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General 2011 Twin Air 85hp

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General 2011 Twin Air 85hp

Cjpinner

Cjpinner

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Feb 25, 2018
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Hi All,

I bought my 500 last week and already having problems!!!!

I have a rough idle to start, the drive 200m and the car starts to kangaroo and splutter!! Then lights up like a Christmas tree then goes into limp mode still spluttering. So I pull over turn off and leave for 1min start up and resets and drives OKish...

I have replaced sparks and coils. Changed the oil and still playing up.

The garage i bought from are going to replace the uni air module...

Which after reading up on forum sounds like the problem???

Anyone else had this issue??

Thanks
 
Don't tell garage about anything you have done in case they blame you for the problem and refuse to fix it.
Did you use exactly the correct oil ?If you didn't then drain what you put in and refill with the correct oil before the garage see it.
 
The garage completed all the work, before identifying the uni air module... Sorry didn't make clear!!!
 
They used correct oil as I checked on paperwork... As I just wanted to double check as they are fussy on oil lol...
 
Anyone know of this problem I'm having??? Seen a few threads in forum?? But seems the twin air is starting to get this problem with age???
 
Cjpinner said:
The garage i bought from are going to replace the uni air module...

Which after reading up on forum sounds like the problem???

Anyone else had this issue??
Click to expand...

Thre've been quite a few TA owners on here who've reported they've had a uniair module changed. The good news is that you're getting it done under warranty - it's a £500+ part.

All the signs are that this is going to become a known weakness on these cars once the fleet starts to accumulate some mileage.

I'm thinking it will soon be time to start a specific thread for this topic.
 
Last edited:
Yep... Mine has just hit the 40k mark so not a massive amount of millage for 7 year old car!!!
 
Mercky said:
Not necessarily, could be 0W30 C2 depending on the year
Click to expand...

We still don't know why Fiat changed the oil spec to 0W30, nor do we know if there's any physical difference between the earlier and later engines.

There is, as yet, no definitive advice as to which of the two oil grades is actually less likely to lead to uniair actuator issues, nor do we know if the earlier engines would actually benefit from running on 0W30 instead of the originally specified 5W40.

The whole situation regarding oil specifications for the TA is a mess. For sure, a lot of cars are being serviced using an incorrect oil specification (at least on paper), and that includes some franchised dealers.

The advice to anyone with a warranty must be to use what it says in the handbook (at least that way, you won't have any warranty issues if it does fail), but it's impossible to properly advise someone whose car is out of warranty which of the two grades would actually be best in practice on the information that's publicly available.

On what we know thus far, I'd recommend TA owners to change the oil every 9,000 miles (the recommended 18,000 miles is IMO too long), and to drive gently until the engine is fully warmed up.
 
Last edited:
As the OP is getting a new TwinAir module, it's probably safe to use synthetic 0W30 C2 oil.

I don't think the oil situation for the MultiAir and TwinAir units is a mess at all.
It's easy: Euro 5 engines up until in 2014 use 5W40 C3 oil.
The Euro 6 versions from late 2014 on use 0W30 C2 synthetic oil, mainly for tighter (Euro6!!) emission reasons.

Indeed some unit's fail at or after about 37500-40.000 mls, or the second oil change according to the first official schedule..
In the meantime because of the (to) long interval, the unit is contaminated inside a lot, and the new oil loosens the dirt, and by doing so, blocking the delicate oil passages in the unit, causing it to fail.
And we all know now, that both MuliAir and TwinAir units have a small filter/strainer that needs to be changed now and then as well, although it's NOT in the official service schedule...
 
Last edited:
Peter Pick-Up said:
I don't think the oil situation for the MultiAir and TwinAir units is a mess at all.

It's easy: Euro 5 engines up until in 2014 use 5W40 C3 oil.
The Euro 6 versions from late 2014 on use 0W30 C2 synthetic oil, mainly for tighter (Euro6!!) emission reasons.
Click to expand...

The recommendations are straightforward enough, but we've still no idea which oil is actually better for the long term health of the engines, or even if the difference between the two is simply a red herring.

I'd wager money that many garages are not going to keep both types of oil in bulk stock, so what the cars are actually being serviced could be either of these, or even something completely different.

I'd agree that the extended oil change intervals aren't helping, irrespective of oil type.
 
It'd be interesting to do a proper evaluation on some failed units to find out what's actually happening. If the trend continues, I can see an aftermarket developing in remanufactured parts, which should go some way to taking the sting out of the repair cost.
 
My car should be going in this week for repair. So will update you on the outcome... Fingers crossed this sorts it!!!!
 
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