Who says they actually replaced the loom? I'll bet the stripped off the insulation, cut out the offending chunks of cable, and soldered or crimped in new.

Which, if done properly, is an entirely satisfactory way to repair - the Fiat 500 isn't the first, and certainly won't be the last to suffer fatigued wiring on the hatch opening.

Yes they will have done that but at least he didn't have to pay like I did. I know I got £100 worth of fiat vouchers but I don't really need vouchers and would have preferred keeping the £112 odd I had to pay to a private garage to fix cus my dealer refused to do under warranty

Well done to the OP though

I had my boot wiring replaced last month, my car is 4 1/2 years old. I contacted CS about it and the worn drivers seat and they agreed to pay for the wiring and labour if I paid for the seat. The new harness is all black wires which could prove confusing later. I wonder if its a different kind of wire? The repair took ages and involved cutting off the rear of the old harness behind the carpet next to the boot light. It's not too neat a job but at least it's out of sight, I may re-do the joints myself with neat soldering and heat shrink rather than yucky insulating tape. TBH I would probably been better off buying a 2nd hand seat off EBay and getting the wiring done by an auto electrician but I wanted to make a point to CS about the dodgy wires for everyone else who has the problem in future. The wiring harness is £900 apparently!

staffordmike said:

I had my boot wiring replaced last month, my car is 4 1/2 years old. I contacted CS about it and the worn drivers seat and they agreed to pay for the wiring and labour if I paid for the seat. The new harness is all black wires which could prove confusing later. I wonder if its a different kind of wire? The repair took ages and involved cutting off the rear of the old harness behind the carpet next to the boot light. It's not too neat a job but at least it's out of sight, I may re-do the joints myself with neat soldering and heat shrink rather than yucky insulating tape. TBH I would probably been better off buying a 2nd hand seat off EBay and getting the wiring done by an auto electrician but I wanted to make a point to CS about the dodgy wires for everyone else who has the problem in future. The wiring harness is £900 apparently!

Click to expand...

Mike, who / where would you recommend I speak to in CS as I think I have the same problem. If I flex the loom where it exits the body and goes in to the tailgate the lock starts to activate, The boot light is intermittent and the handle release no longer works.

Cheers,
Grant

alfatastic said:

Had this fault on mine when it was nearly 2 years old, think they replaced micro switch within handle - the "soft" touch bit under the chrome, becomes solid instead of a mm of movement. Tt is a real muck catcher under there and, it's probably a good idea to clean it regularly once fixed.

Click to expand...

Mines started to refuse to open last month, had been wondering why until tonight when I noticed it just wasnt moving when I tried to press the button, so I forced it open a bit and was able to press the button to open the tailgate again, hurrah!!!

Now is this DIY fixable (and wont have silly plastic poppers that will defeat me! (see the rear washer thread for my defeat )

Never mind, fixed it. Just needed lubrication sprayed into it from the outside and after a couple of minutes it was working again

Scorg said:

Never mind, fixed it. Just needed lubrication sprayed into it from the outside and after a couple of minutes it was working again

Click to expand...

Indeed!

For anyone else who suffers from this, do try the "WD-40 and kitchen paper" trick first of all (it might well not be as serious as you first thought). This is quite a common issue on the new Pandas, see this thread and post 89 in particular by SCORCHIO12:

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-iii/311609-boot-mechanism-6.html

The design of the boot lid isn't 100% the same as the one on the 500, but it is virtually identical. I can also confirm that after spending a good 10-15mins with WD-40 and slotting kitchen paper in between the gap that was getting bunged up, I've not had any trouble with the boot switch since.

my lock would not open only with the key and neither would the no. plate lights work.Took it to auto. electricians they fitted a new earth wire now they both work(i also have a dodgy wiring loom from boot to car body)

Super Uwe said:

Indeed!

For anyone else who suffers from this, do try the "WD-40 and kitchen paper" trick first of all (it might well not be as serious as you first thought). This is quite a common issue on the new Pandas, see this thread and post 89 in particular by SCORCHIO12:

[The design of the boot lid isn't 100% the same as the one on the 500, but it is virtually identical. I can also confirm that after spending a good 10-15mins with WD-40 and slotting kitchen paper in between the gap that was getting bunged up, I've not had any trouble with the boot switch since.

Click to expand...

Scorg said:

Never mind, fixed it. Just needed lubrication sprayed into it from the outside and after a couple of minutes it was working again

Click to expand...

^^^^ A big thanks

Mrs Beans 500 had the dreaded boot release failure recently, it's 30 months old. Called my 'Oh so helpful' dealer who informed me that it was not covered by the warranty and that I would have to cross their palm with £90......JUST for them to 'assess' what the problem was.....that's not including any resulting fix

So, a quick read up on here, I dowsed the release with WD-40, and the next morning, all was working correctly :slayer:

The 500 goes this week for an A3 Cab, will be sorry to see it go, but so glad I didn't have to part with some money to get the boot fixed before it goes as a trade in

Another vote for the "drench it in WD40" from me too

Does anyone know of a simple ilistration of the boot switch and how easy it is for DIY removal.

If I was trading it in I wouldn't have bothered! I traded in a Fiat 127 once and it was so bad I drove it to the dealers in the early morning before they were open so they didn't have to see or hear it move.

As far as the catch is concerned, I was advised to use electrical contact cleaner rather than WD 40.

^^^ I know what you mean, but it was Mrs Bean who was dropping the car off to collect her new one and I didn't want any embarrassment if it didn't open.
Either way, it did the trick.

When looking at it, most other cars have a flexible rubber type seal over the boot release, whereas the 500's is just left almost open to the elements, it's almost as if it was only a matter of time.

You're right electrical contact cleaner probably would have been better, but the WD-40 also helped disperse the water and offer a little resistance to it happening soon after with the wax type susbstance it leaves behind.

Anyway, 500 now gone and A3 Cabrio on the driveway and a very happy Mrs Bean . 500 was a great car for the 2.5 years we had it :worship: and I'm sure we may get another one one day when my son's old enough to drive

OK - Quick update.
Used the 'finger nail' trick and sprayed elec. contact cleaner and WD40.
Catch now moving OK but I found that once pressed, the 'return spring' was not sufficient to make the catch move enough for the micro switch to re-set.

This meant that I had to keep using the 'finger nail' trick to move the catch.

Looking around my garage I found an old wiper blade :idea: cut a small length off. Wedged into the 3-4mm gap. This is soft enough to compress to work the catch.

Job Done - Thanks for the ideas and help :worship:

I know this is an old topic but I thought I'd add my experience and advice. My wifes 500 developed a warning on the dash within 6 months of buying it secondhand - the message read 'boot open' additionally the red light door icon stayed on suggesting a door was open. soon after we also noticed the remote fob wouldn't open the boot hatch. We lived with the fault through the winter and intended getting it fixed at the next service, however events took over and the remote central locking stopped working too. As I'd started to read about Fiats lack of empathy and the horrendous cost of loom repairs, boot latch replacements, diagnostics, remote reprogramming etc. I took things into my own hands, I stripped back the hatch flexible wiring rubber and found a similar story to what others had reported (see picture) Once I could see the problem it was just a case of making a short loom and cutting out the old. The cost still added up as I purchased matching rated wire from Mappins along with a new soldering iron and insulation sheaves. The wiring fixed all the warnings and I later found the remote locking fuse had blown, I'm guessing this was due to a short in the old loom. Out of interest the remote central locking fuse isn't in the box under the bonnet, its tucked away in another set of fuses located in the back of the passenger parcel shelf (20 amp yellow)
These are the specifics of my wifes 500 wiring problems, but from what I've seen I'd say that sooner than later all 500's will have rear electrical issues, it's just pot luck which happens first. If I had a new 500 I'd restrict the use of the boot opening to often, the fault is related to use, my wife use to put her bag in the boot every trip, now she only opens the boot for shopping once per week.

Aaaahhh, deep joy! Our boot lid switch has now packed up. Having had a day off today, I decided to nip to the dealer and ask for advice. I was immediately informed that the issue would be sorted under warranty. I didn't even actually have to ask. The technician recognised the issue straight away, boot only opening on the key fob and said 'This happens, we'll book you in'.

Again, the £27 warranty has come up trumps. I feel as though I should be congratulating the dealer who's already sorted the two previous issues repaired under warranty.

I appreciate that there is advice from other members about 'fixing it yourself' but to be honest I'm not touching it. I'd rather Fiat sorted it out.

Perhaps having a car that was one of the first to develop this fault was my downfall! Glad your repair is covered

good news that you got it fixed under warranty, I assume your 500 is out of it's Fiat warranty and the £27 you refer too is a deal you took through the garage you bought the car from, would you mind replying with the name of the warranty company, if I could get the wife's 500 covered for this amount I'd sleep easier at night. Alas when we bought the car secondhand (3 year old) because it was low mileage we assumed it would be trouble free for a good few years, how wrong could we be!

trickytrevor said:

good news that you got it fixed under warranty, I assume your 500 is out of it's Fiat warranty and the £27 you refer too is a deal you took through the garage you bought the car from, would you mind replying with the name of the warranty company, if I could get the wife's 500 covered for this amount I'd sleep easier at night. Alas when we bought the car secondhand (3 year old) because it was low mileage we assumed it would be trouble free for a good few years, how wrong could we be!

Click to expand...

Fiat 3rd year dealer warranty. Save me explaining all over again, you can read my post in this thread:

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/338132-warranty-term.html

Super Uwe said:

Indeed!

For anyone else who suffers from this, do try the "WD-40 and kitchen paper" trick first of all (it might well not be as serious as you first thought). This is quite a common issue on the new Pandas, see this thread and post 89 in particular by SCORCHIO12:

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-iii/311609-boot-mechanism-6.html

The design of the boot lid isn't 100% the same as the one on the 500, but it is virtually identical. I can also confirm that after spending a good 10-15mins with WD-40 and slotting kitchen paper in between the gap that was getting bunged up, I've not had any trouble with the boot switch since.

Click to expand...

Thank you. This has just worked a treat for me.