500 problems

Thought I'd make a list in no particular order.

Water pump leaking on 1.2's.
Plastic heater outlet pipe on the thermostat housing breaking off.
Radiator fan resistor falling apart on AC cars
Coil failure. 1.2 and TA's
ECM failure.
Heater box failure on early climate control cars.
Recircle flap motor failure on climate control cars.
Water leak from the front scuttle caused by blocked drains. Kills the BCM.
Clutch master cylinder reservoir filling up with water.
Coolent bottle leak on TA's
Oil leak on front timing cover. TA's
Leaking radiators.
DMF failure on TA's which damages the gearbox case.
Oil consumption in very low mileage engines. Common to 1.2 and TA's.
Gear box failure caused by cheap planetary washers on the diff. Only on late cars and most should have been fixed on a recall. Nice gravy job.
Rusting/leaking sumps on the 1.2. Keep it clean and greased.
Rusty rear springs.
Seized rear bleed nipples on drum brakes
Front suspension arm large bush failure.
Front suspention top mounts
Front suspension tops rotting out
Rear shocker top bushes.
Rotten/rusty brake discs.
Hand brake cables! Done dozens. Do a pair in 15 minutes.
Clunking rear disc brakes.
Rusting rear exhaust boxes.
Rusting rear axle beams. I paint everyone i service with an oil/grease mix.
Juddering wipers.
Loose fuel filler cap. Not a fault, just owners not being able to work something so complicated.........
Rear hatch wiring.
Rear hatch release handle.
Door handle. Replace the broken pivot asap as a complete handle is bloody dear and a pain to replace.
Speedo. Random warning lights flashing with the indicators. Back lighting flicker. Both require new speedo.
Blue and me failure.
Airbag ecu failure.
Gear cable popping off at the gearbox.
Car filling up with rainwater. Leaking
In through the rear bumper beam.
Water leaks through ill fitting/damaged door membrains.
Leaking panoramic roofs

Stuff we rarely see, if ever:
Starter motor failure
Alternator failure
ABS problems
Rear drum brakes are bulletproof apart from seized bleed nipples
Snapping cam belts
Wheel bearing
Leaking front shockers.
Engine failure. Seen one on a 1.2. Caused by a leaking thermostat housing plastic pipe. Killed the overheated engine.
Very low oil levels dont seem to harm the 1.2. Drained one recently with around half a pint in the sump and filter! Low oil on a TA and it just wont start.

Can't think of any more, head hurts. Feel free to add!

Our rear drums were terribly rusted, front shocks rusted through and leaking, heater matrix failure.

And just look what ours threw up this morning (drives normally thankfully )

Oh dear the Money Light is on!

Apart from all the things on the above list the car is a good buy yes?

Texas149 said:

Apart from all the things on the above list the car is a good buy yes?

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Depends how old it is, how much you've paid for it and on your level of DIY skills.

I'd say that list is a fair summary in so far as we've seen all of that here on the forum at some time or other. I'd add that dualogic versions are prone to problems after relatively modest mileages and repairs are often both difficult and costly.

The other side of the coin is that some of the issues aren't actually that common, some are cheap DIY fixes if you've the skills, and some can be easily mitigated against with a little more attention at service time.

It's essentially why I don't recommend someone with no mechanical competence to buy a secondhand 500 at current retail forecourt prices. Residuals on 500's certainly don't reflect the costs and problems commonly encountered by subsequent owners.

But that same low depreciation makes a new one bought on a pcp and traded in before the warranty expires a good proposition; you get a stylish, enjoyable to drive car for a competitive monthly payment. The warranty will protect you against the worst happening mechanically, you'll likely get a good deal at trade in time and if the market does collapse in the meantime, you can just hand the car back.

My list are my findings after working at a Fiat Dealer for the last 2 years. Every 500 doesnt suffer all my listed faults for sure. My own 85TA has had new strut top mounts, a boot handle, a radio ariel base (forgot to list that) and a speedo. All covered under warranty. Its also had front discs and pads as the discs had corroded, my choise as i dislike rusty brakes and an alternator belt. Its 4 years old and 22000 miles. Jrkitching spoke wise words the older they get the more of a money pit they become. Prepped a 2011 for sale a few weeks ago, it needed 2 tyres, front brakes,full service, a cam belt, an aircon condenser, hand brake cables, a door handle repair, a speedo and the rear bumper crash bar resealing. The car had full service history and in looked in good order. Until you start digging. It sold within a week, someone got a great well sorted car but i suspect we made very little profit.

This is not good news to someone who has just bought a one year old 500!

Are you saying the everyone should sell after the three year warranty has expired or do some cars manage to limp on a bit longer than this without huge expense?

Beginning to seriously regret my purchase - it seems to be a shocker of a car!

Sunday said:

This is not good news to someone who has just bought a one year old 500!

Are you saying the everyone should sell after the three year warranty has expired or do some cars manage to limp on a bit longer than this without huge expense?

Beginning to seriously regret my purchase - it seems to be a shocker of a car!

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Most cars will have very few of these issues and this isn't any more then many other cars suffer with
And with one or two exceptions they are all reasonable price fixes

Thanks for your reply chris3234 it has helped to calm me down a bit!

I must say it is a bit of a shock that these popular ( and actually quite good looking) little cars have a woeful reliability record and the build quality is let's just say poor!
I have finally after all my years of motoring achieved my goal in getting a super reliable, excellently built quality car with premium extras and ( if I say so myself) good looking to boot! So now My car of choice is a Lexus IS250 SE-L.
So like I have mentioned before the reason I am frequenting this FF is due to my (17 year old provisional license holder!) daughter wanting a Fiat 500! and those of you who have daughters will now how futile it can be to resist the request's. But all my previous years of having to fix cars using minimum tools and no garage space looks like they will not go to waste as I technically have got a 500 now haven't I?
I have already fixed the broken gear stick gaiter boot fixing ring, fitted a new (Duracell) battery to extinguish the ' Have Power Steering Checked' light, cleared all the debris out of the front scuttle drainage holes, purchased a new loom repair piece for the tailgate problem ( no symptoms yet!!), fitted some plastic covers over the water traps on top of the front struts, purchased a thermostat with a metal outlet!
So ticked off some of that list and not really looking forward to any more but guess who's car is gonna mis-behave next? Hers or mine...place your bets now..

Paul m.

Re: 500 problems

It's really interesting coming from a 2013 Panda... Hardly any of the mechanical issues that the 500 seems to suffer are shared with the Panda.

Odd, considering they're the same car underneath

Sunday said:

This is not good news to someone who has just bought a one year old 500!

Are you saying the everyone should sell after the three year warranty has expired or do some cars manage to limp on a bit longer than this without huge expense?

Beginning to seriously regret my purchase - it seems to be a shocker of a car!

Click to expand...

I've had 4 now first being a 2008 1.2 that needed strut top mounts in the 2 years i had it, thats all. Next was a new Abarth, again that needed 2 lots of strut mounts. Next was another new 1.2, this was faultless in the 2 years of ownership. My current TA looks like the worst one with its fixed fault list!
Even though my fault list looks horrendous as previously stated not all will have all the faults, some have none. It was a list of faults I've seen on hundreds of 500's of all ages from months old to early 2008's

Re: 500 problems

Tom95 said:

It's really interesting coming from a 2013 Panda... Hardly any of the mechanical issues that the 500 seems to suffer are shared with the Panda.

Odd, considering they're the same car underneath

Click to expand...

Another way of looking at that is many of the things on the 500 that are different to the Panda are common causes of grief; door handles & hatch wiring being the two most obvious examples.

Also the Panda in basic form runs on 155/80x13 tyres; most 500's have significantly wider & lower profile fitments which puts more stress on all the suspension parts, both because they have significantly higher inertia and because they are more likely to go out of balance quicker. So it's perhaps not surprising we are seeing more wear on these components (and the same can be said for the 100HP Panda).

By the time you factor in the purchase price, a Panda is a significantly lower cost proposition than a 500 as a long term keeper - my Panda has cost me about 20p/mile all in; my 500 is easily twice that, despite there being little difference in fuel economy.

From the perspective of a cost-conscious ecodriver, in creating the 500 Fiat basically took one of the cheapest cars to run you could buy and made it worse. But anyone with a pulse would say the 500 is prettier, and in the UK the 500 outsells the Panda many times over, in spite of its higher purchase price, reduced functionality and worse reliability. I can't think of any production small hatchback that can come close to a 500 for kerb appeal.

There are plenty of other marques that you could buy instead that will give you higher running costs and worse reliability than a 500, whilst having less style and driveability than a base model Panda.

The list of potential issues may be long, but I'd bet those in the know could put together a similar list for just about any other marque, and remember it's not compulsory for your car to develop all of these faults.

Long live Fiat!

Re: 500 problems

Wow! That is quite some list, I think the only one of those that our car has had since we bought it new (in 2009) is the rear hatch handle every winter.

Craikeybaby said:

Wow! That is quite some list, I think the only one of those that our car has had since we bought it new (in 2009) is the rear hatch handle every winter.

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You're extremely lucky then our 09 has had upwards of 50% of those faults

On the other hand....

I have had 2 of the little blighters.

My 08 Diesel Sport and my 11 TA by Diesel. 08 car did 45k in 3 years, the TA 100k in 6 years.

Both serviced on schedule and regularly thrashed (only when warm)

Between them.

1) One set of front brakes
2) 4 sets of top mounts (although the TA ran the Bilstein B14 kit set very low)
3) 3 door handle pivots
4) 1 tailgate wiring repair
5) 1 injector failure on the Sport (fixed under warranty)
6) Many, many, many tyres

Thats it.

In nearly 150k miles I am happy with that. Would have bought another if my step daughter hadn't sprouted to 5 foot 6.

D

When I had company Mercs and Audi’s I used to frequent the owners forums.Believe me , German so called quality cars are no better than the 500. The last Merc was a£40k C class coupe and it was always in the dealers for warranty work. Our two Fiat 500s have never been in the garage except for yearly servicing.We also run a mk7 Golf Gti pp and that has been totally reliable in30000+ miles ,but if you look at the owners forum it would put you off buying one. In other words the Fiat is no better or worse than most modern cars.

How do you replace the handbrake cable? The handbrake cable casing on my 500 is starting to split, dealer wants 300+ to change it !!!!

Re: 500 problems

Get in touch with the Original Poster of this thread ( Bluetruck ) as he mentioned in his opening post this!
""Hand brake cables! Done dozens. Do a pair in 15 minutes.""

Paul m.