HI room users, i decided to join this forum after typing in "fiat panda piston slap) into search engine...
Here is my story..... Bought new panda 1.1 active from car supermarket (Cars 4U) in November everything appeared fine until a few weeks ago when i noticed engine noise when car was started from cold which went away when engine warmed sound was like light camshaft tapping.
I had been planning to find a fiat dealer and take a piece of video footage highlighting the problem due to fact it went away after mile or so.
Yesterday wife was using car when all the panel lights came on after just 50 yards so she turned around n came back home.
She contacted fiat customer services who put us in touch with nearest dealer. We had to arrange recovery ourselves....
I contacted them today to be told they are awaiting fiat to reply to their email after they told them my car has major piston slap...... present milage is just 1005 miles.....
seems this is not isolated problem, i would assume means engine rebuild so god knows when i am likely to see the car.
Apologies for posting this on another section earlier

Hi

This doesnt sound like an engine re-build, the noise sounds like the tappets, this is usually more prominent in cold starting and as oil pressure warms up the noise does go away once the car has been running. It is a common ''problem'' on the 1108cc centos, and the 1108 MPI unit in the panda is the same as the one in the MPI seicento i think.

It can be remedied, by changing the grade of oil, or buying new tappets, however its an occurance and most of the cento owners, myself included just live with it, as the noise goes away.

All the lights coming on not too sure, maybe loose wire??

But i dont anticipate you will need an engine build

HTH

The information i got from fiat dealer was "piston slap" not tappets the warning lights were supposedly activated by "knock sensors" so i do thinks its a bottom half rebuild most likely .
Have to wait now till fiat main office tells the local dealer how to progress meanwhile wife is pretty pissed about being without a car for unknown period.
Not good tho for a car thats done just 1000 miles

tbh i would assume on that sort of mileage you would be in the area of rejecting the car.
no expert on this but you may want to put this to the dealer BEFORE any work is done on the car.from reading posts on the forum once work is done its taken as you hace accepted the dealer will fix the car rather than replace it.

i have a problem there in that car was not purchased from dealer but from a car supermarket (cars4u) its also on hire purchase... but yes i am unimpressed and if it had been bought from the dealer i would be looking to change vehicle for another maybe with different engine ...
bumpy ride ahead me thinks

dont think it matters where you buy from as its covered by fiat warrenty and the franchisee is obliged to work on fiats behalf.
any replacement would be autherised via fiat and not the dealer anyway.

as i said im not expert,my fiat is 10 years old

AppleSei said:

Hi

This doesnt sound like an engine re-build, the noise sounds like the tappets, this is usually more prominent in cold starting and as oil pressure warms up the noise does go away once the car has been running. It is a common ''problem'' on the 1108cc centos, and the 1108 MPI unit in the panda is the same as the one in the MPI seicento i think.

It can be remedied, by changing the grade of oil, or buying new tappets, however its an occurance and most of the cento owners, myself included just live with it, as the noise goes away.

All the lights coming on not too sure, maybe loose wire??

But i dont anticipate you will need an engine build

HTH

Click to expand...

after only doing 1000 miles, it is very unlikely to be tappets or an oil problem.

Piston slap was a re-occuring problem with the Puntos (on the mk2 1242 8v's i think). Seems its reared it ugly head here as well.

If you can, get rid of it and get a multijet diesel

although i haven't told the mrs thats what i have in mind (diesel) seeing as i prefer diesel anyway but what i think will happen is fiat will tell the dealer to replace pistons/rings and send it back to me.... now if it fixes it ok ....but if i continue to have problems i will just part ex it( i have told mrs that bit). i will give the dealer a ring lunchtime on monday to see whats happening....meanwhile i continue to play taxi to the mrs

demand a courtsey car?

agreed,with that sort of mileage i would expect a courtesy car as a matter of course

I had this with a 1.2 Panda, dealer said definately piston slap, they said leave it and see if it goes away! Well, it did eventually and then it was really quiet. Had exactly the same symptoms as you have. Apparently the piston skirts are made shorter, thus the slapping about. However, a man in the know tells me that Fiat have a fix for this, teflon coated pistons apparently, but they cost and they only fit them when really needed! Basically if it continues, find another dealer that will get you a new engine without hassle, some will if the noise is really bad. In the meantime I would drive it and give it a couple more thousand miles and see what happens. About time Fiat did the decent thing and retired the old FIRE unit, its pre-historic now and the cars deserve better IMHO.

firstly not sure on where i stand re curtisy car as car was not bought from repairing dealer... tho i will ask about one on monday
secondly knock must have been too bad as panel warning lights came on and wife was scared to use.... so wouldn't use like that had it towed to the dealer (at my own expense)
info on the teflon coated pistons might come in handy

You should have AA recovery for the first year of Fiat ownership so should not have paid for your own recovery. However as you are not the first keeper of the vehicle you may need to see if this cover can be transferred to your name.

can't find info on aa transfer in paperwork that came with car so i guess fiat customer services might help out there....i just wanted to get the car sorted as soon as possible...if it had happened further down the road (1 mile away) i could have used my green flag cover which covers both my vehicles anyway

when I mentioned the piston fix, the workshop supervisor smiled, said nice one, how did you know that! a dealer in London I know has replaced many FIRE lumps with this problem.

nuovapanda said:

About time Fiat did the decent thing and retired the old FIRE unit, its pre-historic now and the cars deserve better IMHO.

Click to expand...

totally disagree with that...

Piston slap can sometimes cure itself, but its a bit off putting when you face a bank of warning lights. I would not think they would rebuild your enging as it will be cheaper to drop in another engine. Must admit no matter who I had bought the car from I would be looking for the car to be replaced there are various consumer laws in place to safegaurd you.We had a battle with Suzuki some 3 years ago over a misfire on our car, it took some 9 month, but in the end the car was changed.
Best of luck

Ian

the latest news.................:bang: nothing nada. fiat according to the dealer have not responded to his email regarding my car and also 1 other vehicle in his workshop.....i gave the lady receptionist an annoyed customer speech as everyone else had gone home...... so none the wiser on whats happening with repair...or courtesy car.....
i am now getting bit peeved wanting to tell fiat to shove it and sort out with my finance company.... anybody got guidelines on this?
just incase it gets to that stage

nothing has changed.... dealer has faxed the "technical" department of fiat where ever that is ...and is awaiting response ...no courtesy car... fiat customers services suck....don't think i'll be buying another fiat.... think i will dump this one soon got no looks on it now when n if it returns...

another day nothing heard from dealer so assume he hasn't hear from fiat....sucks