapanda said:

Ive got a thud sound coming from rear suspension over speed bumps, Im putting it down to good old Fiat build

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Sometimes get this going over a large bump pulling into our drive. Sounds like the exhaust clunking a bit because of the bumpy road

Went to the dealer today. Knocking was horrendous on the way there. Took engineer out to show him... and no knocking. GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, he had a look underneath on the ramp and said that there is play in the offside front suspension so he is ordering a new rubber mount fpr where it is attached to the body i think he said. Does this make sense to you technically minded guys on here? Would this play in the suspension cause knocking over bumps and clicking in the steering?

Hopefully this will cure it he said... if not we will have to try again. Safe to drive he says though which is good.

Just picked up the car. Offside suspension mount replaced under warranty. Engineer took it out and confirmed it is not knocking. I drove it down the road and over the first manhole cover... and the knocking is still there.

It's going back in tomorrow.

On the way there - find a manhole cover or speed bump which will cause the knock. Go out with the mechanic and try the car over the same bump. The knock may not happen with two of you in the car, because the suspension is more compressed. So, get out of the car and get the mechanic to drive solo over the same bump.

John

Hi there

This really does sound like a front anti-roll bar drop link. These are used to attach the anti-roll bar to the front suspension (McPherson strut) which means they are also put under stress when the steering is turned.

Only a thought but these really would be my first choice. Other things would be the front springs themselves (again these pivot when the steering is turned) or strut top bearings.

Let me know what they find, am very interested in the diagnosis!

Cheers

500Matt

John R Smith said:

On the way there - find a manhole cover or speed bump which will cause the knock. Go out with the mechanic and try the car over the same bump. The knock may not happen with two of you in the car, because the suspension is more compressed. So, get out of the car and get the mechanic to drive solo over the same bump.

John

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Hi John... theres a problem with that. I was out in it this afternoon. Drove over a manhole cover and it knocked really badly. Right, I thought, i'm gonna video it on my phone. I turned round, drove up the street and turned round again, then drove over the same manhole cover (ie not 60 seconds later) and IT DIDNT KNOCK!!! :bang:

Anyway, I at least managed to get the knocking from the steering wheel when i turn it left to right recorded on my phone. Again though, it knocks one minute and not the next.:bang:

Hi guys,

I need your advice on where to proceed next with this. I took the car to the dealer again yesterday, and yet again having knocked all the way there, it behaved perfectly for the engineer! He put it up on the ramp and had another look underneath. Again, he said he couldnt see anything wrong and that he had tightened every nut and bolt he could see. I mentioned the drop links and he said he had checked them and there was nothing wrong with them.

I am starting to get rather annoyed with this now. I have just driven the car to Tesco and back and it sounded like its gonna fall to bits! I managed to get a couple of clips put on youtube so you can see what I am talking about.

The attitude of the garage is "well if we dont know whats causing it we can't sort it out. Bring it back to us when it's doing it all the time" (providing I havent gone straight off the road into a tree due to faulty steering before then). So where do I go from here? I am rapidly starting to lose all confidence in this car. They have assured me it is safe to drive, but would you not be worried if yours started to knock like this? Should I get in touch with Fiat UK? This really isn't acceptable that I should be getting fobbed off like this 5 months after speding £12k on a new car!

Youtube clips: and

chrome500 said:

Hi guys,

I need your advice on where to proceed next with this. I took the car to the dealer again yesterday, and yet again having knocked all the way there, it behaved perfectly for the engineer! He put it up on the ramp and had another look underneath. Again, he said he couldnt see anything wrong and that he had tightened every nut and bolt he could see. I mentioned the drop links and he said he had checked them and there was nothing wrong with them.

I am starting to get rather annoyed with this now. I have just driven the car to Tesco and back and it sounded like its gonna fall to bits! I managed to get a couple of clips put on youtube so you can see what I am talking about.

The attitude of the garage is "well if we dont know whats causing it we can't sort it out. Bring it back to us when it's doing it all the time" (providing I havent gone straight off the road into a tree due to faulty steering before then). So where do I go from here? I am rapidly starting to lose all confidence in this car. They have assured me it is safe to drive, but would you not be worried if yours started to knock like this? Should I get in touch with Fiat UK? This really isn't acceptable that I should be getting fobbed off like this 5 months after speding £12k on a new car!

Youtube clips: YouTube - Fiat 500 steering knocking problem. HELP! and YouTube - Fiat 500 Steering knocking problem

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I would definately get in contact with Fiat UK, however I don't imagine for a minute that there is any danger of a catastophic failure. I had a couple of niggles with my car and Fiat UK could not have been more helpful in resolving them and as a consequence I would have no hesitation in purchasing another new Fiat group product.

I called Fiat UK yesterday and aired my displeasure with this over the phone. Initially the lady was no help whatsoever, suggesting I took the car to another Fiat garage 3 miles away. I pointed out that I drive past this garage nearly every day and it hasn't been a Fiat garage for at least 3 years (when I bought my GP) and it's now a Citroen franchise. She insisted I was wrong because it was on her list meaning they still do parts and servicing. I told her I knew for a fact this wass incorrect as I had tried ordering parts for my GP from there before and was told they couldnt help me. I then asked her if she thought that if a Fiat delaership couldn't find a fault with my car would a Citroen garage be more likley to? Finally, after 10 minutes, she opened an investigation and I was given a case number and promised I would be called back by an investigator within 24hrs. Its now 36hrs since I made the call. So much for customer service.

I am tempted to take the car back to the dealer and say I dont want it back until they have found something that is definitely the cause of this.

Do any of you Fiat tech guys on here fancy taking a look at my car, as my local dealer is totally useless?