Hi All
Just had my 3 1/2 year old Fiat 500 in the dealers workshop to be told the multi air solenoid needs replacing - cost £1100.02. Vehicle was running rough on tick over. Thought it was a coil problem at first so replaced these (£100 each) but no luck.
Think it must be a Friday car as we've had all sorts of issues including broken wiring (not covered under any warranty), Fuses blowing (partially covered by warranty), Heating controls not working, Exterior Door Locks broken (not covered under dealer warranty), stop start problems plus a number of other bits and bats.
Fiat not interested in helping out as car is out of warranty.


Has anybody else experienced solenoid problems. The car was off the road for 3 weeks as the part (£500) needed to be ordered from Turin, Italy.

NeilCarpenter said:

Hi All
Just had my 3 1/2 year old Fiat 500 in the dealers workshop to be told the multi air solenoid needs replacing - cost £1100.02. Vehicle was running rough on tick over. Thought it was a coil problem at first so replaced these (£100 each) but no luck.
Think it must be a Friday car as we've had all sorts of issues including broken wiring (not covered under any warranty), Fuses blowing (partially covered by warranty), Heating controls not working, Exterior Door Locks broken (not covered under dealer warranty), stop start problems plus a number of other bits and bats.
Fiat not interested in helping out as car is out of warranty.


Has anybody else experienced solenoid problems. The car was off the road for 3 weeks as the part (£500) needed to be ordered from Turin, Italy.

Click to expand...

OUCH. dont use a fiat dealer? did you have a chat with Fiat UK to see if they contribute to repair?

NeilCarpenter said:

Hi All
Just had my 3 1/2 year old Fiat 500 in the dealers workshop to be told the multi air solenoid needs replacing - cost £1100.02. Vehicle was running rough on tick over. Thought it was a coil problem at first so replaced these (£100 each) but no luck.
Think it must be a Friday car as we've had all sorts of issues including broken wiring (not covered under any warranty), Fuses blowing (partially covered by warranty), Heating controls not working, Exterior Door Locks broken (not covered under dealer warranty), stop start problems plus a number of other bits and bats.
Fiat not interested in helping out as car is out of warranty.


Has anybody else experienced solenoid problems. The car was off the road for 3 weeks as the part (£500) needed to be ordered from Turin, Italy.

Click to expand...

That really does seem to be a case where FIAT UK should come to the party. Even if they contribute as little as 50% it's worth trying. I'd be making a fuss with them.

Fiat UK ignored my request for assistance (raised via their standard help system).
After 28 days I emailed Fiat H/Q @ Turin directly and they called me straight back. A few days later they offered £150 in Fiat vouchers to maintain my faith in the brand which I declined by return email. Today they called me again and said that they would review my case by could not promise anything at this point.


When the problem first manifested itself an independent mechanic looked at the car and (as I thought too) diagnosed coil failure - we replaced those (expensive at £100 each - there is a recall for these, but my wife's car was not covered) but still the same problem (coils were returnable thankfully).


General diagnostic kit does not detect the actual problem so it was off to Fiat. The mechanic also researched the problem and came up with the solenoid problem and quoted £1000 to fix (no guarantee though) as its major engine surgery to replace the hidden component buried somewhere in the middle of the motor.


Finger crossed for some help from Fiat. Will keep the post updated.

NeilCarpenter said:

Hi All

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Hi and welcome to the forum :wave:. Sorry it's in such unfortunate circumstances.

I'm assuming from what you've posted that yours is a TwinAir (oops - just read the thread tag - of course it is!) It's the first time I've heard of this fault, but it's a most worrying development should this prove to be a more common issue as the fleet ages.

Good luck in your endeavours to get some kind of recompense from Fiat, and do keep us posted with how things are going.

Good luck

NeilCarpenter said:

......Vehicle was running rough on tick over. Thought it was a coil problem at first so replaced these (£100 each) but no luck.

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I might have missed a trick here, but are you talking about the coil pack in the first part of your misfortunes? I'm wondering why, if the part in the link (sold by a Fiat dealer) is what was replaced, why you were charged £100 each for them? If they aren't the ones, I can only apologise and I'm sure someone will put me right, but they are allegedly for the TA having seen other adverts:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Fiat-Starter-Spark-Coil-Pack-P-N-55234131-/281261064148?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item417c773fd4

It might actually be worth looking at your invoice from the dealer. The part number for the coil pack or whatever it was that was replaced, should be listed, they generally are. If it is there, plug it into the famous auction site and see what it shows......

I presume the car has a full (invoiced) service history to FIAT spec, otherwise they'll be (rightfully) telling you to swivel.

Provided the vehicle has been serviced to Fiats guidelines, using the correct oil (Selenia K Pure Energy, I believe) then Fiat should be contributing, as MultiAir unit failure (also known as UniAir control I think) is a known issue, particularly more on the 4cyl MultiAir engines used in the Alfa Romeo range.

If you've serviced it outside the dealer network, and in particular, used oil other than that specified, then I can understand Fiat not helping with the cost as the correct oil is imperative on these engines. However, if you've followed their guidelines re servicing, Fiat really shouldn't be shrugging their shoulders and should be supporting customers who've taken the risk on their new engine technology, otherwise in future we might all say 'actually Fiat, why should I risk it' and go elsewhere.

Fiat should be standing by their product, not walking away & leaving owners with huge bills just outside the warranty period.

Sorry to hear this problem.
My mate who has a Mito has has two of those solenoid units go. Car was in warranty. Now it's out of warranty he's getting rid.
I have a TA so hoping don't get this issue later on : /

Update


Having declined Fiats offer of £150 in Fiat vouchers, today, in conjunction with Fiat UK they came up with a 50% contribution towards the repair to be sent in the form of a cheque via the dealer. They also asked me to email them if the payment has not been received within 7 days. Thanks to Fiat for their contribution.


Thanks also to all others who replied. Some answers for them.
1. The coils were just over £100 + vat as per invoice. Wish I found these one that were mentioned online although when this was not the problem I was not required to pay for them. Just wanted to make the point that they were expensive and that there is a 'selective' recall for them just in case anyone gets the same problem.
2. The vehicle was purchased and regularly serviced by a FIAT

NeilCarpenter said:

Having declined Fiats offer of £150 in Fiat vouchers, today, in conjunction with Fiat UK they came up with a 50% contribution towards the repair to be sent in the form of a cheque via the dealer. They also asked me to email them if the payment has not been received within 7 days. Thanks to Fiat for their contribution.

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Well, that's a result - sort of. Certainly much better than Fiat's original offer.

It's probably about the same settlement as that which a Court would have awarded if the original purchaser took a small claims action against the supplying dealer on a 3 1/2yr old car.

NeilCarpenter said:

The car was off the road for 3 weeks as the part (£500) needed to be ordered from Turin, Italy.

Click to expand...

Shop4Parts are now listing these, here.

Are they expecting a raft of failures?

It'll be interesting to see how the first DIY replacement goes, when the time comes.

Wonder if it needs any form of calibration after fitting?

jrkitching said:

Well, that's a result - sort of. Certainly much better than Fiat's original offer.

It's probably about the same settlement as that which a Court would have awarded if the original purchaser took a small claims action against the supplying dealer on a 3 1/2yr old car.



Shop4Parts are now listing these, here.

Are they expecting a raft of failures?

It'll be interesting to see how the first DIY replacement goes, when the time comes.

Wonder if it needs any form of calibration after fitting?

Click to expand...

They look to be of a similar design to the 4cyl multiair units of which i have replaced myself before. There is a "How To" on the Alfaowner forum in the giulietta section.

If it is anything like the 4cyl engine, they are not hard to fit at all and although they can be calibrated afterwards, it is not essential. My unit was replaced 3000 miles ago without any software resets apart from disconnecting the battery and it is running fine.

At last, first week in April (14 weeks after initial problem) cheque for £550.01 (50% of repair bill) arrived from repairing dealer. Apparently they need to wait for the money to come from FIAT HQ (in case they go overdrawn ?). initial cheque was unsigned So had to return it. Anyway a result of sorts in the end.

NeilCarpenter said:

At last, first week in April (14 weeks after initial problem) cheque for £550.01 (50% of repair bill) arrived from repairing dealer. Apparently they need to wait for the money to come from FIAT HQ (in case they go overdrawn ?). initial cheque was unsigned So had to return it. Anyway a result of sorts in the end.

Click to expand...

Thanks for keeping the forum up to date.

I'm pleased to hear you've got a (sort of) result, but getting anything out of Fiat really does seem like pulling teeth .

So - £1100 for a multiair solenoid on the TA . I wonder how common this failure will be once these cars are 7+ years old.

Interesting that secondhand TA book prices are in general no higher than for the equivalent 1.2 models.

I've only seen 2 failures on the TwinAir reported on here, and my Sister's Alfa MiTo TwinAir (85bhp) had the UniAir control fail at 10,000 miles. It was still on the original factory oil, which doesn't instil confidence that failures are due to lack of servicing or incorrect oil being used.

However, given how many TwinAir engine cars are on the roads, the failures seem no where near the level experienced by owners of the 4cylinder MultiAir engines. We don't see many of these failures on here as only a few Punto's and the last Bravo's were sold with MultiAir engines, but on the Alfa forum, it's quite a busy topic, with MiTo and Giulietta owners both suffering. The quote of around £1000 seems commonplace there, too.

Whether the TwinAir won't suffer so much, or whether it hasn't so far but will in the future remains to be seen. Only thing to be wary of is that annual mileage in TwinAir engined cars like the 500 & Panda tend to be lower than for something like an Alfa Giulietta, so something which has already failed in a Giulietta MultiAir engine, could well be coming down the tracks to bite a TwinAir owner.

Fiat should contribute if the car's been serviced correctly - in their defence they have paid up in full or at least contributed in many instances with Alfa's, even out of warranty. However the problem is, the longer the problem takes to arise on the TwinAir, the older the vehicle is and the less likely Fiat are to pay the potential bill. Hopefully if it becomes a more common fault, repair quotes will fall.

Hi
I've just read this with a mix of frustration and annoyance at Alfa and their dealers.
I have just suffered exactly this problem on a '10' plate 135bhp Mito which ive only owned for 18 months.
Started with ignition coil failure on cylinder 1, re-occured 6 weeks later on cylinder 2. After replacing ignition coils 2,3 and 4 my local garage told me that only complete renewal of the 'multi-air unit (£800) would cure the problem. They were quoted 6 to 8 week delivery from Italy.
I found another local garage that could get the unit on next-day delivery.
So i had to go with that.
£400 for replacement of all four ignition coils.
£1000 for fitting of the new multi-air unit.

However, nobody knows how to re-set the Engine Warning Light.
Despite being in touch with the nearest main Alfa dealer and searching professional mechanic forums the guy that fitted the new multi-air unit cannot get the info needed to re-set the warning.

Does anyone know the final piece of the puzzle ?

bryan1963 said:

Hi
I've just read this with a mix of frustration and annoyance at Alfa and their dealers.
I have just suffered exactly this problem on a '10' plate 135bhp Mito which ive only owned for 18 months.
Started with ignition coil failure on cylinder 1, re-occured 6 weeks later on cylinder 2. After replacing ignition coils 2,3 and 4 my local garage told me that only complete renewal of the 'multi-air unit (£800) would cure the problem. They were quoted 6 to 8 week delivery from Italy.
I found another local garage that could get the unit on next-day delivery.
So i had to go with that.
£400 for replacement of all four ignition coils.
£1000 for fitting of the new multi-air unit.

However, nobody knows how to re-set the Engine Warning Light.
Despite being in touch with the nearest main Alfa dealer and searching professional mechanic forums the guy that fitted the new multi-air unit cannot get the info needed to re-set the warning.

Does anyone know the final piece of the puzzle ?

Click to expand...

MultiEcuScan is the obvious third party tool of choice but I can't see anything in the Mito section of the supported vehicles list that specifically refers to the multiair unit. Interestingly I can't see anything in the 500TA section for the multiair unit either! That software might, however, be able to put out the engine warning light, and I'd have thought an independent Alfa specialist would have it already.

I'd say the next step is to post your question on the multiecuscan forum, or even send them an email directly.

The (reluctant) alternative is to take it to a franchised Alfa dealer and get them to program it (gulp!).

bryan1963 said:

Hi
I've just read this with a mix of frustration and annoyance at Alfa and their dealers.
I have just suffered exactly this problem on a '10' plate 135bhp Mito which ive only owned for 18 months.
Started with ignition coil failure on cylinder 1, re-occured 6 weeks later on cylinder 2. After replacing ignition coils 2,3 and 4 my local garage told me that only complete renewal of the 'multi-air unit (£800) would cure the problem. They were quoted 6 to 8 week delivery from Italy.
I found another local garage that could get the unit on next-day delivery.
So i had to go with that.
£400 for replacement of all four ignition coils.
£1000 for fitting of the new multi-air unit.

However, nobody knows how to re-set the Engine Warning Light.
Despite being in touch with the nearest main Alfa dealer and searching professional mechanic forums the guy that fitted the new multi-air unit cannot get the info needed to re-set the warning.

Does anyone know the final piece of the puzzle ?

Click to expand...

Do you by any chance still have the old multi air unit? if so, would you sell me a hydraulic valve adjuster from that unit? Cheers

jrkitching said:

Shop4Parts are now listing these, here.

Are they expecting a raft of failures?

It'll be interesting to see how the first DIY replacement goes, when the time comes.

Click to expand...

Shop4Parts has had the unit for sale for 5 years now.

These engines need fresh C2 or C3 spec oil at least every 9-10000miles not the 18000miles that is specified and the multi air oil strainer needs cleaning regularly.