kendallmint
New member
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2017
- Messages
- 2
- Points
- 1
Hi all,
I am a newbie to the site and owning and driving a Fiat Panda. Apologies if my post is too long or if it should be posted elsewhere. If so, please let me know.
I became the owner of a 2012 Fiat Panda Pop 2 months ago. It's my first car and until last week I had no issues and had started to enjoy driving.
By way of background, I passed my driving test 18 years ago mainly as I felt I would need to drive for work. However, subsequently moved to Birmingham and with excellent public transport links I was able to avoid driving and put it off ever since.
I am now coming up to my 40th Birthday and have small children and I decided that it was stupid to be limited by avoiding driving. I therefore took the plunge and purchased the Panda Pop after seeing it at a local dealer garage. It is small and sturdy and with an excellent service history it appeared reliable for doing the school run, shopping .etc.
After driving the car for 6 weeks with no issues, I went out in the car last Thursday to do the school run. It was freezing here in Birmingham, it took about 10 minutes to defrost the car before heading out. I did the school run without issue, which is about 5 minutes there, a stop of about 20 minutes and 5 minutes back.
After returning home and then heading out again, I stopped at a major traffic light junction at the top of my road. This has 4 sets of light changes and only allows 3-4 cars through at each change. When anticipating the lights in my favour, I prepared to pull away in 1st gear but was surprised that on lifting the clutch could not get a "bite point". I felt a slight blip where it would normally be and then nothing. This led to the car stalling. On re-starting the car, the clutch worked fine and I was able to move off.
I continued on my journey and thought to mention the issue to my husband later that day. I had not driven in such cold conditions and was not sure if it related to that but felt it was definitely a clutch issue.
However, after a further 5-10 minutes of stop/start driving I reached my local town and stopped at a major traffic light junction. Where the same issue occurred and the car stalled. This time the car was reluctant to re-start and I had no option but to block the flow of traffic until thankfully the engine re-started and I was able to move off.
The car was driven home and for a subsequent school run the same day with no issue. However, it did occur the following morning at a traffic light junction where I had been stationary and had to move away at the change of lights.
My neighbour, a mechanic, also took the car out and it did not occur for him. However, after me describing the issue and looking at the engine he considers that the problem is that the rod from the slave cylinder is corroded and this causes sticking.
The car came with a 3 month warranty and I telephoned the dealer the day it happened and took it over the following day. However, rather than investigate the issue they simply kept the car for a day, drove it around and told me they have not come across the fault described. In addition, the dealer owner launched into a tirade of all the reasons he considered I caused the stalling issue: not enough gas, not engaging 1st gear, not releasing the handbrake .etc. As far as I am aware they have not even looked at the engine and investigated the possible clutch issue.
I don't know what to do next but feel very angry and upset at the treatment I received from the dealer when I presented with a genuine issue and also concerned about driving the car in case the issue were to occur again.
Has anyone else come across a similar problem?
I am a newbie to the site and owning and driving a Fiat Panda. Apologies if my post is too long or if it should be posted elsewhere. If so, please let me know.
I became the owner of a 2012 Fiat Panda Pop 2 months ago. It's my first car and until last week I had no issues and had started to enjoy driving.
By way of background, I passed my driving test 18 years ago mainly as I felt I would need to drive for work. However, subsequently moved to Birmingham and with excellent public transport links I was able to avoid driving and put it off ever since.
I am now coming up to my 40th Birthday and have small children and I decided that it was stupid to be limited by avoiding driving. I therefore took the plunge and purchased the Panda Pop after seeing it at a local dealer garage. It is small and sturdy and with an excellent service history it appeared reliable for doing the school run, shopping .etc.
After driving the car for 6 weeks with no issues, I went out in the car last Thursday to do the school run. It was freezing here in Birmingham, it took about 10 minutes to defrost the car before heading out. I did the school run without issue, which is about 5 minutes there, a stop of about 20 minutes and 5 minutes back.
After returning home and then heading out again, I stopped at a major traffic light junction at the top of my road. This has 4 sets of light changes and only allows 3-4 cars through at each change. When anticipating the lights in my favour, I prepared to pull away in 1st gear but was surprised that on lifting the clutch could not get a "bite point". I felt a slight blip where it would normally be and then nothing. This led to the car stalling. On re-starting the car, the clutch worked fine and I was able to move off.
I continued on my journey and thought to mention the issue to my husband later that day. I had not driven in such cold conditions and was not sure if it related to that but felt it was definitely a clutch issue.
However, after a further 5-10 minutes of stop/start driving I reached my local town and stopped at a major traffic light junction. Where the same issue occurred and the car stalled. This time the car was reluctant to re-start and I had no option but to block the flow of traffic until thankfully the engine re-started and I was able to move off.
The car was driven home and for a subsequent school run the same day with no issue. However, it did occur the following morning at a traffic light junction where I had been stationary and had to move away at the change of lights.
My neighbour, a mechanic, also took the car out and it did not occur for him. However, after me describing the issue and looking at the engine he considers that the problem is that the rod from the slave cylinder is corroded and this causes sticking.
The car came with a 3 month warranty and I telephoned the dealer the day it happened and took it over the following day. However, rather than investigate the issue they simply kept the car for a day, drove it around and told me they have not come across the fault described. In addition, the dealer owner launched into a tirade of all the reasons he considered I caused the stalling issue: not enough gas, not engaging 1st gear, not releasing the handbrake .etc. As far as I am aware they have not even looked at the engine and investigated the possible clutch issue.
I don't know what to do next but feel very angry and upset at the treatment I received from the dealer when I presented with a genuine issue and also concerned about driving the car in case the issue were to occur again.
Has anyone else come across a similar problem?
