gringonuts
New member
- Joined
- May 25, 2010
- Messages
- 2
- Points
- 1
Hello,. Having lurked on here for a while I've now registered so that I can post a query (I know I should introduce myself in the Newbies section but......). Apologies for the long post but hopefully you'll see that it's worth it.
As the title of this thread indicates the radio on my wife's 2008 500 (1.3 diesel Lounge) cannot pick up any MW or LW stations ....it just searches and searches and...... FM works fine, as does the CD player and the iPod interface. Now I know MW is going to be ditched soonish in favour of DAB but now and again I want to check out the footbal scores or F1 updates on Radio 5 so I eventually took it into the dealer (it was supplied to us in June 2008 so still less than 2 years into its warranty).
So sometime in March I took the car in and they confirmed that the radio wasn't working and needed to be replaced - they also agreed to replace the rear wipe switch stalk 'cos it was hard to turn. They agreed to call when the radio was in so that I could come in and get it fitted (along with the wiper switch).
The garage called around 15 April to tell me that due to a change in Bosch policy they had to take my radio out and send it back to Bosch to be fixed. They asked me if I still wanted it fixed..... hmmmmmm let me see.....having paid £12K for the car did we want the radio to work? It was a tricky question but yes we would like the radio to work. So I took the car in, they replaced the wiper switch and left our car with a large hole in the dash. I returned the car on 13 May for the garage to replace the radio, went into town to while away an hour or 2 and received a text to say that I could pick it up. Everything went quite pleasantly until, I started up the car, changed band from the blaring FM station and........nothing. Same problem - no AM.
So, a short walk back into the service desk later and the guy behind the desk got "Fred" (name changed to protect the innocent) to witness it for himself. "Fred" wanted to keep the car for a few days so that he could physically check out the connection to the aerial (rooflining etc.). But there were no courtesy cars available so I agreed to bring the car back the following morning of the 14th May where I received a "lovely" brand new Fiesta in exchange.
I received a further text on 19th May to tell me that the 500 was ready to be picked up. I called the garage and they admitted that they had just tested out the connections again, had found no fault but suggested that the garage was in some kind of AM black spot and they had had the radio working some miles from there. I was not happy with their response since "Fred" hadn't pulled our baby apart but decided to call their bluff. First, I found Radio 5 on the "lovely" Fiesta and, surprise of all surprises, I was listening to it all the way into their car park. When I told the man behind the desk this he claimed that we had to compare like for like so I challenged him to pick any one of the many 500's in the car park and try AM. To his credit he chose a BSM car and of course Radio 5, Talksport etc., etc. came across loud and clear. We then went to our "fixed" car and.........nothing, just lots of static and a continuously searching radio. At this point the nice service man apologised to me ...and told me to keep the Fiesta!
6 days later and I still haven't heard from the garage. So my question is, does anyone have any idea what's wrong with my car (it could STILL be the radio but they say it's a new one)?
I should add that tha car has had the "flashing odometer" syndrome ....but this garage say thay can only fix it if I bring it in while it's flashing (I suspect that they will just resynch the CANbus modules - but of course it will happen again and it will appear to me like they have done nothing unless they can prove that it's been "fixed").
The radio must have some connection to the CANbus (steering wheel controls). Could this be causing the problem?
Does the 500 have a conventional co-axial aerial connection - searches on the web seem to imply that it might not?
Finally (just to complete the CANbus info) the car does have rear parking sensors (which worked last time I checked).
Please help me get my wife's FIAT 500 back in working condition. I have no faith that the dealer can fix it and I've had enough of this "lovely" Fiesta. My wife had to take my 10 year old Coupe Turbo Plus to the station today since we don't know when the dealer will want his "lovely" loaner back!
Thanks
Gringonuts
As the title of this thread indicates the radio on my wife's 2008 500 (1.3 diesel Lounge) cannot pick up any MW or LW stations ....it just searches and searches and...... FM works fine, as does the CD player and the iPod interface. Now I know MW is going to be ditched soonish in favour of DAB but now and again I want to check out the footbal scores or F1 updates on Radio 5 so I eventually took it into the dealer (it was supplied to us in June 2008 so still less than 2 years into its warranty).
So sometime in March I took the car in and they confirmed that the radio wasn't working and needed to be replaced - they also agreed to replace the rear wipe switch stalk 'cos it was hard to turn. They agreed to call when the radio was in so that I could come in and get it fitted (along with the wiper switch).
The garage called around 15 April to tell me that due to a change in Bosch policy they had to take my radio out and send it back to Bosch to be fixed. They asked me if I still wanted it fixed..... hmmmmmm let me see.....having paid £12K for the car did we want the radio to work? It was a tricky question but yes we would like the radio to work. So I took the car in, they replaced the wiper switch and left our car with a large hole in the dash. I returned the car on 13 May for the garage to replace the radio, went into town to while away an hour or 2 and received a text to say that I could pick it up. Everything went quite pleasantly until, I started up the car, changed band from the blaring FM station and........nothing. Same problem - no AM.
So, a short walk back into the service desk later and the guy behind the desk got "Fred" (name changed to protect the innocent) to witness it for himself. "Fred" wanted to keep the car for a few days so that he could physically check out the connection to the aerial (rooflining etc.). But there were no courtesy cars available so I agreed to bring the car back the following morning of the 14th May where I received a "lovely" brand new Fiesta in exchange.
I received a further text on 19th May to tell me that the 500 was ready to be picked up. I called the garage and they admitted that they had just tested out the connections again, had found no fault but suggested that the garage was in some kind of AM black spot and they had had the radio working some miles from there. I was not happy with their response since "Fred" hadn't pulled our baby apart but decided to call their bluff. First, I found Radio 5 on the "lovely" Fiesta and, surprise of all surprises, I was listening to it all the way into their car park. When I told the man behind the desk this he claimed that we had to compare like for like so I challenged him to pick any one of the many 500's in the car park and try AM. To his credit he chose a BSM car and of course Radio 5, Talksport etc., etc. came across loud and clear. We then went to our "fixed" car and.........nothing, just lots of static and a continuously searching radio. At this point the nice service man apologised to me ...and told me to keep the Fiesta!
6 days later and I still haven't heard from the garage. So my question is, does anyone have any idea what's wrong with my car (it could STILL be the radio but they say it's a new one)?
I should add that tha car has had the "flashing odometer" syndrome ....but this garage say thay can only fix it if I bring it in while it's flashing (I suspect that they will just resynch the CANbus modules - but of course it will happen again and it will appear to me like they have done nothing unless they can prove that it's been "fixed").
The radio must have some connection to the CANbus (steering wheel controls). Could this be causing the problem?
Does the 500 have a conventional co-axial aerial connection - searches on the web seem to imply that it might not?
Finally (just to complete the CANbus info) the car does have rear parking sensors (which worked last time I checked).
Please help me get my wife's FIAT 500 back in working condition. I have no faith that the dealer can fix it and I've had enough of this "lovely" Fiesta. My wife had to take my 10 year old Coupe Turbo Plus to the station today since we don't know when the dealer will want his "lovely" loaner back!
Thanks
Gringonuts
