Morning.

I feel like I have now truly become a Stilo owner, i've had all the usuall niggles, airbag warning, headlamps misting, changing bulb nightmares etc, but now I have transcended.

Drivers side spring snapped at lower coil, just over half way around from the start of the bottom.

So, no questions for you guys yet, going to do all the good stuff that I have found by searching the threads.

1) Phone dealer where warranty work for spring recall was carried out :bang:
2) Work out how I am going to get car to Dealer (Breakdown cover?)
3) If no joy from dealer, call Fiat UK Customer Relations

will report back when i have more gen, and will fill in the polls too.

"Drivers side spring snapped at lower coil, just over half way around from the start of the bottom".

Pain in the ass isn't it but it always tends to break in the same place, just over half a circle from the bottom. That's its weakest point and a spring design fault coupled with, I believe, possible corrosion at that point making it weaker still as that's just where it grinds dirt and grit against the lower spring retaining cup

Got to mine just in time

When they put the new ones on put a couple of tie wraps on the spring about 1 whole coil up from the bottom so the grit and dirt in the rainwater collecting on the spring falls outside the lower suspension cup rather than all of it being guided into it

Another good tip is to use some of this stuff in the link ..just push it up the spring and steam it and it will shrink on tight over the part of the spring its on ..it will keep all dirt at bay from the start ..

http://www.finishrink.com/

Im new to this Stilo business but mine is knocking on the driverside its not loud but its there is this related to the issue in this thread?

Cheers

WALP01 said:

Im new to this Stilo business but mine is knocking on the driverside its not loud but its there is this related to the issue in this thread?

Cheers

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Thats very probably drop links ..there is a guide on how to change them ..about £13 each at fiat dealers and labour free when you D.I.Y

Nice one is there a link anywhere to the guide on doing it myself?

Here you go
https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-gui...ur-drop-links-anti-roll-bar-links-30mins.html

But have a look at my last post at the end as I managed to get it down from 30mins to just 2 mins to remove them. Time is money and all that

Look and check through the symptoms though to make more sure it is the drop links and not your brake pads rattling

If it stops when you apply the brakes then, of course, it's not going to be your drop links

Quick update, phoned Direct Line and they sent out the local breakdown recovery guys (Sheriffmill) to tow me to my local Arnold Clark in Elgin. Cant turn the steering though as the broken shard is about an inch away from the inside tyre wall, so it was some special driving by the recovery guy to get his wagon into position so we could just haul it onto the ramp backwards.
Even more fun trying to offload it at Arnold Clark in rush hour traffic!
Its £41.80 for the spring, and £100 labour, but the receptionist has said that she will have a word with the manager when he comes in in the morning and hopefully it can get carried out under a good will warranty.:worship: Fingers crossed.
I really can do without the hassle of having to go through Fiat UK / Independant Inspectors / Solicitors to try and get my money back.

If they wanna charge you get a decent set of lowering springs and forget the softy fiat springs, and feel the difference.

Blimey sounds a bit messy! So if your Stilo has been in for the recall work on the springs, everything is done and dusted what happens if it goes again?

gearfinger said:

Quick update, phoned Direct Line and they sent out the local breakdown recovery guys (Sheriffmill) to tow me to my local Arnold Clark in Elgin. Cant turn the steering though as the broken shard is about an inch away from the inside tyre wall,

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Seems rather odd if you've had the spring catcher fitted as most owners seem to report they're easily able to drive around afterwards

If there's been a mess up fitting the mod then I'm sure the dealer will be keen to put it right (gentle reminder might help )

Argonought said:

Seems rather odd if you've had the spring catcher fitted as most owners seem to report they're easily able to drive around afterwards

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Yes, thats what I thought. My car had its MOT and Service in March, and they deffinately said they had carried out the warranty work. I'm not sure what the mod is meant to look like so I couldnt tell you for sure if they actually did!

OK, just got a call from Arnold Clark in Elgin saying that my car is ready for collection, so quite quick really which I am happy about.

What I am not happy about is that they say there is no way they are paying for it, they are also not prepared to contact Fiat on my behalf, but if I wish to pursue a claim against Fiat UK, then that is up to me.

To be honest i originally expected that this would be the response, however when i dropped the car off at the garage they hinted that it might get covered. Ah well, time to write of a beggin letter to Fiat UK LOL

Oh, and cherry on the cake, the front discs and pads need replacing immediately and the rear discs are on there way out! all of this AND the service is due in 700 miles. :bang:Christmas presents from TK Max this year me thinks!

Fiat Dealer needs to get the Area Technical Representative involved to take the matter up on your behalf with Fiat UK. This was the excuse used by Fiat UK's customer services staff to explain to my partner, whom took to phoning them every hour upon the hour to push the case along, for the length of time it took to sort out. Dealer seemed reluctent to engage Fiat UK on my behalf on the assumption that with the car being 4 years and 3 months old and well out of warranty I would have no chance of a favourable result.

Dealing direct with Fiat UK, we eventually received full settlement for a pair of replacement springs, although it was only the NSF one that snapped, successfully arguing that 'safety critical parts' such as suspension as well as brake components should be replaced as matched pairs. Certainly did not want only one spring replaced, in case I found that the car did not handle right afterwards. This would have, during the course of my 24K a year, annoyed me sufficiently to get rid of the car.

Sorry for going on... if you search my posts there are more lengthy ramblings...

wotnowarninglight said:

Sorry for going on... if you search my posts there are more lengthy ramblings...

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No need to say sorry, the more gen people have on these issues the better if you ask me.

Well I just got the car back from Arnold Clark, they sent their driver out to pick me up, and I'm twelve miles away from them so a fair trek and much appreciated it was.

I got a 10% discount off the labour, would have got it off the parts but I didnt mention at the time of booking in the car that I had an Arnold Clark 10% discount card, which, to be honest, does irritate, I bought the car from them, they would know this im sure, so having to dig out a piece of plastic to say, may i have 10% off please winds me up.

=====================================
RENEW O/S/F ROADSPRING £63.37
DISCOUNT -£6.34

SPRING PART No 50701021 £41.18
RELIEF KIT PART No 5179295 £116.13
------------
TOTAL Goods £114.34
VAT Due £20.01
TOTAL DUE £134.35
=====================================

Good news is, the car is fixed and i can see the shiney new spring, well its black, but shiney new if you follow. I notice that there are a couple of new bolts on the strutt too, and there is also a black circular shaped piece of metal rather like a shallow frying pan with a cut in the side at the bottom of the strutt that wasnt there before. Is this the cup that should have been fitted during the recall?

gearfinger said:

Is this the cup that should have been fitted during the recall?

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In a word; YES

This whole business is way out of order if you ask me. You take the car in for a recall and it's not even carried out and yet when you do take it in AFTER the spring has broken they have the cheek to charge for fitting spring(s) :tosser:

If you look at all recent posts then you'll notice springs are nearly always fitted free in this situation.

I hope you've kept all the evidence over this as you should take it up with Fiat UK

Oh! ....and change your dealer

I think I have said it many time before but the whole situation stinks ..when I had the springs go on mine as many of you know I had to change the first one myself because the car could not be moved ..and when my dealer asked to inspect the other spring and decided they would change it ..fiat didnt even have the decency to pay them for the work as well as not compensating me for the cost of the new springs etc ..the whole episode is a complete stitch up ..

To be fair Phil, I think this is more of a dealer issue than as much to do with Fiat UK.

Some Fiat dealers/garages seem to handle the situation very well and yet others just seem to see it as an excuse to increase profits.

I've been very impressed recently with Fiats turnaround in customer service but Fiat really do need to dump those dealers that drag the marque into the mud

Other than paper work (i can't find an invoice or anything) is there anyway I can tell if my Stilo went in for the recall? I have full service history with it at a Fiat dealer every 3000 miles is it likely it woudl have been done during one of the services?

Sorry for all questions I throw at you all since I got it but I just wanna make sure everything is as it should be.

Cheers

WALP01 said:

Sorry for all questions I throw at you all since I got it but I just wanna make sure everything is as it should be.

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Reading this should make things a lot clearer