Hi Everyone ....my first post on here...and of course..it would be a technical one!
Purchased a late 2012 Panda Dualogic 0.9 end of June, 23k mileage, great condition. All good until this morning - The on-dash Message pops up 'Transmission - check Handbook' ...and when I move into 1st gear I get a very disconcerting whine and generally unsettling noise, and no gear selection!

So - reading the forum posts under this fault message I am beginning to fear I've purchased a 'pup'....will need a new gear box, or possibly there's a fault with the 'selespeed' as a member mentions - whatever that is!

Can anyone confirm some/any of this, and what my options are for repair?
The dealer had a warranty sold with the car, so I'm assuming the worst and I'll be onto him to activate this process.
Comments/advice appreciated -
Chris

Hi Chris

Its not an AUTO.. but a ROBOT changing gear and working the Clutch for you

ROBOT uses 'selespeed fluid' to work all this hydraulic magic

There are layers of complexity

But- several easy things to check yourself

Do the Brake lights all work correctly?

Does the pump run as you open the door?

Peek underneath the enginebay.. is the Gearbox 'wet looking' ? - the Selespeed fluid is an a 'plastic screenwash style tank' in that region.. leaks are not unheard of

Charlie

I'll suggest two things that are worth doing, and one thing that isn't.

The first thing worth doing is to read this thread if you haven't already found it. If I were to summarise the thread in a sentence, it'd be something like this:

"Dualogics go wrong fairly often, even relatively low mileage ones, and when they do, a proper, lasting repair is usually expensive (£2000+)."

The second thing to do is to take it back to the place you bought it, tell them what's happened, and ask them to fix it. If you've had it less than three months, they do have some obligations to deal with this sort of a fault.

The one thing you absolutely must not do is to mess with it in any way, or allow anyone else to mess with it, before taking it back to the selling dealership. If you do, you'll likely a) invalidate the warranty and b) lose any rights you may have against the selling dealer.

Do not be surprised to find that the selling dealer and/or warranty company will try a low-cost solution such as resetting the fault codes and/or topping up the selespeed fluid. Neither will do more than provide a temporary fix at best, but if they can keep it running somehow until the end of the warranty, they're off the hook.

varesecrazy said:

Hi Chris

Its not an AUTO.. but a ROBOT changing gear and working the Clutch for you

ROBOT uses 'selespeed fluid' to work all this hydraulic magic

There are layers of complexity

But- several easy things to check yourself

Do the Brake lights all work correctly?

Does the pump run as you open the door?

Peek underneath the enginebay.. is the Gearbox 'wet looking' ? - the Selespeed fluid is an a 'plastic screenwash style tank' in that region.. leaks are not unheard of

Charlie

Click to expand...

Hi Charlie - very many thanks, helpful! ..and love the rapid responses on here.

OK - just checked...
Very strange - I decided to check the car out of pure curiosity - and it started and I could select a gear in the normal Duologic manner..flip it out of N into 1st. NO noise and no message came up?!
- The pump does kick-in on opening the door (I did wonder what that noise was when I first drove the car)..
- All brake lights working

I have not been able to get under the engine bay yet to check the selespeed reservoir as you suggested, but I will tomorrow.
All very odd - I'm nervous of going out on a test drive in case it all goes belly-up on the road, so could it be a vehicle software or minor hardware malfunction? Either way - I'm guessing I have an issue somewhere that needs an expert to investigate :-/

Best,
Chris

I have a distant memory that if you do 'something' wrong - it might be trying to move the lever while the engine's not running - the system needs to be reset. An elderly relative of mine has one and has done this a few times. I can't see any ref to what to do in the owner handbook, but I'm sure somewhere we found 'the procedure' to share with her (this was a while back as she is no longer driving as too old and infirm)

That's an interesting one, and may well explain the 'problem' coming and going!. I've been out and about yesterday and today, mixed A&B roads, and no repeat of the message or gear selection issue. Still wary, but will have a search to see if there is a procedure as such. I can't recall what I did at the time (other than moving to neutral and turning off the engine and leaving it for an hour or two!)
If there is an update on the issue I'll be sure to let others know on here.
Cheers and many thanks,
Chris

Dubbaday said:

That's an interesting one, and may well explain the 'problem' coming and going!. I've been out and about yesterday and today, mixed A&B roads, and no repeat of the message or gear selection issue. Still wary, but will have a search to see if there is a procedure as such. I can't recall what I did at the time (other than moving to neutral and turning off the engine and leaving it for an hour or two!)
If there is an update on the issue I'll be sure to let others know on here.
Cheers and many thanks,
Chris

Click to expand...

Having managed to find the handbook supplement for the 169 Panda with Dualogic, I've reminded myself of the the issues our relative had - which generated various messages which are shown in the 'warning lights and messages' section of the (old model) handbook linked to below (Note: do NOT press any of the 'download your manual' links on this page -- they are just advertising links. You have to read the pages one at a time from the site (look carefully to see the 'load next 10' or 'load previous 10 pages', which come between the last two adverts on the page.

I think if your message says 'see handbook' rather than 'Transmission fault - see dealer' (or words to that effect) its possible that you tried to do something it didn't like, rather than a fault? -- but I've never driven a Dualogic so can only speculate!)
https://www.carmanualsonline.info/fiat-panda-2007-169-2-g-dualogic-transmission-manual/2

Thanks that's great...have had a scroll through and it certainly seems like there was something that I may have inadvertently done (I was talking to my passenger just before the problem). It's not 100% certain though so I'll keep a weather eye out over the next few days and weeks!

Appreciate your digging into the past!

Best
Chris