Hi.
A mate of mine recently bought an April 2014 Panda Easy privately, it was one owner, has just over 50,000 miles on the clock has full Fiat service history, very tidy and was just £2700 but comes with a tale of woe from the first owner.



The car is a 1.2 and allegedly has had running issues from new, the paperwork shows at least ten returns to the dealer (the same one I bought mine from) and printed out emails to Fiat customer service and notes of when and to who phone calls were made. This was all shown to my mate and give the first owner his due he was totally upfront, and my mate got a really good bargain.



Since he has had it, on my advice the clutch switch has been removed, Iridium plugs fitted and the MAP sensor cleaned, this has improved things but there is still a noticeable hesitation and jerking up to about 2500 rpm, it also gets considerably worse with the air conditioning switched on.



On the paperwork from the first owner there is reference to a bulletin that seems not to exist, i'm sure this relates to the software upgrade to 500's & Pandas from 2014 but it looks as if the Fiat dealer is unaware of this.

I actually called them as said it was my car with the problem and asked them to check if mine had the current software and the reply was they didn't know what I was talking about.



So Please can any one shine a light on this for me to let my mate know. Is there a Bulletin and if so what is it's reference number or description?

I'd be very great-full for any help on this.

murphyv310 said:

it also gets considerably worse with the air conditioning switched on.

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suggests the engine is having problems running properly under load. I'd expect it to have similar symptoms when trying to climb hills in a high gear.

If it's always been like this, it's just possible that the engine could have an underlying hardware fault, like a badly seating valve. It's not likely (the 1.2 FIRE is generally trouble free), but very occasionally, such things happen.

I'd suggest doing a compression test before delving too much further, just to rule out this possibility. If there's a valve seating or piston ring sealing fault, no amount of fettling will fix the problem and a compression test will find it.

Good point.
I'll ask him to do a compression test and report back.

Hi.
Just off the phone to my mate and he says in the paperwork there has been two compression tests done, one when the car was just over three months old and again in March of this year along with its annual service done in the Fiat dealer. He says that the figures are + or - 3 Psi between the worst two cylinders. I'd suspect then it isn't a valve or ring issue.

It also has had a coil pack and plug leads all done in the first year but he also has a written letter from the dealer to say the car drives in a satisfactory way and is to the specification that Fiat has laid down.

Sounds to me the first owner was fobbed off.

murphyv310 said:

Hi.
Just off the phone to my mate and he says in the paperwork there has been two compression tests done, one when the car was just over three months old and again in March of this year along with its annual service done in the Fiat dealer. He says that the figures are + or - 3 Psi between the worst two cylinders. I'd suspect then it isn't a valve or ring issue.

It also has had a coil pack and plug leads all done in the first year but he also has a written letter from the dealer to say the car drives in a satisfactory way and is to the specification that Fiat has laid down.

Sounds to me the first owner was fobbed off.

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:yeahthat:


Doing two compression tests on a nearly new car definitely isn't normal practice; my guess is the dealer changed the coil pack & leads for want of something more definitive to try.

Back to basics. Any engine in reasonable condition should run properly if it's got spark, compression and fuel. I'd say the spark & compression have received a lot of scrutiny; I'm wondering about the fuelling; it could be something as simple as an out-of-tolerance or badly coded injector.

Whatever, I doubt it'll be easy to get to the bottom of something which has defeated a franchised dealer with all the latest test equipment and the car in front of them on numerous occasions.

Hi.
Well he is going to try his best on the car, it is for his wife and has a couple of months to fix it as her old Citroen still has a valid mot for that time.
He like me is a bit of a car DIY chap but he was thinking of going to a Fiat independent and seeing what they come up with.
He did say though if there was a software upgrade for 2014 Euro 6 cars what is its description and bulletin number? Surely someone should know here?

Hi.
An update on this. The car went to an independent yesterday first thing. They have condemned the ECU. The problem with the aircon and performance is still the same with the aircon trinary switch disconnected. They are virginising a good S/H one today and will road test the car, if its a fix the bill will be around £250. I'll come back with the final result once my mate let's me know.

Hi.
He got the car back mid afternoon today. It's 100%, just had a run in it and I have to say it is very good indeed, definitely perkier than mine. The bill was as they said and has a 3 month warranty, the garage is in Rutherglen but I forgot to ask where exactly etc.


I have to say we both are very disappointed in Fiat and their dealership in not repairing the the car with the first owner, in fact my mate is going to see the first owner and let him feel the difference and tell him of the cure. At the end of the day he has a nice little car that is all sorted for a decent price, pity number 1 owner was messed around so much.

Great result. He didn't take the car here did he?

http://www.csrautosglasgow.co.uk/fiat-specialist-glasgow.html

Al D said:

Great result. He didn't take the car here did he?

http://www.csrautosglasgow.co.uk/fiat-specialist-glasgow.html

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Hi.
Not sure, tried to phone him earlier but was out, no doubt driving around in the Panda