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Thats good news, they won't be saying no fault found.
Technical Embarrassing and Stressful.Advice Please
- Thread starter Stel2010
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Technical Embarrassing and Stressful.Advice Please
Thats good news, they won't be saying no fault found.
I'm pleased you followed the advice of taking your car to your nearest dealership, especially as the car is still under warranty.
I appreciate people use forums for help/advice and there are some fantastically knowledgeable members out there, but I would always urge anyone who has an issue with a car that is still under warranty, to take it back to a dealership for diagnosis. As I stated in an earlier post, it's dead easy for folk to give armchair advice/suggestions on a matter they can't see, we can all do that to a point, trouble is, I've know folk chase their own backsides for weeks or months trying to work out a problem when it could well have been sorted out in a matter of hours.
I sincerely hope the dealership discover what is causing the issue and fix it FOC and that you don't have any further problems.
I think this works both ways - there have also been many cases of dealers giving their customers the run-around on well-known and understood faults (hatch wiring and S/S batteries to name two) which they could have fixed on the first visit.
I'd agree that (in general) franchised dealers should be the first port of call when dealing with problems under warranty, but a little preparation beforehand in finding out about the experiences of other folks with similar issues may help in fast-tracking the process. And for very minor stuff, pragmatically it may make more sense to spend a few minutes fixing something yourself and avoiding wasting half a day on a trip to the dealers. At least one chap here fixed a squeaking clutch pedal in less than a minute with a £5 can of silicone spray; surely better than leaving it with the dealer for a day and organising a loan car.
It shouldn't have to be like this, but reality tells us that it sometimes is.
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I knew I was setting myself up to be ridiculed the moment I posted what I said about taking cars under warranty back for dealership diagnosis. Yes, whilst I do agree that ridiculously simple stuff may not necessarily warrant the trouble taking a car back to the dealership, I've personally known people who have tried to fix stuff on a vehicle still under warranty, mucked it up, taken it back to a dealership pleading ignorance and then had their warranty claims rejected. So you really do have to weigh up the pros and cons.
Common sense should prevail.
Common sense should prevail.
Hi John, Just to say thanks for advising me re the term and explanation 'limp mode'. Indeed you were correct, and your suggestion enabled me to articulate to the lady on the Service Desk what I believed to be the problem.
Awww, don't feel ridiculed re your dealership comment. I for one (sure many others agree) believe you have a very valid point, and as a consequence acted on your advice. For me it was appropriate. Never having had this problem with a car before, no mechanical aptitude I requested advice from this Forum. As Jrkitching eloquently said "preparation beforehand,experiences of other folk .....etc. is relevant for me, firstly being female (Dealerships assume you have no knowledge about cars and only want to know what colour a car is when purchasing one, for example) Secondly, and critical for me, is that the Service Desk at my local Dealership no very little, and literally type what you think is the problem on the work sheet for their Mechanics. So how you articulate what you believe to be the problem initiates the process of repair in a long day to day queue of cars booked in for that day. So I was confident in being able to suggest my car went into 'limp mode' (a term neither I nor my friends had even heard of) nor ever encountered the problem which I experienced.
Finally thank you to those members who helped me in my anxiety and confusion. This forum is fabulous and I have followed the long-term members posts since 2010. Mick F, Frupi, Jrkitching, UFI, Super Uwe, Ahmett, Most Easterly Pandas, Noxide, 306 Maxi, Typecastboy to mention a few. Have gleamed some great information, as must have other members. Your personalities come through along with your advice and humour. I have laughed out loud at times reading the Banter back and forth on some posts, when the topics to hand became quite heated. Lot of Talent and 'grey matter' floating about on this forum! Just saying!
Finally thank you to those members who helped me in my anxiety and confusion. This forum is fabulous and I have followed the long-term members posts since 2010. Mick F, Frupi, Jrkitching, UFI, Super Uwe, Ahmett, Most Easterly Pandas, Noxide, 306 Maxi, Typecastboy to mention a few. Have gleamed some great information, as must have other members. Your personalities come through along with your advice and humour. I have laughed out loud at times reading the Banter back and forth on some posts, when the topics to hand became quite heated. Lot of Talent and 'grey matter' floating about on this forum! Just saying!
Too True Officina red! So relieved as it was my fear that they would come back and say that! Now, lets hope that they determine as to why it happened and fix it.
Ok Charlie, As requested. Still no car, wasn't fixed on Friday. Car just sat on forecourt all weekend. Update Monday (yesterday) " we are trying to get your a courtesy car, as the part will take 8-10 days to arrive". Apparently the problem is the Inlet Sensor, something about engine not getting enough oxygen?? Double Dutch to me, I will have to just trust them. Meanwhile I am having to beg lifts from people to get to work etc. :9
Assuming they're referring to the MAP sensor, it would certainly explain the symptoms.
MAP sensor failure, whilst not exactly common, certainly has been reported here before.
It's an easy and straightforward fix (there's even a guide in the guides section); and the part is readily available, at least in the aftermarket - ECP keep BOSCH ones in stock for £62.99.
If this is the problem, then it will only take a few minutes to put your car back into perfect working order once the part arrives.
The real issue is the way your dealership are dealing with this - 8-10 days to get a simple sensor for the most common engine in Fiat's most popular car, when the same part is likely on the shelf at the local factors (IIRC the OEM sensor is BOSCH). This to my mind is just totally unacceptable and Fiat need to take a long, hard look on the impact of this sort of customer care, and a long, hard look at their OEM part distribution logistics.
Getting warranty work done through the Fiat dealer network reminds me of trying to get dental work done on the NHS.
Any halfway competent independent garage could have had this diagnosed, sorted and back to the customer in half a day at most.
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Agreed, this sounds entirely unacceptable. You're sort of over a barrel, the car is still under warranty and they are fixing foc and evidently not too worried either about getting you back on the road asap. I'd be having a serious word with the service manager to pull his finger out. I'd certainly be insisting on a courtesy car and not leave until I got one. I had to do exactly this just 2 weeks ago when our i10 was taken in over the Bank Holiday weekend for a clutch adjustment under warranty. Originally, they told me they didn't have a courtesy car, but I have a way of insisting that produced the required result immediately!
This just shows how each franchised dealership has their own version/vision of customer service. When we had our TA, although we bought it 'new' pre-reg from a completely different Fiat franchise to our local franchise, warranty work was carried out quickly and effectively, even though when the car went in for an faulty A/C climate control flap, they had the car overnight, but still had it back to us the following day. An instrument pod replacement was also done very quickly.
It's sort of coincidental that a work colleague of mine has just had to leave her Fiat 500 with her local Fiat franchise because of a warranty issue. She bought the car from a very large well known car supermarket who allegedly informed her that they would inform Fiat about her being a second owner for the warranty purposes. They didn't and she's been told to stump up the £30 to have the warranty transferred into her name before any work commences. She's deeply unhappy as she now has no car until it's fixed.
This just shows how each franchised dealership has their own version/vision of customer service. When we had our TA, although we bought it 'new' pre-reg from a completely different Fiat franchise to our local franchise, warranty work was carried out quickly and effectively, even though when the car went in for an faulty A/C climate control flap, they had the car overnight, but still had it back to us the following day. An instrument pod replacement was also done very quickly.
It's sort of coincidental that a work colleague of mine has just had to leave her Fiat 500 with her local Fiat franchise because of a warranty issue. She bought the car from a very large well known car supermarket who allegedly informed her that they would inform Fiat about her being a second owner for the warranty purposes. They didn't and she's been told to stump up the £30 to have the warranty transferred into her name before any work commences. She's deeply unhappy as she now has no car until it's fixed.
Unacceptable the part should be available within 24 hours my old Honda parts would be routinely flown from Ghent in Belgium overnight if not here in the UK even if they had to come from Japan it was only 5 days, Miss Angry needs a word with the manager or even Fiat customer liason
Finally got my Fiat S back at 1pm today, 19th April. Strange seeing as yesterday when I phoned and blew my top, they said the main part still hadn't come in! All that is on the invoice is "replaced manifold electro valve". Naturally no charge as under Warranty. What an awful experience and so so stressful.
I'm pleased you've got your car back and moreso as it hasn't cost you money to get it fixed, though I might be inclined to put a claim in for having to pay for alternative transport costs!
If it makes you feel better, my regular work vehicle went in to our Fleet maintainer on Monday of last week for a service and a manufacturer recall. They still have the vehicle. It's ridiculous, I know exactly what the situation with the vehicle is and there is no excuse for them still having it. Customer service can be pretty pants.
I would like to add, our vehicle is not a Fiat.....
If it makes you feel better, my regular work vehicle went in to our Fleet maintainer on Monday of last week for a service and a manufacturer recall. They still have the vehicle. It's ridiculous, I know exactly what the situation with the vehicle is and there is no excuse for them still having it. Customer service can be pretty pants.
I would like to add, our vehicle is not a Fiat.....
If you want to push it or are willing to, write/email/in person complain to the service manager and forward the same complaint to fiat customer liason UK there's no excuse why it took so long to fix using a part that was available from a motor factors (Europarts ) within 30 minutes all boils down to cost of components probably not that much difference I would have even paid the part price to get the car back faster £60 isn't that much in today's world, however I think it's worth complaining if just to make them see you're not a push over? Too
Who knows what a "manifold electro valve" is but it wasn't the MAF, even if they do fail it won't go into limp home mode.
So it could be a fiat only part. But 8 to 10 days?! Did they have to wait for a precious metal to be mined and machined into an electro valve. Pretty rubbish but on the up side they found a fault and fixed it.
So it could be a fiat only part. But 8 to 10 days?! Did they have to wait for a precious metal to be mined and machined into an electro valve. Pretty rubbish but on the up side they found a fault and fixed it.
