Technical Abarth Selespeed

[morgan]

Took delivery of my new (well, ex-demo) Stilo Abarth in July 02 and couldnt wait...UNTIL...The Gearbox.....

Within 3 days, whilst on the motorway the Selespeed locked up and wouldn't change gear. No amount of button pushing or gear lever moving would change it, also the dashboard warning lights starting flashing telling me gearbox failure, return to dealer. Had to use the brakes to stop and as the car was stuck in 5th, it stalled and I waited 3hrs for AA.

This has happened dozens of times since then and been back in the garage for a total of...wait for it...9 weeks out of 4 months ownership.

Anybody heard of other users with the same problem?? Or do you have any other advice ???

Thx.

 

[graham]

I dont know where abouts in the country you live but if your main dealer cant solve the problem you need to speak to a man called MICK he is the group principle at PICCADILLY FIAT MOTORS at Wakefield west yorkshire it may be quite a distance but if they cant solve it i assure you it cant be fixed tell him GRAHAM told you to ring him

graham

 

[PMasia]

I also have this problem! [!] with a brand new Fiat Abarth. It has happend a total of 40 times leaving me in the most unpleasent of places. One time at a busy roundabout she stopped in secound gear and would not move or change gear, she sat there for 15 mins before she fixed herself, took her to the dealer and they said the re seated all connectors and it happend again while visiting family in cumbria she stopped a total of 27 times on a 20 mile drive [V].

Then while driving back with my mum on the M6 "a bad road at the best of times" she broke down in the third lane, luckly the momentom of the car carried it to the side of the road. dealer had it again and said they found a problem and sorted it! Now just the other day (22/11/02) she did it again on my way home from work, locked in forth gear and would not move, called the dealer they said "open and close you drivers door ten times" I did this and the car worked? this is a reset action for the car apparently. the dealer said that if i get there they will take another look, the car broke down again and i called the AA as the door thing did not work, i think my door is nackered now.

finaly the car resolved itself and I got to the dealers but they closed, on my way home I had to take the motorway' while joining the motor way some massive truck seemed reluctant to let me on so I floored it to get in front of him, just as I was manovering in front the car lost power and stuck in forth, the truck almost hit me. Got home that night after picking up my girlfeind, and was parking the car, put it into revers the revers beeping kicked in and as I live on a hill I need some pretty heavy acceloration to move the car back, but instead she went forward an if i had not been on the ball we would have gone straight through a concreat post. The car did not fix itself this time so I called the AA and because she was faceing down hill almost against a fence the AA could not move it [!] four AA guys turned up in the end and they all said we don't know what to do!

I had to pick up a rental car courtasy of the AA then i drove to my fiat garage and grabbed a fiat guy with there diagnostic computer an took him to the car and they managed to free it up, they have had it since and it still fails with them. This car has put me and my girlfreinds saftey in danger, what reasurance can fiat give me, when they give me back the car?

P.Masia

 

[morgan]

Thanks for the advice Graham, if my dealer cant help anymore I will call them.

Thanks also for the advice on slamming the door 10 times..I will try it.

Update from the Dealer - They reckon they have found a faulty Servo and are replacing it...Will update the list when I have some feedback.

I had the best one recently, it usually always sticks in 5th, but had it stuck in First - in a Multi storey carpark. Called the AA, but there Van couldnt fit into the carpark!!!!!![!][!]

We had to push it out!! 3 Levels !!!! UPHILL!!![xx(][xx(]

And to top it all I have had to pay an extra £80 Insurance to cover my use of the Punto hire car!

 

[PMasia]

Just got my car back and my garage replace all three servo's, I must say the gear change is less notchy than before. will keep you updated with any results. morgan something is wrong somewere, you should not pay because Fiat already pay the AA to hire you a car for 2 days then its up to your dealer to take on the hire or supply a cover car, the hire company should put you on their insurance, I would talk to your dealer ASAP.




P.Masia

Stilo Abarth, Broom Yellow, Sill Kick Plates, 16" alloys, Abarth wheel centres, Nav software version = 8.5

 

[PMasia]

Its just failed again, now i am Pi*%ed off. My dealer is going to get a very angry customer calling tommorow [!]. Im gona take my car a shuv it so far up there asses, that they will fart car parts for a month!. [!][!][!][!][!][!][!][!]

P.Masia

Stilo Abarth, Broom Yellow, Sill Kick Plates, 16" alloys, Abarth wheel centres, Nav software version = 8.5

 

[morgan]

I cant beleive it failed again after they replaced the Servo's [:0]

You will have to keep me updated as to the outcome..still waiting for mine to come back !

 

[PMasia]

Got my car back and its been fine for about one week and one day so far, touch wood and rub me rabbits foot and all that . They replaced the gear box controller unit and moved the cable from the gearbox to the controller so that it is no longer running outside the car, apparently there was a simular case in Scotland and they cured it with the same procedure, so that confirms that Fiat are aware of the problem.

P.Masia

Stilo Abarth, Broom Yellow, Sill Kick Plates, 16" alloys, Abarth wheel centres, Nav software version = 8.5

 

[tim h]

Well guys how are the fixes going for the selespeed cos guess what, my 6 week old stilo abarth has just developed the same problem! It left me sat at traffic lights in neutral unable to select any gears - after messing about for about 10 minutes swapping from manual to auto and stopping and starting the car it reset itself and started working.
Until later that day when I came to start the car I discovered it was stuck in first and wouldnt budge, this meant that I couldnt even start the car (even with my foot on the brake) this time it wouldnt reset itself so a phone call was needed to the AA to tow it to the dealer. The dealer claims to have no knowledge of this problem every happening before!!!!
(I obviously referred them to this website at that point). Anyway they have ordered a gearbox control unit which should be here on Monday so we will see

Tim H

 

[tim h]

Got the car back on Monday

Back to dealer on Thursday with the same problem again!!

Tim h

Silver Abarth 3dr

 

[morgan]

Hi Tim,

Mine is fine now, have had no problems.

It's just a shame that something like this has taken the edge off of the ownership experience.

Something I did hear though - Fiat sent their own engineers down to my local dealer to rectify my problem, but their engineers would not discuss the issues or remedies with my local dealer, they just turned up, did the job and left again - sounds a bit like the X files.... I just feel sorry if someone else has the same problems and the dealer will have to call in the Heavy mob again.

 

[tim h]

Hi Morgan,

That is very interesting because the "Flying Doctor" is at my dealers today to have a look at my car! I wonder if it is the same guy, apparantly there are 3 top guys covering the UK, this one covers the North.
How long has your car been OK?

Tim h

Silver Abarth 3dr

 

[morgan]

Mine has been OK for about 6 weeks so it seems to have worked.

I assume that PMasia's is also OK has there havent been any more posts from him either.

 

[tim h]

Well the car has been OK for a month now so maybe thats the end of the problem!

While the car was in the dealer also sorted out the flashing indicators when locking the car.

They also returned the car to me with a full tank of petrol (Customer service in action!!!) and promised to let me know when an update is available to fix the Connect+ bugs - I somehow think that I will hear first from this forum of any bug fixes!!!

Tim h

Silver Abarth 3dr

 

[Biddler]

Having just found this site I find the biggest problem is which post to reply to, there have been that many problems with my Stilo Abarth since I received it brand new in Feb 2003.

The most persistent issue is the "gearbox failure" which my local dealer in Cardiff initially advised me to ignore, saying it was just a false alarm being generated by the computer. When the car got stuck in 2nd gear on the motorway I realised there was more to it.

The dealer haven't a clue how to fix it. Each time the gearbox actually fails in this way they tinker around for a bit and it might be ok for a few days. The customer service is dreadful, never been offered a courtesy car although the last time it was in for over a week.

Now they are flying in some Alfa engineers to look at the gearbox in a couple of weeks (this time they are arranging a courtesy car) but in the meantime the engine has blown up today in the city centre so the AA have towed it away.

To think I sold my BMW 3 series that I'd had three years from new in order to buy the Stilo. The BMW never had a day's trouble. Never again, Fiat...

 

[Biddler]

Credit where it's due - the Cardiff dealer seem to have fixed all my Stilo problems now (see above post). They got some sheets faxed over from Italy I believe.

I'm touching wood as I type...!

 

[LinoBarreca]

BE HAPPY. I had this problem too.

After 6 months they understood what causes this problem.

Selespeed gear has some magnetic sensors used to monitor the clutch disk rotation speed.
Theese sensors get dirty and they can't monitor correctly the gearbox/clutch.

This gives the random selespeed problem. The first time they cleaned those sensors and everything worked for about 3 months. The problem reappeared but now they have replaced those sensors with new ones.

It seems to be definively disappeared.


Fiat Stilo Abarth 3p + cdchanger+260W hi-fi+17'' tires

 

[This Game]

My selespeed misses upshift clicks (wheel-flipper) sometimes, it´s an electronical problem it seems, ´cause when the reset/relearn the selespeed computer it behaves almost flawless for a couple of weeks, then slowly it comes back.

Abarth 3d Black Moire + 17" + cdc + "718" + Sebring TS4