Technical Another broken breather pipe!

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Technical Another broken breather pipe!

Ringadingdoo

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I was in the car at the weekend when I started to feel a little dizzy and a bit sick, I had no idea what was causing and just thought It might be unwell. It was only when I pulled over did I notice a strong smell of exhaust fumes in the car (you could only smell it when the car was stationary). As an asthmatic I have breathing issues anyway and being gassed by my own car didn't do me any favours and I was rather unwell afterwards.
Thanks to this forum I now know what the problem was and have since made a temporary repair, I have called my local fiat dealer and the pipe will be repaired in the morning. But I am far from happy with being gassed by my own car. Has anyone pursued this known fault with Fiat?, I don't just mean getting it repaired.

I know it's not my dealers fault that my car (now to renamed Christine) seems to want me dead, but im sure as hell going to let them know Im not too please about it!
 
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I started to notice the same 'fumey' smell when in long periods of traffic - I kept putting it down to other vehicles and my fan set to intake from outside etc.

I only had little warning bells when I noticed the same smell when waiting a moment with the engine running when collecting a friend.

I called my local dealer, Hutton's of Weston (as we purchased 2nd hand from Fiat Direct in London- a bit of trek! :p) and their service man said to pop it in tomorrow as he thinks it is probably the breather pipe - a known issue.

We also have a 'rattley/clicky' heater fan so they'll hopefully have a quick nosey at that whilst we're there.

I'll post results tomorrow - will be interesting to see a comparison to yours Ringadingdoo!
 
Had mine replaced last March at a service, and guess what one year later its split again, this on a 3 year old car with less than 17,000 miles, I guess its going to be come a yearly consumable along with oil and filter:(
 
This problem has been going on ages. It hapenned on the Grande Punto & now on the 500. Not sure whether the dealers are failing to feed back these recurring faults to Fiat or whether Fiat are just not doing anything about it. Either way, they need a swift nudge about it because no doubt they'll expect owners to foot the bill once 3 years has passed (possibly 2 years knowing how poor the 3rd year warranty is).

I would do it myself but i've already bent the Customer Relations Managers ear just before Xmas over the freezing alternators on Grande Puntos, so i'll suggest someone else does this one as i didn't own a Grande Punto and don't own a 500 either!

The email address that seemed to get results for me when i had problems with the Stilo is [email protected]

Obviously people could ring the 00800 3428 0000 but it seems abit hit and miss as to whether anything really gets done.

Liam
 
Just read in the Grande Punto section that the breather hose has very recently been modified, so this might be the end of the problem.

Still might be worth contacting Fiat to check that they'll be replacing all failed old hoses free of charge. I bet that ain't gonna happen!
 
Had it replaced in about 25 minutes this morning - also mentioned a squeaky/rattling heater fan but it decided to be nice and quiet today (c'est typique!) but they've said they'll order the part in for replacement anyway :)

Touch wood - all seems good and I'm impressed at the speed and handling of service.
 
Left mine at the garage for the day, will be picking it up later.

I had a bit of a bitch about the pipe and its potential to cause an accident! The dealer said they had never heard of the problem before. I suggested they look at this forum! - Anyway while I was there I too complained about a rattle and the uneven wear on the drivers seat, which they will probably put down to a fat arse or something!
 
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Left mine at the garage for the day, will be picking it up later.

I had a bit of a bitch about the pipe and its potential to cause an accident!

HOw is it going to cause an accident? Surely if the car isn't fit to be driven then it's up to you NOT to drive it?
 
HOw is it going to cause an accident? Surely if the car isn't fit to be driven then it's up to you NOT to drive it?

On long journeys the fumes may make the driver sleepy/dizzy and can slow down their reactions. Not everyone can smell the fumes so some people may not even know.
 
On long journeys the fumes may make the driver sleepy/dizzy and can slow down their reactions. Not everyone can smell the fumes so some people may not even know.
Not really, this isn't carbon monoxide so people will be able to smell it and if someone feels dizzy they should stop driving the car rather than blaming the car for their poor decision making skills.
 
HOw is it going to cause an accident? Surely if the car isn't fit to be driven then it's up to you NOT to drive it?

Good advice indeed... the next time there is an unknown pertentialy hazardeous issue with the car I will make sure I dont drive it.... maybe I should give you my telphone number so you can warm me of any future issues in advance.


On long journeys the fumes may make the driver sleepy/dizzy and can slow down their reactions. Not everyone can smell the fumes so some people may not even know.

Sums it up
 
Not really, this isn't carbon monoxide so people will be able to smell it and if someone feels dizzy they should stop driving the car rather than blaming the car for their poor decision making skills.


only bad decision ive made toady was reading your post. One mistake I will not repeat.
 
Good advice indeed... the next time there is an unknown pertentialy hazardeous issue with the car I will make sure I dont drive it.... maybe I should give you my telphone number so you can warm me of any future issues in advance.

I'm sorry..... above you stated that you were aware of the fault and considered that it was dangerous and now you're saying it's an unknown potentially hazardous issue with the car? Which is it?

Personally I think if someone knows that there's an issue with their car such as this and continues to drive their car any significant distance perhaps deserves a bit of darwinian natural selection.....

only bad decision ive made toady was reading your post. One mistake I will not repeat.

There's no need to throw your toys out of the pram because someone disagrees with you (n)
 
I'm sorry..... above you stated that you were aware of the fault and considered that it was dangerous and now you're saying it's an unknown potentially hazardous issue with the car? Which is it?

Personally I think if someone knows that there's an issue with their car such as this and continues to drive their car any significant distance perhaps deserves a bit of darwinian natural selection.....



There's no need to throw your toys out of the pram because someone disagrees with you (n)

I was not aware of the fault until the fumes became noticeable then I was able to wind down the windows, turn off the fan, switching it to circulate air already in the car, which allowed me to drive home. As I also stated in my original post I have asthma which can be exacerbated by car fumes. So for me even small doses car cause an attack.... ever had an asthma attack in a car while driving? Maybe you are saying that Darwinian natural selection would of killed me off for being an asthmatic, which is a rather outrageous, insulting and offensive comment!
 
Hi guys.

I took my Ka into the dealer to have it's washer jets replaced (again) and they also said there is a new re-call they'd be doing... engine breather pipe! "It's really quite dangerous" they told me, "The old type pipe corrodes and fumes can enter the car without you realising".

I've been told because it's not a "safety" issue, you won't get a letter in the post or anything. Instead, they'll automatically be doing them when the customer next brings their car into the dealer.

So I'm guessing the 500's will be getting re-called in the same way..
 
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I was not aware of the fault until the fumes became noticeable then I was able to wind down the windows, turn off the fan, switching it to circulate air already in the car, which allowed me to drive home. As I also stated in my original post I have asthma which can be exacerbated by car fumes. So for me even small doses car cause an attack.... ever had an asthma attack in a car while driving? Maybe you are saying that Darwinian natural selection would of killed me off for being an asthmatic, which is a rather outrageous, insulting and offensive comment!

I do apologise for not noticing that you were an asthmatic. My point still stands, if a car is too dangerous to drive then just don't drive it :)
 
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