Hello guys,
Last year I have bought a second hand Fiat 500 dualogic, 0.9 l engine, 2011.
Recently I am experiencing going in N, while driving, red warning light and impossibility of changing the gear at all. After embarassing pulling over, emergency blinkers on, stopping and restarting the engine all goes back to normal. This has happen twice within 3 days time.
After reading this thread, I need to basic understand the whole gearbox - actuator system and I would like to get some skematics/ exploded view/detailed view of it, if someone could point me towards a website or is willing to share the above...? I would much appreciate it.
Thank you.
Did you buy this privately or through a dealer?
I assume privately! Otherwise take it straight back to the dealer, as this is a relatively expensive fix for an 7 year old 500!
How many miles has this car done?
Generally I don´t think the forum can provide you with skematics etc
Your car will be the TwinAir 85 with a manual gearbox and clutch.
The Dualogic control unit is a hydraulic computer controlled unit that operates the clutch and gear change. It bolts directly to the top of the gearbox, underneath the battery area. No automatic is as reliable as a manual car unfortunately and around the 5-7 year mark the Dualogic unit seems to need servicing. Unfortunately in the case of Fiat, they don´t provide any spare parts to service the hydraulic actuator.... New parts only are available or there are a couple of people in the UK that offer reconditioned units on eBay.
Unlike most other automatic cars, replacing the gearbox control unit is within the scope of a competent home mechanic or any Alfa/Fiat Specialist.
The unit can be bought from Shop4Parts (10% discount is available when you
donate to the forum) and it´s a straight swap, with the new unit even containing the hydraulic oil etc. The ECUmultiscan software is needed to set it up on the car.
First thing you need to find out is, is the actuator actually leaking fluid? Likely at 7 years old - if not you need the multi scan software to see what the units error is. If the actuator isn´t leaking and the car is a high mileage one, then perhaps the clutch needs replacement.
Generally, if the car drops out of gear whilst driving (for example driving along in 4th or 5th without the need to change gear).. then it is a system pressure failure - look for a leak. If it drops into N on trying to change gear - It´s either a pressure issue or a clutch if the car is high mileage.
If there are no leaks and the fluid is not low (only low if leaking or the plastic oil tank is cracked) than the pressure accumulator or pump could be warn.
The pump should sound/operate when you open the drivers door (after leaving the car a little while) and should run for around 3 to 5 seconds. You should also hear the pump quietly operate on every 5 gear changes - you can try this stationary with the engine running - move the gear change from N to R to D to R to D etc and every 5th change the pump will buzz quietly in the back ground.
http://https://www.shop4parts.co.uk/?name=store&op=Details&ProdID=22509&sku=270513
If the actuator is indeed leaking - it is a false economy just to replace that, when it is 2/3 of the cost of the complete unit and the sum of the parts is way more expensive than the complete unit.
The price of the complete control unit has gone up in recent months (now £1016) and is available from the above link at a discount to the main dealer charge.
There are a couple of highly rated people on eBay who offer reconditioned gearbox control units for around £400 fitted. Remember that Fiat don´t offer this service and will charge you around £2000 to replace the unit... So this might be an option for you
http://https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-Dualogic-semi-Auto-Gearbox-Actuator-Grande-Punto-Panda-Idea-500-selespeed/332593483371?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D2%26asc%3D49129%26meid%3D7bc9be2c44e64d1ab7854aa0c6033967%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D3%26sd%3D222904484806%26itm%3D332593483371&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-Pan...m=192234581710&_trksid=p2047675.c100752.m1982
It’s one thing spending £1.5k to get a new unit fitted to a car that you purchased for £14-18k 7 years ago, it’s another doing this on a car you paid £4-5k for second hand. So perhaps the eBay reconditioned units might be a better spend for you and then you can actually enjoy your car.
Once replaced should be reliable again for a good few years