I bought my 05 plate Panda dualogic from Wentane Fiat on Monday 25th October
Saturday 30th October it had broken down and was towed away to Norris Brothers Fiat
The car had lost all power whilst going up a hill, it'd been in gear, then all of a sudden was in N and lights and buzzers everywhere Quite dangerous really! It was just revving, I put my foot on the brake, and it allowed me to select 1Auto
Got the car back from Norris Brothers on Wednesday night who informed me it was the brake switch which was incorrect and sending signals to the auto gearbox that werent right
They also said that it wasnt covered under FIAT warranty, but I'd spoke to Wentane who said they were happy to foot the bill whatever the cost
Seems to be OK now but it's knocked my confidence in the car

Hmm, I do wonder if these 'dual logics' are more trouble than they are worth.

Brake switch is a common fault on Stilos.

A mate of mine bought a new pugeot a few months ago at the cost of nerly twenty grand and its broken down twice ,so things do happen to cars.its not just fiat pandas.So dont worry to much.

I bought my dad a Fiesta over three years ago for £850 on a private sale. It over heated the next day. Turned out it was just the thermostat, cost £20 to get fixed but at the time we did thing what the heck have we just bought.

Over three years and 30k later the car is still going strong .

Don't let it put you off the car unless you have a lot more problems with it

My uncle paid a fortune for a nice BMW private sale, the engine blew up a few months later and he's having to pay the bill.

Things could be a lot worse.

Been fine so far since

Right think I spoke too soon!

It's doing it again. Spoke to Norris brothers who werent much help at all, so decided to take the car back to Arnold Clark Fiat in Oldbury.

They put the car on the reader, road tested it for 4 miles. Couldnt find anything wrong with it? Have reset it & charged me £75 for the work (which Wentane Fiat have agreed to pay!)

Really dont know what to do next, was thinking of taking it to Motormech in Digbeth so he could have a look?

Did they replace the brake switch first time around?

If it is locked on all the time, then the car thinks it is braking which is why you are getting those symptoms, possibly.

Well & truly broke yesterday. Picked up a mate for a nice day out, got onto the M6 and had "gearbox fail" come up on the dash and the little gearbox red flash of death in front of me

Bloke came out from Mansfield Group (&wanted £46 to tow me to the FiatGarage but that's another story!) and put the code reader in, it didnt show anything up and the car is now at Arnold Clarke Fiat - Once he'd put the code reader in, it stopped showing Gearbox fail :bang:

Sense that Arnold Clarke are going to say they can't find anything wrong with the car as there is nothing flashing up -kind of like last time when I got charged £72 for them to say - nothing wrong when clearly there was

So far the car has cost me quite a bit in Taxi money, a wasted A/L day from work trying to get it sorted out (was due to be on a course that day & couldnt make it) and it's starting to chip away at what was left of my sanity

Can I get a refund from Fiat?

So have they replaced the brake switch....

Stu DemonD said:

So have they replaced the brake switch....

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According to NorrisBrothers Fiat they have?

Are the brake lights on permanently?

Stu DemonD said:

Are the brake lights on permanently?

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no

Arnold Clarke Fiat just rang to say car had "flash & ECU" update/upgrade?

Sounds like the previous owner sold the car because it had a problem, usually why people sell these days.

Sounds like the dealers are being as good as they can be, some are far less helpful. Cant you just stick with 1 of them or is it due to where the car breaks down?

I hope it does work but its very unlikely the ECU flash will help the situation as it will probably improve the way the car operates but not address your error which sounds like a signal from a sensor (although it may change the sensitivity to a bad signal). If the ECU software was causing the problem all dualogics would be stopping until they were upgraded. They may have re-calibrated the gearbox aswell which might help.

Sounds like you might have a bit of a tough time getting it sorted but once done the gearboxes are meant to be good, half the problem is most dealers dont seem to understand how they work. There are lots out there working fine which should give you hope.

It broke (again) yesterday. This time it's gone back to Fiat and they are putting in a new clutch acuator.

This is probably good news as it might have been causing the previous problems that couldnt be found. (although bad news as you were left stuck again)

I know there is a pump that seems to give trouble too but you should have had most the problems now.
i dont know much about them but make sure it is fully recalibrated before you take it back.

It is a complicated system and i wonder how different the parts are on the latest Panda autos, so some of these problems are addressed.

ivantate said:

It is a complicated system and i wonder how different the parts are on the latest Panda autos, so some of these problems are addressed.

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Tbh they're actually simple Gear boxes. Repaired one myself.

Charlotte I assume hydraulic fluid is at correct level? Also check connectors on pump and on the sensor next to the pump at the front as this is the one that tells the car what gear it's in. What mileage has the car done?

i thought it had all the wearing parts of a manual and then extra pumps, sensors, hydraulics attached. maybe simple in principle of operation but it seems for diagnostic and service maybe not.
The efficiency and control is also good, we use a similar principle in some of our machines but they are open to abuse, wear and tolerances.
Sounds like the clutch etc on this one is good so the previous driver was careful with it.

When I was thinking about parts changing on later cars I was thinking of items like the brake switch being improved. There have been a few failed on here which is strange as the manuals dont need them replacing and fiat have been fitting this system for a long time now.

Either way once this particular car is sorted i should think it is worth sticking with it as the dealer will have some knowledge of the gearbox and also most bits will be new.

what generally happens is the first or second owner sell the car as it has an intermittent problem, it fails on the next owner who spends alot of time and money sorting it out. They then try and get rid of the car at any price making the next owner quite satisfied.

It's had the actuator replaced now - picked the car up yesterday and saw the £1400 bill with the documents

It's had a brake switch, flash update/s, and actuator so hopefully that'll be the end of it now. The warranty is due to run out in October so another 10 months - as long as it doesn't kill me between now and then, hopefully, now it's fixed and I can start to enjoy driving it

Btw MEP - it's done 46 thousand miles