I have a Fiat 500 Twinair, 105 bhp, 29,000 miles and its DMF also failed!
Hello and welcome to the forum.
Sorry to hear that you've experienced what is becoming an all too common fault.
How old is your car, by the way, and are you its first owner?
What are Fiat doing to help us?
So far as I can tell, basically nothing. Fiat regard the DMF as a wear and tear item. So even if this happened during the manufacturer's warranty period, they'd likely still expect you to foot the bill.
The problem is made worse by the very tight tolerances between the flywheel and bellhousing. If the fault is not caught in the early stages and promptly rectified, the collateral damage (bellhousing, seals, etc.) adds considerably to the bill.
Fiat gain a number of advantages from fitting a DMF. The car drives more smoothly, particularly at low rpm; this enables the economy test cycle to be completed in a higher gear, reducing the 'on paper' emissions figure, and they can get away with a weaker (and hence cheaper) gearbox than would otherwise be the case. Without a DMF, I doubt the existing gearbox would be able to cope with the torque of the 105TA engine.
Unfortunately it is the customer who pays the price.
Owners of 500's with a DMF could help themselves by minimising the time spent driving under load at low rpm, and replacing the DMF at the first sign of any harshness in the drive.
One sure way I will never buy another Fiat.
They make good value basic cars. My 1.2 Panda, bought new, is now over ten years old and has run almost 100k miles without needing any significant work at all - the suspension and powertrain are all original. But that's a 60HP car running on 13" 155 tyres. Not bad for a car with A/C and remote locking that cost well under seven grand new. Plus, 55mpg averaged over its lifetime so far.
The problems start once the cars get more sophisticated and more powerful. Add large diameter low profile alloys, and the suspension quickly wears out. Fit more powerful engines, and the transmission parts start wearing out early. Faults with uni/multiultiair units and turbos are commonly reported here. Fit lots of fancy gadgets (like climate control) and you'll discover they're not made sufficiently substantially to go the distance. And let's not even think about discussing anything with a dualogic transmission.
500's are great cars if you buy the basic model, drive it with mechanical consideration and respect its relative fragility. They're also a good choce if you buy new and trade away before the warranty runs out; they have some of the lowest depreciation figures in their class.
But owners of older high specification 500's could find themselves facing rather larger and more frequent maintenance bills than they might have expected. Their stories are plastered all over this section of the forum.
