The clutch pedal on my new Panda Cross 4x4 (July 2020 milage 1k) has suddenly went to the floor and staying there. I called Fiat Assist and while waiting for the mechanic to arrive I pulled up the pedal and got the clutch back. Managed to get home and the same thing happened. Fiat assist could not find a problem but think the problem is the slave cylinder and has ordered up the part ( on back order).

He said he could fit it the part when it come in stock and I would probably be better letting him fit the part at my home as a mechanic in the local dealership would probably say fault not found.

The gear change has been a bit notchy since I bought the Cross new, has anyone else had a similar problem.
__________________

The Panda Nut has had this.

mogsy1 said:

He said he could fit it the part when it come in stock and I would probably be better letting him fit the part at my home as a mechanic in the local dealership would probably say fault not found.

Click to expand...

But this is what your warranty is for! Scream like hell until the dealer fixes it.

Thanks for the reply, out of curiosity I called Fiat Assist again and asked general questions about repairs at home...I may have got this wrong but the way it was explained to me was that the Technician would buy the part from the dealer and then I was expected to refund the technician and then claim from Fiat with the receipt he would give me. As a result on my surprise they are now going too collect the car and take it to my local Fiat dealer on Monday.

I guess that Fiat Assist just use franchised technicians....you got me thinking

mogsy1 said:

Thanks for the reply, out of curiosity I called Fiat Assist again and asked general questions about repairs at home...I may have got this wrong but the way it was explained to me was that the Technician would buy the part from the dealer and then I was expected to refund the technician and then claim from Fiat with the receipt he would give me. As a result on my surprise they are now going too collect the car and take it to my local Fiat dealer on Monday.

I guess that Fiat Assist just use franchised technicians....you got me thinking

Click to expand...

A long time ago a friends car broke down and was towed to the dealership by the AA, dealership said not a chance of it been fixed that same day, of course he was going on holiday the following day, so AA man bought the part, fitted it in the dealerships car park , my friend paid the AA man, then went and got a refund from the dealer.

If the dealer says no fault found, might have been better to have fiat assist change it.

Al D said:

The Panda Nut has had this.

Click to expand...

Yep exactly the same. It sort of worked and drove fine if the pedal came back. It was master cylinder diagnosed and replaced on the spot by Desira Norwich in about an hour under warranty. It was fine thereafter. The new car, albeit only 5900 miles is still OK. The old one had done 17K when it went away to a new home. There is an internal spring inside the bore of the cylinder as I understood it. Bloody silly idea if ever there was one. The old pedal springs did not inflict major repairs and big bills. That progress.

Brings to mind the remote oil cooler on my Renault Savannah 2.1dT. I took one look and thought what a daft idea. As anticipated the pipes undid and it dumped all the oil after just 4000 miles, another car went off to someone else. We've checked it all out and its fine... no damage and nothing to worry about sir......

At least Desira diagnosed it even while 'sort of' working and did the right thing straight away, for which full marks and thanks to them.

An update on my clutch pedal problem. Fiat finally agreed to replace the master cylinder as well as the slave Cylinder. The problem being that when ever it failed I had to pull up the pedal to move the car, managed to take some pictures of the depressed pedal on the floor which Fiat accepted. The garage called today to say that they have had to remove the gearbox to replace the slave(I assume it is the cylinder) cylinder and it has now become a lengthy job (the is a Fiat dealer)...the reason for replacing both was that Fiat had told them. Fiat call me every couple of days to keep me informed with the status ...and I cannot give them enough praise, having said that the car is only a couple of months old and only done 1200 miles.

Well done for sticking to your guns. Having said that, I can't fathom why they had to remove the gearbox (!!!???) in order to replace the slave/master cylinder, but others on here may know better than me.

At the end of the day, if they fix the fault, and at no cost to you, then that's a result.

gar074 said:

I can't fathom why they had to remove the gearbox (!!!???)

Click to expand...

Only a moron would remove the gearbox to do this job as it is totally unnecessary. The utter stupidity of some supposed garages beggars belief... or they were just lying and wanted more time to fit the job in to their schedule. In either event they are to be watched with hawk eyes to ensure they don't remove anything else that doesn't require it!!!

The clutch slave sits under the battery and you can follow the pipe to the master cylinder and in no way does the gearbox have to come out. It is just possible that the clutch plate was tight on the gearbox and needed attention but this would be very unusual.

What makes my blood curdle in regard to this is disrespect in not being clear about what was done and why. At best its very poor communication.

I had a Vectra a few years back and they actually changed the gearbox to effect a recall job. On checking, my car was already fitted with the modified gearbox....... Its not just Fiat.

Got the same problem on my Cross. Clutch going to the floor and staying there. Car one month old and very low mileage so straight back to the dealers, (WLMG Reading) they replaced the master cylinder no problem and then apparently Fiat asked them to keep the car for another 24 hours so that it could be thoroughly tested. So this clutch pedal problem seems to be a known fault, perhaps they had a batch of dodgy cylinders? Anyway I'm to pick the car up tomorrow so fingers crossed.

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-iii/450792-sudden-clutch-replacement-chalked-up-user-error.html

Don't know if it will help anymore, but this was my throwout bearing/slave cylinder adventure. As far as gearbox removal, on the MJT the slave cylinder and throwout bearing are a single part mated on the input spline and mounted above the bell housing for the DMF/clutch. As such, getting it out unfortunately does require the gearbox to come out as well.

Thanks for the replies, Stoneacre Liverpool have confirmed that on 4x4 models the gear box had to be removed for slave cylinder replacement. Fiat told them to replace both the master cylinder and the slave cylinder..it has been ok since they replaced both and Fiat customer service called to give me a first service voucher for the inconvenience it caused me.

Glad you had a good result. I shudder to think what the bill for this job would be if the car was out of warranty.

gar074 said:

Glad you had a good result. I shudder to think what the bill for this job would be if the car was out of warranty.

Click to expand...

Probably about the same as a clutche replacement plus a little extra for the slave cylinder
So maybe £300-400 at a independent much more at main dealer rates

As an update to anyone who ends up on this thread and as a future reference, dual mass flywheel models (so all MJT and late 2012 onward TwinAir gearboxes) apparently have concentric slave cylinder throwout bearings that are both sold as a single part and require the gearbox to be dropped out. This is not the case with early TwinAirs (mostly manufactured in the first half of 2012) and the weird automated manual models (some of which have a dual mass flywheel, some of which don't but apparently none of which use the concentric slave cylinder - which in and of itself begs the question what FCA is up to with part binning and odd combinations when more suitable solutions are available).

Also for the record in the future for anyone who ends up on this thread, private Fiat services are using the AEgea (new Tipo in most markets) cylinder for the diesels and the 500 cylinder as replacements for much cheaper, albeit with some small drilling required to fit the newer cylinders to pre-2015 model gearboxes.

I have remapped al my TwinAir Turbo's, and that is a game changer for a TwinAir turbo engine, it will come really alive.
A remap give you 100+ hp and 170+ Nm, the normal 85hp-145Nm Map is placed under the Eco Button.
Mij last 85 Lounge had 113 hp and 182 Nm.

Interesting, does fuel economy suffer much?

The Pretender said:

I have remapped al my TwinAir Turbo's, and that is a game changer for a TwinAir turbo engine, it will come really alive.
A remap give you 100+ hp and 170+ Nm, the normal 85hp-145Nm Map is placed under the Eco Button.
Mij last 85 Lounge had 113 hp and 182 Nm.

Click to expand...

Apparently this have ended up in the wrong topic.

Sorry to hear this is still happening to unsuspecting customers... Mine must just have had the master cylinder done as it was fixed on the spot in just on an hour. Thankfully it was OK until I sold it 18 months later. I would have gone up the wall if someone tried to take the gearbox out! Its only new once.