Technical The one and only Dualogic failure thread

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Technical The one and only Dualogic failure thread

I am having similar issues in Tasmania and have sent you a message.
other than refusing to leave the Fiat dealership until they replace the whole system i don't really know what you can do. But this should be a lesson, if it was me, no one in Australia should buy an automatic Fiat 500!
 
Head Office is calling me tomorrow. I am demanding a refund or replacement as the car is still in under warranty and I have no faith in them to fix it. Saw it today with whole gearbox out and they are replacing second part of the dualogic system, from what I can gather. After three times of it being fixed, and each resulting in the problem returning within a day or two, just don't feel safe.
 
Head Office is calling me tomorrow. I am demanding a refund or replacement as the car is still in under warranty and I have no faith in them to fix it. Saw it today with whole gearbox out and they are replacing second part of the dualogic system, from what I can gather. After three times of it being fixed, and each resulting in the problem returning within a day or two, just don't feel safe.
Best of luck! Keep us up to date, negative or positive!
 
Help - another dualogic problem

Just wondering if anyone has had the same problem as me. My 500 sport literally would not change gears 'up' (I always drive in auto mode) and when it went back to the dealer under warranty they said it was the alternator which they replaced. One week later same thing has happened, seems the gears just get stuck. Towed back to the dealer again. I am not very happy as my car is only 1 year old. Very low kilometres and totally cared for. No 'fault' display appeared.
 
re: Help - another dualogic problem

Thanks John.
Now my car needs a selespeed actuator. Glad I still have warranty :confused:
 
Re: Help - another dualogic problem

Thanks John.
Now my car needs a selespeed actuator. Glad I still have warranty :confused:
it may not fix the problem, you may end up needing a whole new unit. Yes if it still gives problems do not keep the car beyond warranty!
 
Ok so Fiat 500 auto 2008 failed to find gear when wife was driving leaving her stuck in neutral. AA said it had low fluid so topped up fluid and repressurised system via software but was unable to solve problem. When I had a look at home I found that one of the large fuses in the engine compartment had blown fuse F83 in the hand book diagram which does not exist in the look up table so have presumed its F84 which is the Dualogic gearbox (control unit solenoid valves ). When you replace the fuse it blows immediately you open the car door......
Is this the pump the actuator of the control unit ???

What diagnostics do I need to determine the problem or is it main dealer time !!
 
I'm guessing that opening the door triggers powering up the selespeed system and that a hard wiring fault somewhere is blowing the fuse.

Multiecuscan may be able to interrogate the system to obtain further information, but if there is a physical wiring fault, no diagnostics will be completely reliable.
 
Hello Forum,
So!... Guess what? Got a brand new Fiat 500 and the gearbox failed on day 2.
Back to the dealer - car returned on day 10 of ownership. Apparently it was a bad battery! (yeah I know - BS). Getting any info was nigh-on impossible - I assume all Fiat dealership staff undergoes the same training irrespective of country.
Day 20 same fault - it is stuck in gear on attempting to start. 2 weeks later still no news!
Assuming the dealership are clueless, coach me through helping them find the fault and fixing it... We want to keep the car if we can - at least as long as the warranty.
Currently about 240km on the clock.

/PhilMac
 
Hello Forum,
So!... Guess what? Got a brand new Fiat 500 and the gearbox failed on day 2.
Back to the dealer - car returned on day 10 of ownership. Apparently it was a bad battery! (yeah I know - BS). Getting any info was nigh-on impossible - I assume all Fiat dealership staff undergoes the same training irrespective of country.
Day 20 same fault - it is stuck in gear on attempting to start. 2 weeks later still no news!
Assuming the dealership are clueless, coach me through helping them find the fault and fixing it... We want to keep the car if we can - at least as long as the warranty.
Currently about 240km on the clock.

/PhilMac

You should reject the car right away (not fit for use/of merchantable quality ), and ask for a new car they've tried once to fix it so reject it before you loose the chance to do so . Assuming your consumer rights are the same there as here keep notes and communicate by letter but don't wait.
 
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If you paid by credit card (even just a deposit, between £100 and £30,000) or have it on finance, then take this problem to them as well. If I remember rightly, 31 days seems to ring a bell for rejection of the car. Don't let them fob you off with it's only got 240 km on the clock and it will "bed in, settle down, adjust", reject it both verbally to the person who sold you it and put it in writing to both garage and finance/credit card company.
Good luck and keep us all posted. If you manage this, then post s photo/registration of your car in case they try to pass it off as a "demonstrator" with low mileage.
 
Re: 500 Dualogic failure

I would understand if I was just unlucky with a Duologic failure, that it might be a rare thing. But the one piece of data none of us appear to have is an idea of the failure rate. Is it 5% or 55%? If it is 5% I would happily buy another FIAT with Duologic, as I intrinsically agree with the overall design principles, even if the engineering is a bit complex.

But if it was some ridiculously high figure, the Duologic should not even be on the market.
No wonder the cars in the USA went the conventional hydraulic auto transmission unit.
If FIAT were so unsure of Duologic in the home of consumer litigation (the USA), then why do they persist with Duologic? Especially as the actuators appear to be too expensive for the production line......unless of course the spare parts pricing is designed to make us buy a new car instead.

Does anyone have any experience with the reconditioning of the actuators with the eBay trader "fiatpartsshop"? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-Dual-Logic-Semi-Automatic-Gearbox-Actuator-Grande-Punto-Panda-Idea-500-/331906244334?hash=item4d47275eee:g:VtIAAOSwNyFWeHYa#shpCntId

The US market expects their automatic cars to "creep forward" - When Mercedes Smart programmed their robotic boxes to just slip the clutch to provide the creep they had huge warranty problems! In the US they don’t care so much about the fuel economy. Using a Selespeed unit to slip the clutch in this way just isn’t going to work!
On the UK Fiat website there are 1100 second hand 500s with 63 dualogics. The Fiat independent specialist that I use, says that the Selespeed control unit is very reliable and the same unit is used across the fiat range (Panda/Punto/500). This company reckons the main problem being that Fiat dealers don’t see enough of them, that they are generally trouble free for the first 6-8 years and the dealers don’t understand them. They would rather replace the main components, rather than repairing or reconditioning. The problem is that the complete Dualogic/Selespeed unit is £1300 or $6000AUS from Fiat.
I have been very happy with the TA85 Dualogic that I bought new for £17500 with all the decent options in December 2013. I may extend the warranty with WarrantyDirect (£400) at the end of the year… but the first sign of issue it will be back at the Fiat Specialist who will look after it… if it needs the complete replacement unit, so be it… but for now all is good!
 
Re: 500 Dualogic failure

Sadly the collective experience of this forum tells a rather different story.

I, for one, would not want to own a dualogic out of warranty.

You only generally get people on a forum with troubles, the forum doesn't reflect all of total sales where people have been very happy.
I do understand.
There are places here in the UK that will recondition the units.
Personally I paid £17500 for this car with all of the extras 30 months ago and I am very happy with it. I may extended the warranty with WarrantyDirect for £400.. but £1600 to replace the whole unit inc labour at some future point, doesn't put me off as I have been very happy with this car.
I can understand that if I purchased it for £5000 second hand, this would be very off putting!
 
I don't believe PhilMac’s new car failure is because the unit is leaking or the pump bushes are warn. It will be down to a sensor or wiring issue, but you try getting a Fiat Dealer to sort this correctly..It’s pot luck with the technician.
 
Hey all,

the other day I was driving my wife's 500, when it felt like the clutch slipped.
Her car is the TA, so it has a bit of torque around the 2K RPM range. While it was in 2nd gear, at about 2K RPM, I put my foot down a little bit and it felt like it slipped. The car jerked around a little bit, thumped, then a myriad of warning lights came on, such as picture of a spanner and a warning that ABS and traction control had failed. Even though the warning lights were on, the car drove normal. Everything has been fine since.

My mechanic, who used to have a duelogic equipped 147, told me to get rid of it as clutch slipping issues and popping out of gear is only the start of other expensive issues.

Her car has around 60K km on it. Coincidentally, my mechanics 147 gearbox failed at 60K km.

Should we be concerned? It didn't jump out of gear, it just felt like it slipped and it didn't go back into gear until I backed off the throttle.

Thanks.
 
Re: Duelogic clutch slip

My mechanic, who used to have a dualogic equipped 147, told me to get rid of it as clutch slipping issues and popping out of gear is only the start of other expensive issues.

Her car has around 60K km on it. Coincidentally, my mechanics 147 gearbox failed at 60K km.

Should we be concerned?

Read the rest of this thread to get an idea about how widespread these issues are, and the options, cost, difficulty & likelihood of success of any required repair.
 
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