500 New 500 owners dad 😁

[Wilto 00]

Hey everybody,
My daughter has today purchased a 2012 fiat 500 1.2 lounge in white with glass roof. Car in really lovely condition with 58000 genuine miles on the clock and full service history. It's her first car, having passed her test last week. Looking forward to chatting with you all in regards to any issues we may come across.
TIA Chris

 

[SB1500]

Hi Chris, welcome to the Fiat Forum. Genuinely a gem amongst most car forums online for knowledge, discussion of all things car related and also a gold mine of people’s personal experience from owning these things from one car to an entire history of various Fiats.

Congrats on the 500. The 1.2 is perhaps one of the most robust, trouble free engines in any modern car and one I’m sad they stopped making. Parts are easy to come by. Servicing is pretty easy and it’s not very demanding.

The 500 currently has been on sale a long time (since 2008) which is a credit to how great these things are. Nearly every issue that can happen has been well documented and none of them are particularly much bother. I’ve only owned a few Pandas myself but 90% of the components and engine stuff is the same so do read that if you ever need to do some research.

Good luck with the car and hopefully you have a similar experience to me me on here

 

[varesecrazy]

Hey everybody,
My daughter has today purchased a 2012 fiat 500 1.2 lounge in white with glass roof. Car in really lovely condition with 58000 genuine miles on the clock and full service history. It's her first car, having passed her test last week. Looking forward to chatting with you all in regards to any issues we may come across.
TIA Chris

Hi and welcome to you both

If this is your 1st experience of Italian cars ( since the 1980's...) there may be some things pretty alien to you

Lights going off with the igntion
Duckbill drains
Blue and Me

The Blue and Me is a dated system of incar comma, it's old now and not particularly good g. Updates stopped a while back

Duckbills are the plastic key rubber tubes that feed rainwater out of the scuttle area (under the front screen)


Lights going off with the key is great, FIAT have used this for decades, but there is a technique for allowing lights to stay on.. Best read in a Handbook

The forums Downloads section is well stocked for the VERY popular 500

I am relatively new to 500 ownership myself,
I bought a 2018 model in Abercynon and it has given me no trouble

Oil level drops as the miles go by, but it's cheap enough to maintain

Coolant level is the bigger issue on these, on the 4 cylinder engines there is no "header tank" on the wing, it tends to have a "Filler Neck" on the Radiator

This has a Min and Max pair of marks, this is best read when cool

Tip, use a torch to shine through the yellowed plastic, you will see the level quite easily

Far better than taking the cap off

 

[steveras57]

Welcome to the house of fun!

 

[vexorg]

Was the timing belt done on the history?

There is a list of common faults to expect on the 500, they'll appear soon of not done before.

 

[steveras57]

First three most important things to check are!
earth strap under battery tray
hatch wiring
thermostat- needs to have a metal pipe for the heater hose NOT the plastic original!

 

[Wilto 00]

Was the timing belt done on the history?

There is a list of common faults to expect on the 500, they'll appear soon of not done before.

Only has a quick look through the service history booklet and the garage receipts, and can't recall seeing timing belt replacement. What is the service interval with these belts?

 

[Wilto 00]

Hi and welcome to you both

If this is your 1st experience of Italian cars ( since the 1980's...) there may be some things pretty alien to you

Lights going off with the igntion
Duckbill drains
Blue and Me

The Blue and Me is a dated system of incar comma, it's old now and not particularly good g. Updates stopped a while back

Duckbills are the plastic key rubber tubes that feed rainwater out of the scuttle area (under the front screen)


Lights going off with the key is great, FIAT have used this for decades, but there is a technique for allowing lights to stay on.. Best read in a Handbook

The forums Downloads section is well stocked for the VERY popular 500

I am relatively new to 500 ownership myself,
I bought a 2018 model in Abercynon and it has given me no trouble

Oil level drops as the miles go by, but it's cheap enough to maintain

Coolant level is the bigger issue on these, on the 4 cylinder engines there is no "header tank" on the wing, it tends to have a "Filler Neck" on the Radiator

This has a Min and Max pair of marks, this is best read when cool

Tip, use a torch to shine through the yellowed plastic, you will see the level quite easily

Far better than taking the cap off

Wow no header tank, that is alien to me, last car I had with no header tank was a MK2 escort I think
Some of the replies you guys have posted has got me all paranoid now I'm quite mechanically minded, and know my way around a car, just hope this little car will be as trouble free as possible for my daughter's sake.

 

[Wilto 00]

Thanks for all your welcome messages guys, I'm still navigating my way around, from what I've seen so far, this looks like a very informative and well run forum.

My car is a 2021 Ford Puma ST line X and I am a member on the Ford Puma forum. There is nowhere near the information that is on here, and there are zero guides on there. I think this is down to the fact that it's such a new model, and most cars are leased or on PCP whenever someone has an issue it's generally met with a response of " it's under warranty take it back to the dealership".
Maybe in 10 years time it will have the wealth of information that this forum has.

 

[varesecrazy]

There is basically a Tube extension to the Rad..
You will see

Have a look in dim light with a torch, you will soon see the level

 

[John202020]

Welcome you'll get lots of, this may need looking at, don't be put off if caught in time saves a lot of hassle down the road?
I'll start with two very cheap fixes, less than £5 but critical
Engine earth strap corrodes clean through, £5 to replace and you can use any suitable engine bolt to attach ( if you don't want to move the clutch slave cylinder )
Duck bills, free to clean, as stated above, drain the scuttle under the wipers into the engine bay, if left as most are once blocked with debris, allows water through the ventilation to soak the BCM causing all sorts of sometimes permanent damage.

 

[vexorg]

What is the service interval with these belts?

5 years or 60k miles

 

[varesecrazy]

5 years or 60k miles

And a recommendation to change waterpump too, as its on the same BeltRun

 

[varesecrazy]

Duck bills, free to clean, as stated above, drain the scuttle under the wipers into the engine bay, if left as most are once blocked with debris, allows water through the ventilation to soak the BCM causing all sorts of sometimes permanent damage.

@Wilto 00


Quick pic to help locate Duckbills..

This is Left side of car,
(Behind battery)

At rear edge of Air cleaner
I placed some white tissue on the Duckbill, - see it at the back

It's a Black plastic type funnel,

Squeeze the outer edges and it will open out, anticipated damp leafmould

 

[varesecrazy]

This is a Close up of a removed Duckbill on a 500,

Oops | FIAT 500 (2007+)

Sorting a bit of rust, so took out the battery tray, and got a wee surprise. Other than the obvious, am I correct that the displaced bush is part of the clutch release mechanism? I know it shouldn't be like this, but dafty here eased the rubber back into the joint. Not got an educated ferret...

www.fiatforum.com

Older model FIAT Duckbills were much simpler, really resembling a Duckbill