Hi everyone, my son has just had his 08 GP T-Jet Gearbox replaced as it was making noises. The dealership (warranty job) has replaced the box with a re-conditioned Gearbox. Is this right? or should they have stuck in a brand new Gearbox?

As far as I'm concerned they should've replaced it with a new one, however they may have found some kinda "missuse" damage. Alothough if they actually replaced it without arging a case against missuse it should've been a new gear box unless agreed otherwise.

Why do you expect a brand new complete g/box? The warranty states repairs will be carried out and faulty parts replaced free of charge to the owner, and they have done just that. So long as they are giving you the same warranty/guarantee on the recon item as they would on a new item you cant really complain. Consider this........if the engine developed a minor oil leak it would be repaired, they wouldnt replace the whole engine so why should the gearbox be any different?

After talking to the warranty lady in Ayr Fiat today while I was picking up my own car I asked about recon parts. She told me that some of the parts they replace have to recon under their terms and cons, e.g alternator (I've had 2 now in just over 1 month) and some other stuff whereas starter motor would be brand new.

In reply to sledge why wouldn't you expect a car part which has obviously failed to be replaced with new parts (If the gear box could've been fixed it prob would have). When you buy a new car or any car with a manufacturers warranty I think its expected your pride and joy should get a new part if the ones under warranty fail.
An oil leak is one thing and yeas if it was a leak which could be repaired it would be, however if that oil leak resulted in a seized engine and was caused by nothing more than a manufacturing fault why wouldn't the engine be replaced?

Just because its Fiat and it's a cheap car doesn't mean you have to accept that things will go wrong ALL the time you have to take time out of your life to take it to the garage for repairs every 2 weeks (BOUT AVERAGE FOR ME!!!)

Anyway, the closer I come to the end of warranty the scarier it gets.

Ok lets put it this way.....with a recon`, you get a replacement box thats had all the internal parts that are likely to wear or fail (bearings, gears, syncro-rings etc) replaced with new. With a new box you get the same but you also get new parts that dont generaly wear and fail, like the casings. Upshot is the new box costs more. Which begs the question.........why should Fiat needlessly throw money away by scrapping parts that are perfectly servicable?

:yeahthat:Well said. If you go into a motor factors to buy a starter or alternator you pay a surcharge until you return your old unit. The "new" one you buy is really someone elses reconditioned unit. Good old fashioned recycling