Hi,

We picked up my wife's new panda pop 1.2 on Saturday just over a week ago. When we took it for a quick drive in the evening the orange engine warning light came on and we drove it back to the dealer who said he would book it in on the monday to be checked. When we went back out in the car later, it had gone off again, and when the dealer phoned on the Monday, we agreed that we would wait and see if it came back on.

Exactly a week later (last saturday) it came on again, and the car is now booked to be checked on Friday but was after other peoples opinions about:

1) The engine light came on the second time exactly a week after the 1st time (almost to the minute) is this just likely to be coincidence?

2) we were planning on taking the car up to see my parents on boxing day. We have a bad experience of this, as on Christmas day last year out car broke down on the M42 (needed new engine and turbo). Would you risk taking it? - our only other car is electric and would make it but only without the heater on.

Thanks

Guinness the cat

The Orange engine light is emissions related. It means that a sensor on the engine has noticed something isn't right. As this is an EOBD fault, any garage with even a basic diagnostic tool should be able to read the fault in about 5mins. That should tell you whether or not it's serious.

Guinnesscat said:

Hi,

We picked up my wife's new panda pop 1.2 on Saturday just over a week ago. When we took it for a quick drive in the evening the orange engine warning light came on and we drove it back to the dealer who said he would book it in on the monday to be checked. When we went back out in the car later, it had gone off again, and when the dealer phoned on the Monday, we agreed that we would wait and see if it came back on.

Exactly a week later (last saturday) it came on again, and the car is now booked to be checked on Friday but was after other peoples opinions about:

1) The engine light came on the second time exactly a week after the 1st time (almost to the minute) is this just likely to be coincidence?

2) we were planning on taking the car up to see my parents on boxing day. We have a bad experience of this, as on Christmas day last year out car broke down on the M42 (needed new engine and turbo). Would you risk taking it? - our only other car is electric and would make it but only without the heater on.

Thanks

Guinness the cat

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Gosh, that is a lot of bad luck in just two cars.

Personally, I'd be annoyed at having to choose between a freezing drive over Christmas and possibly risking the long term health of a new car I'd bought. You didn't spend thousands of pounds of hard-earned money in order to have to choose between two bad alternatives.

If the supplying dealership really wanted to make a good impression, they'd be round your house this afternoon with a transporter loaded up with a replacement loan vehicle for Xmas, complete with a complimentary full tank of fuel, and your car would be going back on the transporter to be repaired and returned in time for the New Year.

Back in the real world, the logical part of me says to wrap up well & take the electric, the emotional part says to take the Panda & hope for either the best, or the worst - if the engine blows up enroute, the AA will get you there & it's then a no-brainer to reject the car.

Unfortunately there are simple things which could be causing this, like an intermittent connection to a lambda sensor, which can easily be fixed but which you wouldn't want to be driving the car any distance with, as they could lead to long term problems later.

A final thought - if the warning light came on a few minutes after taking delivery, one can only wonder about the thoroughness of the PDI.

Hi Guinesscat,

Welcome to the forum by the way.

Your fault is a pretty rare one on here to be honest, in fact I don't think I've seen one posted about the new shape Pandas yet.

If the engine itself feels as though it is driving OK, it will more than likely get you through the Xmas break. Anything seriously wrong with the engine would probably have shown its hand by now. But don't quote me on that of course!

As for the timing of the lights coming on, that does sound weird! I do wonder though, given that your car is brand new, whether it could be battery related. The fact you have a 1.2 Pop makes me wonder whether it is a stock car that has been sat around for a little longer than usual?

Anyway, I'd try not to worry too much and fingers crossed the dealer will be able to find out what the issue is by reading the ECU data. Other than that, I'd certainly ask them to take a quick look at the battery condition.

The computer should have recorded some codes when the light came on, which when read will give an indication of the problem.
Ask the dealer to read the code NOW, then report back. If the light goes off again, probably will be ok to use.

Just to provide an update:

We took the Panda up to my parents, and it was of course fine.

It got checked over by the dealer last Friday, and they said they had found a couple of loose connections, and repaired them and no issues since.

Many thanks for the comments and advise.

Glad you've got it sorted

What Electric car have you got out of interest?

Yep I'd like to know what your electric transport is too!

And me, I love electric cars, a friend has a leaf and it's really good.
The Zoe looks good, Motorpoint were selling near new Fluence for £7k odd the other week. eUp looks good but laughable price at £19,250! Especially when for £5k more you could have an i3 BMW.

Sorry to go so off topic

My other car is a Nissan leaf (Japanese built Gen 1). I did look at the Zoe, but it was too small, and the battery lease alone would cost almost ½ of what I pay for PCP on the leaf (@15,000 miles a year).


The offers on the Fluences are good, but need to be given the added cost of battery lease. They also can't Rapid charge – only done this about 6 times since I've had the leaf (6 months), but when you need it, you need it. I've seen some leafs come on the market for <£10K, including the battery.


It should be a really interesting year next year for electric cars. Lots due to arrive on the roads – does anyone know if Fiat are working on anything? I would have thought an E-panda would work well. (edit - just read the topgear article about the 500e. Now that is something we really could do with over here)


When we go out as a family we use the leaf for all trips within range, and the panda for anything else. We are planning on a couple of static caravan holidays next year which will need to be done in the panda. With two toddlers, it will be fun to see exactly how much we can fit in the panda (it replaced a Renault Espace)

I'd like an electric car, but the numbers just don't work for me. Something like a Zoe would cost me at least twice what it costs to run the 500.

I think the leaf has some great contract lease deals at the moment, and along with the offer of free loaning of a "regular" car for up to 2 weeks for say the camping trips etc it could work as an everyday family car.

I was quite amazed also to read that it is the best selling car in Norway.

EVs are very popular in Norway for a few good reasons:

All other cars than EVs are taxed heavily, and cost near the double of what you pay in the UK. EVs are even free of VAT and are ridiculously good value compared to a diesel/petrol.

EVs can use the bus lane! No need to worry about rush traffic. This is probably the single most import reason for the EV popularity

All city public parking is free.Many have chargepoints, free of course, compliments of the taxpayers

No toll charges on motorways

Ferries are (quite a few fjord ferries here) free

No road tax

Car allowance higher

Company car tax lower

You save the earth (hide the X5 inthe garage)

No, you can not shoot people from the car



Honestly, this is true! I have heard EV driver complain about slow buses and the fact that speed limits actually apply. Norway is now the second biggest market for Tesla S (after US),Leafs are everywhere, and if you buy a second family car it will most likely bean EV. You are probably stupid not to buy an EV, given the incentives to do so.

Guinnesscat said:

When we go out as a family we use the leaf for all trips within range, and the panda for anything else. We are planning on a couple of static caravan holidays next year which will need to be done in the panda. With two toddlers, it will be fun to see exactly how much we can fit in the panda (it replaced a Renault Espace)

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Great news that your car is now sorted; obviously something to keep an eye on for the next little while, but it does sound as though all will be OK from now on.

As for the last part of your post here, I am sure you will find a whole load of little spaces to cram all your stuff in! We are expecting our second child in May; our little boy is 2 now. So far we've had no trouble whatsoever space wise, although I guess we will lose most of the back seat for putting stuff on. But I'm not particularly worried, if needs be we can always fork out for a roof box to provide some extra space!

Anyway, I've found that removing the parcel shelf for longer trips has been very useful as you can just feed things down into the boot when sat on the back seat. Also, the dog guard designed for the Panda might be handy if you don't mind stacking up stuff in the boot, see this thread:
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-iii/329994-panda-dog-guard.html

Super Uwe said:

Also, the dog guard designed for the Panda might be handy if you don't mind stacking up stuff in the boot, [/url]

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On which side of the dog guard do you place the child?