I'm really at the end of my wits here so I'm reaching out to the Fiat community for help.

The car:
Fiat Panda 1.2 Dynamic
Automatic transmission
Registered 2004
It has done slightly less than 40 000 km.

For the whole time I've owned it, which is since last November, I've been having transmission problems. After reversing and going back into normal drive the car will sometimes jump out of gear (go into N mode). This usually happens when it's about to change gears. At the beginning it also gave violent Gearbox Failures, but after numerous long stays at a Fiat dealership it won't even do that anymore, just jumps out of gear. I can't say for certain that it only happens after reversing, but those are the only times I've noted it. It can happen anywhere from 10 m to 1 km after starting. Stopping and changing to N and then back to drive usually works but sometimes the problem will reoccur.

Diagnostics have been run countless times. There has been some signs of clutch problems but nothing anyone can pin down. The gearbox was also changed due to the same problems at 30 000 km by the previous owner (only reason I dared buy it). The gearbox ecu shows no errors on diagnostics. Several sensors have been changed. The dealership has told me several times by now that they have no clue what to do anymore, they've tried everything. By now they just reset the 'brain' every time I take it in, which does little to nothing (the car runs for about 2 days without problems then).
A solenoid has also been replaced.

I love the car but it has spent 3 times as long in the dealership now than it has with me and I don't dare drive it anywhere for the short few days I have it when it actually stays in one piece.

Does anyone have any experience with something like this? I'm really getting desperate and I don't want to just scrap the car, which is looking like a viable option by now.

Why are you calling it a Selespeed ? similar concept but that's about all .

your car is a Dualogic which is about as good as it gets for semi auto's (VW golf excepted) altho earlier versions seem more prone to problems.
Out of several semi auto's I have ridden in I find the Dualogic the smoothest of the lot compared to Smart, Citroen & others.
It's unfortunate that yours is having this problem & they seemingly can't fix it.
Iv'e read somewhere else on this forum or others re jumping into N,

I wonder if they checked the micro switches under the cabin gear lever?, this together with the brake & gas pedal contain many delicate electronics which can lead to many difficult to diagnose faults

request dealership sent out a Fiat field engineer.

izzy eckerslike said:

Why are you calling it a Selespeed ? similar concept but that's about all .

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Because when I purchased it the gearbox was quoted as Selespeed. Perhaps because the dealer used to work with Alfa Romeos they have a fondness for the Selespeed name. Apologies.

I've taken it to a new dealership now and they've said it's a mechanical issue and I'll be informed of what's done on Monday.

As for a field engineer - I doubt that's an option in Estonia for a used car.

shouldn't matter where you live, you'd expect the same service as anyone else.

It became apparent that because the last owner and my last dealership had let the problem go on for too long most of the gearbox is shot. So unless the new dealership finds a cheap working gearbox somewhere the car is getting totalled.

Teaches me to never buy an automatic ever again.

Mercy said:

So unless the new dealership finds a cheap working gearbox somewhere the car is getting totalled.

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Seriously

I mean the car is only 5 years old.