General Dualogic gearbox nightmare......

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General Dualogic gearbox nightmare......

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sem973

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Hi All

Newbie here!....

I purchased my Fiat 500 dualogic new in 2010.....roll forward nearly 5 yrs & apart from a couple of minor niggles I find myself with the prospect of a new gearbox needed:mad:

Over the past month my car had developed the tendamcy to hate changing into reverse, flinging itself into neutral whenever it felt like, including a terrifying incident at speed when suddenly braking :(:(:( Driving in auto or manual mode did not seem to make a difference...

Off it went to dealer who after a few days of diagnostics & road tests cleared the ECU memory & other stuff (apologies as I am no means converse in the ways of cars!:confused:) ......fast forward & after 2 days it all started happening again...

Back to dealers & now they've stated it needs a new gearbox!!.....at the cost of.........£1300!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek:

They suggested I rang Fiat Customer Care which I did today & they have opened a "complaint case" for which I have a ref number & one of their team will contact me in a couple of days....

Is there anything else I can do!?!....

Ps.....car has only 22,000 on clock & FSH

Many thanks for reading!

Sarah :)
 
Hello and welcome to the forum :wave:.

Sorry it's in such unfortunate circumstances.

I suspect it's the selespeed unit that your dealer is looking to replace, not the complete gearbox - that would likely be more expensive still at main dealer prices.

You're not the first to have experienced this issue, and sadly I doubt you'll be the last - though I'm surprised it's completely unrepairable at such a low mileage. A chap named Ahmett may be along in a minute; he's had one of these replaced recently after years of problems and many attempts (with varying degrees of success) at repair.

You might be able to get your existing selespeed unit fixed, though you'll need to go to an independent Fiat/Alfa specialist for this - Fiat main dealers will likely only replace it complete. If you can get it repaired/patched up at reasonable cost, my advice would be to do so and then, er, hmm, sell the car as soon as possible.

You'll get a good price for a one lady owner low mileage 500, and IMO you'd do better to take the money now & put it towards something else than keep it into middle age. Again just my opinion, but the 500 has too many niggly faults, praticularly in dualogic form, to make it a good long term keeper for someone not well versed in the ways of cars and handy with the tools and spanners.

But I'm biased tonight; mine (at much the same age as yours, not a lot more mileage, and not so much serviced well as pampered to within an inch of its life) has just fallen victim to one of the well-known 500 problems & my display now looks more like a disco than a dashboard. :mad:

Fortunately I got it home and I think I know what's going on - I'll look at it properly once I've calmed down and post about it in the appropriate place.
 
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Hi All

Newbie here!....

I purchased my Fiat 500 dualogic new in 2010.....roll forward nearly 5 yrs & apart from a couple of minor niggles I find myself with the prospect of a new gearbox needed:mad:

Over the past month my car had developed the tendamcy to hate changing into reverse, flinging itself into neutral whenever it felt like, including a terrifying incident at speed when suddenly braking :(:(:( Driving in auto or manual mode did not seem to make a difference...

Off it went to dealer who after a few days of diagnostics & road tests cleared the ECU memory & other stuff (apologies as I am no means converse in the ways of cars!:confused:) ......fast forward & after 2 days it all started happening again...

Back to dealers & now they've stated it needs a new gearbox!!.....at the cost of.........£1300!!!:eek::eek::eek::eek:

They suggested I rang Fiat Customer Care which I did today & they have opened a "complaint case" for which I have a ref number & one of their team will contact me in a couple of days....

Is there anything else I can do!?!....

Ps.....car has only 22,000 on clock & FSH

Many thanks for reading!

Sarah :)
yes basically the same as me. you need the whole unit replaced. I paid 1270 euros to fix it with a 10% contrinution from fiat. so your best course of action is to pester fiat, saying you serviced it regularly, this is more than a joke, and get a nice discount/contribution from fiat.
(i only got 10% because apparently i hit the rev limiter about 50 times (i dont get why that is a problem but typical fiat blaming the customer as usual, and me servicing the car out of the dealer network as much as i could = )) )

i dont recommend only fixing pieces of the unit as i did that and had several years of misery. the best thing to do is change the whole thing, even if its crazy expensive. since i changed the whole unit i have not had any problems.

regarding jrkitching's advise of selling the car, if i were you i would get it replaced and drive it for a good year before then deciding what to do. once you fix the part you have a 70,000 mile, 1 year fiat main dealer warranty on the part should anything go wrong. at least you have a year before you need to get rid of it due to life being riskier after the warranty period is over.

the dualogic is simply an outdated operating system that is much more complicated than the manual system and can fail catastrophically with little hope of fixing it except replacing the whole system.
 
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......update (or lack of it!)....:(

Chased up Fiat Customer Care yesterday & now me & my car have been assigned to a "senior case manager".... blah....blah....blah:(

Meanwhile I'm over using the Autotrader app for anything else but a Fiat!....

Sarah :)
 
......update (or lack of it!)....:(

Chased up Fiat Customer Care yesterday & now me & my car have been assigned to a "senior case manager".... blah....blah....blah:(

Meanwhile I'm over using the Autotrader app for anything else but a Fiat!....

Sarah :)
excellent. keep us updated. let's see what that 'senior case manager' sees. you are dualogic failure number 3 on the forum in the past month!
 
Cheers Ahmett!....will soon post any updates!....although my fingers aren't crossed or breath held in any way :(
 
Hi all also a newbie,

I have just started experiencing the same problems with 2010 plate 500 1.2 auto sport...

Just got it from a second hand dealer and have covered about 50 miles in it. (29000 on the clock)First issue,gear box warning light came on couldn't get the car out of neutral. Turned the engine on and off a few times which seemed to have solved the problem, since then it had happened twice and gone in to neutral whilst I have been driving twice.

Noticed on the service history 3 months ago it was recovered from the road side due to this, a software update was carried out but a note said something along the lines of (if problem persists actuator will need to be changed)..

Any advice please...
 
Just got it from a second hand dealer and have covered about 50 miles in it. (29000 on the clock)...
Any advice please...

I'd be thinking along the lines of rejecting the car and trying to get my money back.

Trading standards may be able to help.

you are dualogic failure number 3 on the forum in the past month!

Now 4 and still counting.

I don't remember dualogics being this much trouble this early in the car's life on the Panda.
 
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Hi all also a newbie,

I have just started experiencing the same problems with 2010 plate 500 1.2 auto sport...

Just got it from a second hand dealer and have covered about 50 miles in it. (29000 on the clock)First issue,gear box warning light came on couldn't get the car out of neutral. Turned the engine on and off a few times which seemed to have solved the problem, since then it had happened twice and gone in to neutral whilst I have been driving twice.

Noticed on the service history 3 months ago it was recovered from the road side due to this, a software update was carried out but a note said something along the lines of (if problem persists actuator will need to be changed)..

Any advice please...
yes thats the same problem you need to replace the whole unit at great cost or keep on driving in misery for several years just like i did! so as jrkitching said do go to the purchased dealer and get a refund, telling him the car is not fit for purpose and even dangerous to drive!

mind you, you are dualogic patient number 4! I was patient 1 and got cured after spending 1200 Euros. We have 3 other cases now pending.
 
Hi all also a newbie,

I have just started experiencing the same problems with 2010 plate 500 1.2 auto sport...

Just got it from a second hand dealer and have covered about 50 miles in it. (29000 on the clock)First issue,gear box warning light came on couldn't get the car out of neutral. Turned the engine on and off a few times which seemed to have solved the problem, since then it had happened twice and gone in to neutral whilst I have been driving twice.

Noticed on the service history 3 months ago it was recovered from the road side due to this, a software update was carried out but a note said something along the lines of (if problem persists actuator will need to be changed)..

Any advice please...

I wonder if the software update was really just read and clear the fault codes?

I'd be thinking along the lines of rejecting the car and trying to get my money back.

Trading standards may be able to help.

Yeah, this.

Why have so many dualogic cases appeared all of a sudden?
 
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yes thats the same problem you need to replace the whole unit at great cost or keep on driving in misery for several years just like i did! so as jrkitching said do go to the purchased dealer and get a refund, telling him the car is not fit for purpose and even dangerous to drive!

mind you, you are dualogic patient number 4! I was patient 1 and got cured after spending 1200 Euros. We have 3 other cases now pending.
The car is covered on a 3 month warranty, it will be going back for a full check up and sent to the local fiat garage. I'm pretty sure it will need the new part but am worried I will be fobbed of with a system re test (again)..does any one know how long before the problem kicks in again, want to make sure I don't go over on my warranty...
 
...........the dualogic is simply an outdated operating system that is much more complicated than the manual system and can fail catastrophically with little hope of fixing it except replacing the whole system.
Just a slightly bit off topic, though still on topic - if you see what I mean!

I drive the local community bus and our latest bus is a Fiat (Ducato?) 15 seater minibus with the Dualogic gearbox.

To be honest, none of we drivers like it. Last bus was a Mercedes Sprinter with an auto box which was wonderful but the Dualogic is slow to change gear, especially when pulling away and it seems to hesitate and "die". It's fine if you change gear manually, but that seems daft when it's supposed to work in auto.

However, is the Dualogic in our bus the same as in the Fiat500?
If so, should we be worried that it's going to fail?

Thanks,
Mick.
 
The car is covered on a 3 month warranty, it will be going back for a full check up and sent to the local fiat garage. I'm pretty sure it will need the new part but am worried I will be fobbed of with a system re test (again)..does any one know how long before the problem kicks in again, want to make sure I don't go over on my warranty...


Yes the same problem happened with me the dealer said there is no problem knowing full well it would eventually break but they did nothing so I went over warranty and paid for it myself.


In your case I would be rejecting the car and asking for a refund. Tell them a relative of yours had the same problem, that the car died on them after a lot of torture and you don't want the same issue .

Get rid of it asap or be prepared for random failures and annoying trips to the dealer and going into neutral at the worst time !
 
Just a slightly bit off topic, though still on topic - if you see what I mean!



I drive the local community bus and our latest bus is a Fiat (Ducato?) 15 seater minibus with the Dualogic gearbox.



To be honest, none of we drivers like it. Last bus was a Mercedes Sprinter with an auto box which was wonderful but the Dualogic is slow to change gear, especially when pulling away and it seems to hesitate and "die". It's fine if you change gear manually, but that seems daft when it's supposed to work in auto.



However, is the Dualogic in our bus the same as in the Fiat500?

If so, should we be worried that it's going to fail?



Thanks,

Mick.


Yes it must be the same with that name. Can you get rid of the bus? Mercedes sprinter should be far superior
 
Yes it must be the same with that name. Can you get rid of the bus? Mercedes sprinter should be far superior
Get rid of it?
As far as we drivers are concerned, we'd do it tomorrow!
The Merc was wonderful, but it had done close on 100,000miles when we swapped to the Fiat.

The Merc cost £75,000 if my memory serves me correctly, but this new Fiat cost less than half that. The vehicles are bought as brand new vans and then converted, so there's a double whammy of costs.

We run as a charity, and costs are paramount, so the Fiat SEEMED good value, but none of us drivers think it actually is good value. The Merc didn't have wheelchair access and this Fiat does, so that was another reason the change.

Pity, the Merc would have gone on and on and on. The Fiat will be nothing but problems I'm sure, and the Dualogic will make it worse.

Thanks,
Mick.
 
Get rid of it?

As far as we drivers are concerned, we'd do it tomorrow!

The Merc was wonderful, but it had done close on 100,000miles when we swapped to the Fiat.



The Merc cost £75,000 if my memory serves me correctly, but this new Fiat cost less than half that. The vehicles are bought as brand new vans and then converted, so there's a double whammy of costs.



We run as a charity, and costs are paramount, so the Fiat SEEMED good value, but none of us drivers think it actually is good value. The Merc didn't have wheelchair access and this Fiat does, so that was another reason the change.



Pity, the Merc would have gone on and on and on. The Fiat will be nothing but problems I'm sure, and the Dualogic will make it worse.



Thanks,

Mick.


Yeah that's what I mean miles are irrelevant on good cars !
 
Another day gone & no reply from "senior case manager?":rolleyes: at Fiat Customer Care......despite me phoning 4 times today & explaining I need this resolving ASAP as I'm out of the country come the weekend.....

Shocking service, feeling very :bang::bang: & ready to explode!....me & not the car.....actually come to think of it probably me & the car:mad::mad::mad:
 
Another day gone & no reply from "senior case manager?":rolleyes: at Fiat Customer Care......despite me phoning 4 times today & explaining I need this resolving ASAP as I'm out of the country come the weekend.....

Shocking service, feeling very :bang::bang: & ready to explode!....me & not the car.....actually come to think of it probably me & the car:mad::mad::mad:

I'm sorry you're so (understandably) exasperated with Fiat CS.

Cold comfort, but you're not the first. They are completely unpredictable (n). Some folks here have had good experiences; for others it's been a painful head banging session that's ultimately resulted in absolutely no goodwill gesture at all.

Realistically, on a 5yr old car that's well out of warranty, I wouldn't expect they'll offer you much. Maybe 10% off the parts if you pay a main dealer to fit it. For your sake, I hope I'm wrong about this.

I guess you're following the other current thread on this issue.

My original advice stands - go to an independent fiat specialist & if they can clear the warnings & restore functionality, drive it straight round to your favourite car showroom and trade it in for something else before it fails completely.
 
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Git the car through 3rd party finance (could be a bit tricky to get a refund).
Am I right in saying that if the part is changed the car will ok. Truth is I live the car and can't find another one like it at the moment...
 
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