Ok, now to add my two-penn'orth!

My 12reg Qubo 1.3Mjet Dualogic is now at 2.5yrs old- it's approaching 14k miles, I'm the second owner and had it since just below 10k miles- so I've no idea how it was driven in the first part of it's life.It has the 16" alloys with 195/55 r16 87H tyres

My original front Turanzas were virtually down to the wear limiters across the outer 3/4 of the front tyres. An inner band approx 1/4 the width of the tyres had worn down to smooth!

So, today, at 13854 miles, I had the front tyres changed, and the tracking checked- as the steering wheel had been at 5mins to the hour, if you get what I mean, ie the wheel was slightly to the left of upright when the wheels were straight ahead- irritating due to the thumb-grip shaping of the wheel.

I'd had no adjustment done to the car in the 11 months / 4k milesI've had it. It was found that the tracking was set to +2, all on the left front, and there is slight play in both track rod ends.

The tyre fitter was surprised at needing a change at only 13850 miles, and that any play exists in a 2.5 years car! Is this a known issue?- I can't find anything on here.

So there is new "budget" rubber on the front, until I check how it wears, with tracking at -1.

Obviously, there is a slight complication/compromise with me running a RHD car on LHD roads, ie against the camber it would normally be set up for. I hope the new set up counters this- as the roads are pretty quiet here compared to UK, I was able to run along the crown/centre line of the road for a goodly distance, and all felt fine, the car tracking dead straight ahead with steering dead centre.

I'll report back at a future date............................

zeldan64 said:

Hi

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My fronts need changing every MOT @14000miles. Rears were changed last year also. Read all the forums there is definitely a problem with the set up of these cars, either with the suspension top bushes or the recommended tracking. You'll never get Fiat to admit to it though. Same with the timing chain.

Re the timing chain problems.........proven to be down to failure to change the oil at correct intervals, and incorrect grade of oil. Recommended oil change intervals are now every 10,000, or once a year.......which I have done anyway.

Cheers Qube O.

Qube O said:

Re the timing chain problems.........proven to be down to failure to change the oil at correct intervals, and incorrect grade of oil. Recommended oil change intervals are now every 10,000, or once a year.......which I have done anyway.

Cheers Qube O.

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I read it was to do with incorrectly tightened tensioner bolts. Oh well can't believe everything you read.
I also change oil every year which is about 12 to 14 thou.

A long time since I have checked this, but in June my car went in for it's annual service.


As mentioned, they rechecked the wheel alignment/tracking and found no adjustment was required. The tyres at present are still wearing evenly. It would be nice to have a properly rotated steering wheel, with the middle strut pointing downwards instead of around the 35-40 mark (clock face).


On another note, the other Sunday I was out and about at the local boot sale. As we were leaving and driving slowly up the long narrow drive the Qubo just conked out, with a huge queue of traffic behind me.

I jumped out and walked to the car behind and asked if they could give me a push (up the incline) as otherwise 'you won't be going anywhere'. Thankfully he helped and we got off the incline and to a safe place.

The needles, warning lights and noises were all over the place - I did not know what was wrong.

The AA turned up, connected their test equipment and said the battery was dead. Then he didn't have one, although he lent me a different one to get home or until I could change it.

So, be safe. Unbeknown to me, modern car batteries just die whenever they feel like it without warning. As the good AA man said, we could have checked it 1 minute ago and it would have passed all tests.

And the other great bit of news, I have now not got any fan heater/aircon. Looking through these forums it could be an internal fuse somewhere behind the dash

The Qubo is based on the Grande Punto.

These are known for failing alternators. I had mine replaced twice as they had failed.

The heating is also known as a fault issue in the GP with part of the loom burning out.

Have a looking in the GP section at the well know faults section.

I would be getting the rack centralised it may be throwing the s.a.s out. once that is done I would keep an eye on the tyre wear of you see it say towing out on the tyres give i a little tweak evenly to toe in each side . Think yourself lucky I've got a mate with a jag Xfr the does a set of rears every 4 and a half to 5 k and front brakes every 9 k !!

So- I know there have been a couple of newer short threads re tyres and tyre wear, but I've posted to this thread twice already- the last being September 2014.

So, to recap- my original Turanzas gave just under 14k miles. When they came off, the inner band was worn smooth. I had the car (supposedly) retracked, and a set of cheap budget F109 tyres put on the front. I watched the tyre wear- at first all seemed well. However, by around 8k miles on them, September 2015 ( I don't do a LOT of mileage) the inner band was again worn. SO, I had my local friendly garage swap the tyres on my wheels, such that the inner worn band was now the outer, and did not adjust the tracking. I wanted to extract the max mileage I could from the tyres, and pre-ordered another set of F109s to fit later.

I just had them fitted today at 26930 miles. The previously swapped tyres had again worn along the inner band, and the front left was down to the wear limiters, the right almost so.

My mechanic is "old school" so he checked the tracking alignment using two long bars- no electronic gimmickry here ( after all , the last supposed electronic retrack had done zilch to rectify the problem). He pronounced the need for a tweak to the left, and adjusted the tracking, so I'll just keep an eye on the wear again.

So- 13,800 miles on expensive Turanzas- and 13,100 miles from a cheap set of budgets. Not much in it really, so I'll probably keep using budget tyres as they felt plenty stable on my Qubo.

I think it fair to say that my experience confirms that Qubos eat tyres though.

All in all, my experience of the Qubo on 16" wheels ( and of the car in general for everday use) tells me that my Bipper 1.4HDi Outdoor Teepee was a better car ( apart from the stupid name!!!!!!!!!)..................

Huston, we have a problem, actually that should that be Turin, we have a problem.


I've been away for a while, but the issue has not gone away.


After having a complete geometry check on my vehicle last year, when I had all 4 tyres replaced & the tracking done, I thought 'Yay', no struggling keeping the vehicle from veering left & no knocking noises.


Unfortunately, my joy turned to horror as after 1008 miles, my front tyres has worn down to the cloth. So, on March 6th this year, I had 2 new front tyres fitted, the knocking returned and I was very annoyed.


I complained to Fiat yet again (perhaps I should get a job there at this rate), and it was suggested I have the car geometry checked at my nearest Fiat dealership that has the equipment to do such a check, as they wouldn't take the results from an independent tyre fitter.

Anyway, booked the car in to the closest dealership (over an hour away), took it down there on April 7th & low and behold... they adjusted the tracking as it was out apparently (-3 & -2). No signs of any other checks being carried out as that was not in the remit, although I had told them there was knocking and excessive tyre wear.


I asked why the tracking was out so much since I had it done a month ago, and they put it down to the English roads. I was not impressed as to me they are evading the issue, the chap could tell I was not impressed, although they were happy as they had given it a wash. I did advise that Fiat would be contacted.


The knocking is back, the car again now pulls to the left and after 3 years of fighting with Fiat my patience is wearing thing. Hopefully this time they will check for the cause as apposed to fobbing me off with other crap.

Hopefully today I will get my 2nd call from Fiat to get my car back in the garage to get to the root cause of the issue.

The tracking has been done loads of times now, geometry checks done, the only thing that they haven't done is look at the suspension, but after all my complaints of the same problem you would have thought Fiat my have an inclination.


Since speaking to Italy on Friday, they were going to check with their technicians and get back to me today.

My questions to Fiat will be:

Should a customer complaint really take this long to resolve?
After I've complained so many times about the same issue, should the dealerships have been notified to look at other potential issues?


Or did you just want me to go away, which is why you have dragged your heels for so long?


I'll await their phone call and update.

Have the top suspension bearings checked............unless they've already been changed. Even so, have them checked. If they are shot, it would allow the geometry to be all over the place.........no amount of tracking would work.
Cheers Qube O.

Qube O said:

Have the top suspension bearings checked............unless they've already been changed. Even so, have them checked. If they are shot, it would allow the geometry to be all over the place.........no amount of tracking would work.
Cheers Qube O.

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Totally agree with qube O,

If you are getting knocking, banging, grinding ( albeit to a small degree ), get the suspension bearing checked, and if knackered get them changed pronto.

Lots on this forum over this, including having both mine done (£105 each all in), the difference is incredible, and tyre wear is vastly reduced as the alignment and caster angle are no longer all over the place.

Ken

Thank you Mad One & Qubo Q


I am taking my vehicle back to the dealership tomorrow so their senior Fiat technician can take it for a spin, this dealership though did not do the work originally, they are just the closest with the equipment, although they told me this morning, they don't have the Hunter Geometry test equipment.


After his drive, I am hoping that he will note the noise/pull to the left and then put the vehicle in the workshop and check the suspension etc. and find fault.


As the customer, I should not have had to fight for this for 3 years... (since the original job was done), even now Fiat (Italy) are saying as my vehicle is now out of warranty the costs come down to me.

I did point out however, that this has been going on for 3 years (which they know) and was an original warranty upgrade (it was fine before the dealership got their spanners inside the body of my vehicle & I had no choice), so I am not paying for it & be thankful that Mr Marchionne will be pleased when I stop emailing him complaining about this on-going issue, although it's his secretary that reads them and passes them to the correct department.


Anyway, I will update this post & will take note of the advice given above.... fingers crossed & Thank you!!

Good Luck !!!!

Qube O said:

Good Luck !!!!

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Qube O, Thank you,


Well... what can I say.


I took it back to the dealership yesterday (they did not supply the vehicle or carry out the upgrade), the senior Fiat technician came out for a spin with me. I let go of the steering wheel so he could witness the veering to the left, and he listened out for the knocking.


Luckily, this happened when we returned to the garage (it knocked 3 or 4 times) & it could be heard quite plainly. As a joke, I suggested they check the tracking.

Anyway, a couple of hours went by & I was outside having a ciggy when he came up to me and said - 'Out of interest I checked the tracking & it was out', considering I only had it done there last Thursday. You could see he was shocked at that.


He mentioned that there was play in the bottom wishbone ball joint (I forget which side) and I said 'Perhaps that was caused by the 3 year old issue'. I assume this is a rubber grommet or something.


I went back inside, had a coffee and the service adviser came across and started telling me about the ball joint, I interrupted and said 'the tracking is out'.


The conversation went along and they asked for my permission/authorisation to carry out and replace the ball joint piece, I looked at him and said 'sorry, I do not give you authorisation, because as a consumer & not a technical mechanic I do not know if this has anything to do with my on-going 3 year complaint, but please by all means liaise with Fiat in Italy and ask them to authorise the repair because as far as I am concerned they are paying'.


He laughed, and said OK, we'll liaise with Fiat.


I was then advised that a Fiat field engineer may be required to attend site as they cannot find what is throwing the tracking out, I did mention again, the warranty upgrade to the top strut mount (or whatever it was) and again stressed that it probably has something to do with that, i.e. suspension not sitting straight, worn bearings again etc. etc.

They ended up giving me a courtesy car as they didn't no how long it would take & they are going to phone me Friday. It looks like I will be posting another update.

I am hoping they will find the issue and fix it finally, I have not heard from Fiat Italy so far today.

'and so we wait..........patiently or not !!

Some, just some !! dealers......

Cheers Qube O.

Qube O said:

'and so we wait..........patiently or not !!

Some, just some !! dealers......

Cheers Qube O.

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I may just go the legal route, as I have just received a phone from the dealership, saying that they want £409 to fit the ball thing and then to get the tracking done either have 5 litres of fuel in the tank or a full tank and then take it to a high tech tracking centre that has the correct equipment to align/track the vehicle to the spec that Fiat will email to them and again at my cost.


My vehicle 3 years ago was fine, until the dealership where I purchased the vehicle from did this recall upgrade.

From then on it has been a pile of **** and all I am told 'The tracking is out'.

If they don't have the correct equipment, then they should not muck around with stuff that they cannot guarantee is perfectly fitted.


I am fuming, but calm. So I will consider with care Motor Codes, Lawyers, Trading Standards & VOSA to name a few.

I will not be punished because they cannot carry out a job properly.

Well, the wheels keep turning, the rubber keeps wearing & my Qubo is still moving... albeit at a lesser rate until it goes back on the ramps.


Does anyone please have a technical manual available for this beast, so I can give the laser aligners the details when it comes to setting up the alignment correctly.


I have asked Fiat for this information, but I am unsure of their enthusiasm to give me said info.

Anyway, as an update Fiat's response last Thursday was:

Further to you reportingthe matter, we contacted our Technical Department which informed us that thatthe concern is not related to a manufacturing issue. Indeed, they are unawareof an inherent manufacturing defect in relation to the excessive tyres wear andcertainly not related to the upgrade done in 2013.


As regards your request tocover the cost of the repair, we wish to point out that the warranty is inplace to rectify any issues of a manufacturing nature. Your vehicle is nowoutside of the warranty period as it was registered in July 2010. Furthermoretyres are components subject to normal wear and tear. Therefore, we are unableto offer any financial assistance.



It's not like I have not been complaining for 3 years and 1008 miles is not normal... even according to the owners manual - page 181:


to allow even wear between the front and rear tyres, it is advisable to change them over every 10-15 thousand kilometres, keeping them on the same side of the vehicle so as not to reverse the direction of rotation.


Oh how I would have liked to have been able to have changed the position of my wheels every 10 - 15 thousands kilometres, it must exhilarating to experience such mileage.


It is a shame Fiat have that attitude, there are 4 Fiats in the family, 3 of which are changed at 3 year intervals - just 1 year to go for those (mine is the oldest) but sadly after they have seen my frustration, none of us will be going back to the brand & the 3 have been loyal for a long time... this was my 2nd new Fiat, but alas my last.