Technical Brand new Fiat, windscreen wipers skipping and loud

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Technical Brand new Fiat, windscreen wipers skipping and loud

I have every single receipt and full dealer history just 20k on it when I
got it, she was a dealers wet dream. Finance deal, got everything done at
main agent workshop, never questioned a bill, got rid after 4 years pxing it
for another the same.

Got her name/address from the log book before agreeing a sale and wrote to her.
She phoned me and we had a good chat about the car.
She was a widow of about 60 years old, car was garaged most of its life,
she just went to the shops in it and the odd trip visiting family.

They were never renewed, just like the cam belt or brake fluid.
IMO on a 4 year old car these should have been done. Regardless of
mileage. (She did about 5k a year. But the receipts I have and some of the
things she was charged for made it so I'd never trust them to do anything.
That's before we get on to the silly prices. £62 for some copper core
spark plugs LOL
I can get the OEM iridium ones for my Audi for less than that.

My point is if they had said 'Mrs X we need to do your cambelt/wiperblades/brakefluid etc'
she would have just said 'OK do it.' And IMO these are safety related maintenance items too.
So no, I'd not trust Fiat to take care of my car. I have a decent mechanic for that.
Are you serious cambelt done at 20k after 4 years ' it should have been done'??
I think not!
I think people seriously overdo the cambelt issue, no water leaks on mine yet and doing just fine at 45k and 3 years.
I will get it checked next service, but I seriously doubt they will recommend me to replace it and Id say more like 70k and 4 years minimum before it needs to be changed.
 
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Yes Ahmett I'm serious.
I don't mean any disrespect but I'd take that comment more seriously
from someone who doesn't have a reputation for abusing cars.
Cambelts are to be changed on either mileage or time based intervals.
And here's the important bit, whichever comes first.
So yes, I'm shy of the mileage interval by a good 40k (car isnow on 30k)
but in terms of time (48 months) it should have been done, especially as
the last owner by her own admission only used it for short trips.

It's a piece of (Reinforced)rubber that lives in an inhospitable environment and is subjected
to extremes of temperature moisture, salt and massive physical stress.
After 4 years it doesn't have the same integrity as it did when within it's safe service life.
For the sake of £150 fitted I'll not be taking the chance thanks. But if you want to take the
gamble to save a few quid, that's up to you mate. I don't believe in penny pinching when
it comes to cars.
And £150 wouldn't even buy me a set of new headlight bulbs for my other car so in
my mind, it's really not that much money to potentially prevent an engine failure
while my wife is in it driving around. Either leaving her stranded somewhere or
making her panic and possibly even causing an accident.
 
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Are you serious cambelt done at 20k after 4 years ' it should have been done'??
I think not!
I think people seriously overdo the cambelt issue, no water leaks on mine yet and doing just fine at 45k and 3 years.
I will get it checked next service, but I seriously doubt they will recommend me to replace it and Id say more like 70k and 4 years minimum before it needs to be changed.

For your sake, I hope it doesn't go ping.

A cambelt working or not is a binary thing, it's either OK, or it's not; so you won't be able to tell if it's 'just fine', it could be only several hundred revolutions away from a tooth pulling off.

Do it on interval, it's just silly to play roulette with it otherwise.
 
For your sake, I hope it doesn't go ping.

A cambelt working or not is a binary thing, it's either OK, or it's not; so you won't be able to tell if it's 'just fine', it could be only several hundred revolutions away from a tooth pulling off.

Do it on interval, it's just silly to play roulette with it otherwise.
I agree, service interval is 75k so will get it changed before then.
When I checked cambelt on my first car audi a2, you could visually tell that the tensioners were very worn out. car was at about 60k miles but was at least 7 years old by the time cambelt was changed. (mechanic of course told me I was very lucky as I drove the car quite fast from London to Athens without any problems).
Water pump was also leaking at this stage on the 7 year old car by the time the cambelt was changed.
 
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Yes Ahmett I'm serious.
I don't mean any disrespect but I'd take that comment more seriously
from someone who doesn't have a reputation for abusing cars.
Cambelts are to be changed on either mileage or time based intervals.
And here's the important bit, whichever comes first.
So yes, I'm shy of the mileage interval by a good 40k (car isnow on 30k)
but in terms of time (48 months) it should have been done, especially as
the last owner by her own admission only used it for short trips.

It's a piece of (Reinforced)rubber that lives in an inhospitable environment and is subjected
to extremes of temperature moisture, salt and massive physical stress.
After 4 years it doesn't have the same integrity as it did when within it's safe service life.
For the sake of £150 fitted I'll not be taking the chance thanks. But if you want to take the
gamble to save a few quid, that's up to you mate. I don't believe in penny pinching when
it comes to cars.
And £150 wouldn't even buy me a set of new headlight bulbs for my other car so in
my mind, it's really not that much money to potentially prevent an engine failure
while my wife is in it driving around. Either leaving her stranded somewhere or
making her panic and possibly even causing an accident.
Fair enough, I just think with that mileage car should be fine. 4 years is not that long, especially if no leak on the waterpump. If it was 10 years I would agree with you.

By the way I do not abuse my car and if you saw my car in the flesh you would agree with me. I am against penny pinching but I am also against overservicing for no reason and criticising dealers for being careless by not replacing a 4 year old low mileage cambelt!
 
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Cambelts are to be changed on either mileage or time based intervals.
And here's the important bit, whichever comes first.

According to the service schedule, that would be 120.000 km (~75K miles) or every five years. Or every four years “if the vehicle is used under severe conditions (cold climates, city usage with prolonged running at idle speed).”
 
If you look on the screen, there are two rows of dots marking where the blades should be at rest.

Get the Bosch ones. They are excellent.

Out in the 500 today and the wipers were being used in intermittent
Had a close look and as they started to move the top of the right blade very narrowly missed the bottom of the left blade, then as they continued to move it appeared that the top of the right blade actually touched and ran along the left blade for a short distance.
No juddering or ill effects at all - just worked properly:)

When I got home had a look at the positioning of the blades when at rest.
What a surprise - the right bade is about 15mm ABOVE the row of dots

P1010720.JPG

P1010725.JPG


The object that the red arrow is pointing to is a reflection of the light on the ceiling in the garage - not part of the car

Now back to the wipers
Given that the right arm is 15mm higher than the dots and NOT where it is supposed to be and is only JUST missing the bottom of the left blade, I'm sure that it would have caught the blade if it were any lower
Resulting in this (from an earlier post)

Watching them carefully, I noticed that they seemed to just jump at the beginning of the wipe stroke and in doing so the big blade was right off the glass surface for the first 1/4 of the wipe. On closer examination it seemed that the top of the RH, big blade was catching on the bottom of the LH, small blade, causing the jump, confirming what you have said.
 
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Wow this seems to be a huge problem with the 500. I have had three 500's (2011 Lounge, 2015 Lounge and 2018 Colleczione Lounge) and this has been a problem in all three. Once, it juttered so hard on the 2011, the wiper flew off. I am actually afraid to use them for this reason. It doesn't look like Fiat are going to fix this problem. :bang:
 
Because, other than this wiper issue, I find the 500 very reliable. I love driving it. I keep upgrading mine every 3 to 4 yrs.
 
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