General Transmission problems

Currently reading:
General Transmission problems

Barry G

New member
Joined
May 31, 2013
Messages
27
Points
10
I bought a new 500X 4x4 2.0L Auto in February this year after owning a Panda 4x4 for 3 years and being very pleased with it. However the 500X has been an absolute dog! It had to be recovered to a main dealer after 2 weeks and 600 miles for a gearbox fault, same fault recurred 10 days later as well as a clunking noise from the transmission. Gearbox fault was rectified with a control module but clunking is still not sorted after 8 months and 7 attempts at 3 main dealers!

The noise is most noticeable between 30 and 40 mph and happens when you accelerate after coasting. It is a consistent problem and can be demonstrated easily. So far it has had all the engine and gearbox mounts replaced as have both front driveshafts. I am at my wits end with this car and can't imagine mine is the only one.

Has anyone had a similar problem or knows of a fix?

I know I should have rejected the car straight away but I thought I was being reasonable, I would advise anyone who has an issue with a new car to reject it straight away, being reasonable doesn't help you in the long run.
 
Hard luck Barry. I have the same engine/ gearbox combo and hope I have more luck. Mine's fine so far.
 
I'm going to hijack... sorry!

I've got a similar problem on mine but it's a different engine and gearbox. I also get a noticeable jolt when cruising around town in second and third between 20 and 30mph. I was originally told that this is just how the manual 1.4 turbos are but I'm starting to question it again. It's worse with the aircon on and it's accompanied by a lumpy idle and rough engine note and general engine vibration that I can feel through the whole car above 2000rpm.

That coupled with the fact that the driver's door or the rubber around it seem to have dropped and are rubbing against the rubber of the rear door (making a really annoying noise!). The fact that the start stop has stopped working completely. And also that one of the DRL bulbs has just randomly fallen out of the holder. Oh and the driver's seat creaks and squeaks but that could be because I'm fat. It's all testing my resolve too!I paid a lot of money for this car so expect it to be great!

Sorry to bandwagon but collective frustration can be comforting.
 
I bought a new 500X 4x4 2.0L Auto in February this year after owning a Panda 4x4 for 3 years and being very pleased with it. However the 500X has been an absolute dog! It had to be recovered to a main dealer after 2 weeks and 600 miles for a gearbox fault, same fault recurred 10 days later as well as a clunking noise from the transmission. Gearbox fault was rectified with a control module but clunking is still not sorted after 8 months and 7 attempts at 3 main dealers!



The noise is most noticeable between 30 and 40 mph and happens when you accelerate after coasting. It is a consistent problem and can be demonstrated easily. So far it has had all the engine and gearbox mounts replaced as have both front driveshafts. I am at my wits end with this car and can't imagine mine is the only one.



Has anyone had a similar problem or knows of a fix?



I know I should have rejected the car straight away but I thought I was being reasonable, I would advise anyone who has an issue with a new car to reject it straight away, being reasonable doesn't help you in the long run.



Sorry Barry, I'm with cowabunga on this one. My 2.0 MJ 4x4 Auto is just short of 25k miles and I couldn't be happier with the combination. Sports Mode is determined to keep me penniless but I use Auto by default and am perfectly happy.

I do occasionally notice some strange gearbox noises but it seems to be a 'feature' rather than a problem, something to do with the complicated design of modern auto boxes, under normal driving they disappear.
 
I know I should have rejected the car straight away but I thought I was being reasonable, I would advise anyone who has an issue with a new car to reject it straight away, being reasonable doesn't help you in the long run.


When I had an electronics problem that took about 6 months to diagnose and fix the dealer told me they could exchange my car for a new one if they had failed to repair the same fault on 7 occasions.

The problem seems to be that the 500X is so new in many areas Fiat would rather throw thousands of pounds at repairing it (and they do, the value of my warranty work was eye watering) in order to learn
 
Thanks for that, I also get the strange noises but accept that they all seem to have that noise. Mine is perfect on motorways etc but at certain speeds it sounds like an old car with a knackered prop shaft!
 
There is a possibility mine might be replaced but Fiat Customer Care are saying I will have to pay any difference. Not inclined to do that as I think I have driven over 1000 miles in this car and loan cars and many wasted hours trying to get this sorted. Wish I had never bought it!
 
Despite being worn down buy the process I will have to continue to try and get it repaired. Fiat have already chucked thousands of pounds at it and have to carry on I guess. It's interesting to hear when other people say there car is fine as one service manager tried to suggest that the clunking was normal.
 
Despite being worn down buy the process I will have to continue to try and get it repaired. Fiat have already chucked thousands of pounds at it and have to carry on I guess. It's interesting to hear when other people say there car is fine as one service manager tried to suggest that the clunking was normal.



At one point I had a lot of clunking from mine but ultimately it was being caused by electronics not directly connected to the gearbox. Once the electronics were sorted out (and that cost Fiat many thousand £) the noises have reverted to what I would accept to be normal, and no longer sounds like the gearbox is trying to come through the floor of the car. I do believe that THIS is due to the design/manufacture of the gearbox and I certainly have never suffered any problems directly related to the gearbox. Unfortunately modern electronics are capable of telling "the computer" that all is well when in fact it isn't. If you haven't already done so insist that your Service Manager keeps the car overnight and then takes it for a test-drive from cold the next morning. Good old fashioned human intervention was what was needed when the computer kept saying all was normal but a cold test-drive proved otherwise.

The main point is though, that the fault was not within the gearbox, that has been faultless throughout.
 
I read this the other evening...well skim read it: http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/20...-transmission-puts-dog-clutches-on-the-leash/

My thoughts are that the architecture of the gearbox is completely different to others. I have driven a lot of ZF's in BMW's and Merc's in their 8 speed guise and these are kinda standard long established and improvements will have been iterative over quite a long period of time.

With the 9 speed being completely new I can see why there were teething problems, however it seems generally from what I am reading these are being solved, probably due to improvements in the software and electronics. The fact something brand new and quite luxurious like the jaguar e-pace is going to be using it tells me it's far from dead.

As for the sport mode comments, im not yet at 500 miles and most of that has been heavyish urban or motorway. Personally I'm not a fan, I think it constantly holds onto a gear too low than it should and makes it feel twitchy for me and passengers notice too. For myself the attraction of a big diesel mated to an auto is fuss free calm and serene progress, and the auto mode delivers for me on that front. That said I haven't yet been alone and tried it on a twisty country road which could well change my view.
 
It's interesting to hear when other people say there car is fine as one service manager tried to suggest that the clunking was normal.

Best response to that kind of dealer bull is to say, "OK, you've got other cars just like this here in your showroom/forecourt/workshop, take me out in one of those and let's see if it makes a clunking noise too."
 
Yes I agree and did that. Went out with the mechanic and the other car didn't have the problem. Didn't speak to the service manager again but I was told the drive should be repeated as it had started to rain and it might do it when it was dry! I think his next suggestion would be to turn the radio up! Found his manner intimidating I think he thought bullying me might be a good option. Big mistake!

Now heard back from The dealer who tell me Fiat UK are not prepared to make any financial contribution to enable them to replace the car. I have emailed the UK MD again today but not too confident of any support as he passed it down to one of his people who I have found to be unhelpful to date.
 
Hard to know if the gearbox is the issue here but I agree the ZF gearboxes are usually brilliant. I used to have a 5 series and it was fine. I currently have a XK8, Mini one and a Vauxhall Antara (all autos). I don't know if they are all ZF boxes but none of them make any clunking noises, I would go as far as saying the Mini has the best auto box I have ever come across. Booked into the local dealer again, Fiat can keep chucking money at the problem until they fix it I guess. It's really annoying though and Fiat Customer Care are not very helpful
 
You are just outside the 6 month window for rejecting the car, but if the dealer has had several unsuccessful goes at fixing it, youmay have a case. Could be worth finding out from someone who knows exactly where you stand. More details here:
https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/l...eed-to-know-about-your-right-to-reject-a-car/
It seems that a lot of dealers and manufacturers have no interest in repeat business because they treat customers who have spent a lot of money with them so badly.
 
I did inform the dealers in writing before the end of the six months that I was rejecting the vehicle but was advised by FCC to let the local dealer have another go. The local guys appeared to have fixed it but the fault came back again after the six months.

I will make some enquiries but I clearly made a mistake in not rejecting it. I would advise anyone with a problem with there Fiat to reject it maybe then Fiat will sharpen up their act.
 
To be fair the sales guy has been helpful and tried his best, it's FCC that are being unhelpful
 
To be fair the sales guy has been helpful and tried his best, it's FCC that are being unhelpful



I eventually got £200 worth of vouchers out of them for my inconvenience. Had to make sure I spent them all [emoji23][emoji23]
 
The saga of my 500X clunking transmission goes on ! I have heard from the garage today that the Fiat Technical Guy has visited and not been able to suggest a fix for the clunking that occurs when I put my foot on the accelerator at around 30 - 40 mph. It's a 2 litre auto 4x4 that I bought new in February this year. I think this was the 11th visit having had all the engine/gearbox mounts replaced and 2 new driveshafts they are now suggesting it might be normal !

If you have a 500x the same as mine please could you let me know if yours has a clunking from the transmission, I am concerned that Fiat are going to try and wash their hands of this problem that the simply don't know how to fix
 
The saga of my 500X clunking transmission goes on ! I have heard from the garage today that the Fiat Technical Guy has visited and not been able to suggest a fix for the clunking that occurs when I put my foot on the accelerator at around 30 - 40 mph. It's a 2 litre auto 4x4 that I bought new in February this year. I think this was the 11th visit having had all the engine/gearbox mounts replaced and 2 new driveshafts they are now suggesting it might be normal !



If you have a 500x the same as mine please could you let me know if yours has a clunking from the transmission, I am concerned that Fiat are going to try and wash their hands of this problem that the simply don't know how to fix



I can't go out and test mine for another 3 weeks as I'm on crutches, but I do get a kind of knocking through the transmission tunnel at times, and I have always put it down to being normal for that box. When I bought my car it was running really rough and the noise was far more obvious than when running smoothly. The dealership had my car for nearly 3 months trying to identify and fix the rough running, they MUST have heard it but never commented on it. I'm up to nearly 25k miles now and no issues with the box at all except for the noise which I tend not to notice much now.
 
Back
Top