Hi all just a quick word of warning to all Grande owners.
I took the usb stick out of the glovebox to add some music and to my suprise I also had the actual usb port attached to the stick when I got home!

I called my local Fiat "centre of excellence" who wanted to book the car in but I explained as I was pretty sure something would need replacing that they may want to have a quick look at it and then order whatever and book the car in then.
So thats what they did.
Two weeks of radio only use later the car went in and suprise suprise they weren't able to fix it.
" Good news and bad news" was my welcome ."We know what it needs but as the car is now in its third year dealer warranty , entertainment is NOT covered"
I would also like to add at this point that the car is two weeks into the third year dealer warranty period. Calls to Fiat CS followed and I am still waiting to see if any goodwill exsists as the car apparently needs a "Blue & Me Convergance Unit" That sounds cheap eh ?
I have been very careful with the port and dont even use the glovebox just to be safe as it always looked vert vunerable to damage.

I'm in the lap of the gods now. Can you all cross your fingers for me ????

The USB connector should be a standard part. If you're confident with a bit of soldering then as long as you can remove the PCB from the glovebox it should only be a 5-10minute job to put a new one on.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2x-Female-USB...Supplies_ET&hash=item1e5f0fb4c0#ht_1039wt_905

Afterall, even if it voids the warranty, which sounds like its expired, what harm can it do to try?

Don't wait for fiat customer care to call you, keep phoning them! they have been really good to me. I got my back box replaced by them 2 weeks before my 3 years was up and it was defo not covered! persistance my young patwan

Not too handy with the old soldering iron but I will certainly be calling customer service again in the morning.
I'm good at the old persistance calling malarkey ! It really should be covered though as I'm sure this isn't the first broken one they have seen.

Just a quick update . Fiat have refused point blank to offer any assiatance with the faulty usb port. Nothing at all,even as a goodwill gesture. I did try my very best and to be honest am more than a bit suprised as was the dealer when I let them know of the outcome.
To say this has left a bitter taste would be a massive understatement because as I said in the earlier post the car was only just into it's third year warranty.
The convergance unit costs somewhere in the region of £400 to replace.
I'm not a happy owner at the mo.:-(

There's a unit on ebay for £50

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fiat-Grande-P...005?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item4cf864823d

Could try local scrap yards as well.

That third year warrenty really isn't worth the paper it is written on. As per previous suggestions i'd get the soldering iron out or find someone to do it for twenty quid.

the port in the dash is just a standard USB port on a wire that plugs into the back of the blue&me unit in the glove box....should just be able to replace the cable with the connector on the end and plug it into the unit, unless yours is in the glove box itself and physically attached to the unit

like this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2009-FIAT-PUN...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item2eb0c2a89c

Thanks for the help everyone ! I got so Fed up with the whole thing I stripped the unit out and dropped it into the local pc repair shop. They initally didn't want to do it as they thought it would burn the rest of the board but I managed to persuade him and it is now fixed and it was free. I just use a male female usb extension cable so as not to put any pressure on the repair.
The one on ebay has no usb so it must be busted too ! Thanks to all for the advice and the
Solution I just expected a better response from fiat.