General A couple of newbie questions

[topsense]

Hey all,

just got my new 500 1.4 sport about a week ago, and am well amused with it so far, but have a few questions on a couple of little niggles which i've noticed...

the FM radio tends to be pretty patchy, getting quite fuzzy and volume tends to fluctuate, has anybody else noticed this?

there is also a plastic rattle/buzz coming from around the fixed sunroof on the passenger's side, nothing too bad, but can be a bit annoying on the not so smooth local roads :/ havent managed to find wat it is yet, anyone else noticed this?

also, the usb media player is acting a bit wierd, with an 8GB stick, it just keeps repeating the same few albums, namely, the ones starting with D, and when i try accessing folders, it keeps saying 'please wait, building library...' how long is this supposed to take?

thanks and any feedback would be much appreciated.

 

[Lloyd71]

I can't say I've experienced a patchy reception on my radio at all, have you undone the aerial then reconnected it to check the connection?

The rattle or buzzing on your fixed roof could be anything, I've got one on my driver's side door window but it only appears during certain weather. Is yours a constant rattling?

Finally, the media player might have a hard time accessing big USB sticks if they're of a particular format or contain a lot of large files. Do you have any other 8GB sticks you could try in the car? You could try using the same stick with only a few songs on to see if this makes any difference, too.

 

[topsense]

thanks for the reply

i did try unscrewing it slightly to check that its on properly, but havent taken it off and tested it yet... i'll try that out in a bit...

the shake is constant over rough surfaces, not dependent on weather, or weather the shade is open or closed or anything...

yea i'll try out a smaller one with just a few albums on it, maybe it'll be less temperamental hehe

 

[Lloyd71]

If the aerial on the roof is connected without any issues then it may be a loose wiring problem somewhere in the car, so it might be worth getting a dealer to check it out if the problem carries on. You could also do the same for the rattling, but my dealer said they couldn't hear it, despite my friend being able to hear it from the passenger side!

Blue & Me and the USB connection are, as you'll come to learn, very temperamental! The official Fiat USB sticks 'disconnect' after each time you turn the engine off, whereas others work just fine. It appears to be completely hit and miss with the USB system unfortunately.

I hope you get your problems sorted soon so you can enjoy the car more!

 

[sharkrider]

I use an 8gig stick..... I've found, the key is, don't just copy your "my music" from your PC, I've put no folders on the stick, just individual songs (copied and pasted from inside the album folders) and then when you first plug it in, give it pleanty of time to build the library. if you make it play before its finished building the library, it will never work properly! Good Luck

 

[nottsfiat07]

I have a cheap 16gb stick that I got from Ebay, not had any problems. However, I did format the stick to FAT32 on the PC first and then copied the music to it. I think it says this somewhere, and I recall advising people to do this a while ago and it did work properly afterwards. I use folders and it has had no problems.

Re the radio, don't want to teach my grannie to suck proverbials, but you do know the volume on the stereo is speed sensitive? So it gets louder or quieter dependent on the speed you are going! Otherwise, reception on mine is always fine.

 

[MissR]

Re the radio, don't want to teach my grannie to suck proverbials, but you do know the volume on the stereo is speed sensitive? So it gets louder or quieter dependent on the speed you are going! Otherwise, reception on mine is always fine.

My radio has never done this. (Not that I want it to either )

 

[306maxi]

My radio has never done this. (Not that I want it to either )

You probably just haven't noticed it

 

[nottsfiat07]

You probably just haven't noticed it

And you can enable (or disable) it from the menu on the stereo. Yours obviously knew you wouldn't like it Miss R and helpfully disabled itself for your driving pleasure.

 

[topsense]

Its not the speed-volume thingy, its just general poor reception, i tried removing the antenna completely and it didnt register any difference, could it be a bad connection from the stereo itself or something?

tried the USB media player with a 2GB drive and its fine, so I'll try reformatting the 8GB one and try again ... it is by microsoft after all hehe

still haven't gotten to the bottom of the rattle yet :/ unfortunately i'm a bit of a perfectionist with this kinda stuff, my previous alfa gtv used to drive me crazy in this respect hehe

 

[alfatastic]

Your rattle may be something simple like the passenger seatbelt, if you have the passenger seat in a certain position and the passenger just takes their seat belt of normally it gets caught at an angle which allows it to rattle. shove the seat right forward and see if you still get rattle!!f you don't I may be right if not sorry you may have to look elsewhere

 

[neet]

but you do know the volume on the stereo is speed sensitive?

I've had my 500 for a yesr & I didn't know this, gonna try it on my way home

 

[Yazzy Que]

Can I ask if you have interscope or the standard stereo? I'm trying to decide on a spec at the moment and am curious to know.

 

[topsense]

hmm dont think it's the seatbelt, cos i've heard that rattle and its a different one heh... i'm think it might be the trim on the A-pillar also... really don't wanna take it to the dealer garage to check out tho , too much of a hassle...

it's the standard stereo btw

 

[Yazzy Que]

Thanks for that. Think I'll stick with the standard as just discovered I lose the tiny excuse for storage space under the passenger seat if I have interscope!

 

[306maxi]

Thanks for that. Think I'll stick with the standard as just discovered I lose the tiny excuse for storage space under the passenger seat if I have interscope!

If you want interscope then get it. Have you had underseat storage before? Will you actually miss it? I don't have any because I've got leather and I can't say I'm that bothered tbh.

 

[nottsfiat07]

If you want interscope then get it. Have you had underseat storage before? Will you actually miss it? I don't have any because I've got leather and I can't say I'm that bothered tbh.

Cant say Ive missed it, stuff that needs to be out of sight is either in the boot, or my wallet and stuff fits in the small secret flap under the passenger side of the dash. You can get more in it than you might expect. Just don't tell anyone its there!

 

[Yazzy Que]

They're all good points, well made. I know it sounds stupid but I feel as if I might need it seeing as there isn't a glove compartment! Maybe I just need to not have so much junk or as nottsfiat07 says, put it in the boot!

 

[306maxi]

There is a glovebox, it just doesn't lock or close. The underseat storage doesn't lock either so your valuables are no more safe in the underseat storage than they are in the glovebox and tbh you can't really see into the glovebox from outside anyway.

You'll miss interscope more than a little bit of storage.

 

[topsense]

btw, do the sports seats have the storage thingy underneath, or is that not available on them?