whisty There's no need to remove the gear knob to replace the gaiter clip thingy, I released the broken clip from the centre console, removed it from the gaiter, put the new one in then clipped it back in. You will need a cable tie as the clip has an elastic band which fastens to the reversy lifty thing, you'll see what I mean when you take it apart. I located it a bit lower than it was originally to ease the strain on the gaiter when selecting reverse, which I think is what broke the clip in the first place.
General Drivers side door handle HANGING OFF!!!!!! :(
- Thread starter Kez 1000 fire
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General Drivers side door handle HANGING OFF!!!!!! :(
Ricard
New member
Does the gear knob come off ?
When the dealership replaced my gaiter I seem to have lost the zip tie on the inside of the gaiter and now the stitching is coming apart. Or do I undo it all from the clip thing ?
When the dealership replaced my gaiter I seem to have lost the zip tie on the inside of the gaiter and now the stitching is coming apart. Or do I undo it all from the clip thing ?
Thanks staffordmike,
I finally figured that out the other day after a couple of months worrying about the gear knob but didn't think to cable tie the band. So I'm now hoping it doesn't cause any issues! Thanks again for the info & hopefully will help others in the same position.
On mine (2008) the gearknob is covered with a thin plastic sleeve. Some advice was to use a thin bladed knife to prise it off but looks very easy to damage. My wife asked the mechanic at Fiat dealers who said the same but mentioned you can just replace the part. I never found that part when looking through the internet but maybe the dealer can supply you with one.
Ricard
New member
Hmmmm, I don't want to try that then and i'm nervous about trying to undo the gaiter from the base after seeing how thin and vulnerable the parts were.
Just had the same issue with the driver's door handle, the car is 2008 reg 1.3 Multijet with 72'000km on the clock, so the warranty period is long gone.
Here in Finland the dealer wants a whopping 250€ to replace the handle (130€ for the handle and 120€ for labor), which makes it easy to look for alternative options. Thanks to MarcoVenturi's nice guide
and ebay I will fix it myself.
What bothers me the most, however, is that the handle looks to be exactly the same handle Fiat already used in Alfa 147. Even though Alfa 147 has suffered from the exact same issue for years even before Fiat 500 (Alfa 147 was manufactured from 2001 to 2010), the dealer (and factory?) has tried to claim that this is not a "known issue". What a load of crap.
Furthermore as the factory must have been aware of the issue, I find it staggeringly disgusting and unbelievable that they have not improved the original part in all these years (they have had 13 years to do so), but the hinge in the handle is apparently still manufactured of the rubbish quality alloy. I can only surmise that this is deliberate and just manufacturer's and dealer's cunning way of making some extra money.
Other than that and a few other very small niggles the wife and I are very happy with the car. Shame about the dealers, though.
Here in Finland the dealer wants a whopping 250€ to replace the handle (130€ for the handle and 120€ for labor), which makes it easy to look for alternative options. Thanks to MarcoVenturi's nice guide
and ebay I will fix it myself.What bothers me the most, however, is that the handle looks to be exactly the same handle Fiat already used in Alfa 147. Even though Alfa 147 has suffered from the exact same issue for years even before Fiat 500 (Alfa 147 was manufactured from 2001 to 2010), the dealer (and factory?) has tried to claim that this is not a "known issue". What a load of crap.
Furthermore as the factory must have been aware of the issue, I find it staggeringly disgusting and unbelievable that they have not improved the original part in all these years (they have had 13 years to do so), but the hinge in the handle is apparently still manufactured of the rubbish quality alloy. I can only surmise that this is deliberate and just manufacturer's and dealer's cunning way of making some extra money.
Other than that and a few other very small niggles the wife and I are very happy with the car. Shame about the dealers, though.
ahmett
Prominent member
Just had the same issue with the driver's door handle, the car is 2008 reg 1.3 Multijet with 72'000km on the clock, so the warranty period is long gone.
Here in Finland the dealer wants a whopping 250€ to replace the handle (130€ for the handle and 120€ for labor), which makes it easy to look for alternative options. Thanks to MarcoVenturi's nice guide
What bothers me the most, however, is that the handle looks to be exactly the same handle Fiat already used in Alfa 147. Even though Alfa 147 has suffered from the exact same issue for years even before Fiat 500 (Alfa 147 was manufactured from 2001 to 2010), the dealer (and factory?) has tried to claim that this is not a "known issue". What a load of crap.
Furthermore as the factory must have been aware of the issue, I find it staggeringly disgusting and unbelievable that they have not improved the original part in all these years (they have had 13 years to do so), but the hinge in the handle is apparently still manufactured of the rubbish quality alloy. I can only surmise that this is deliberate and just manufacturer's and dealer's cunning way of making some extra money.
Other than that and a few other very small niggles the wife and I are very happy with the car. Shame about the dealers, though.
Wow fiat really is having a laugh with 250 euros to replace a door handle when you can do it yourself for like 20!
2010 1242cc Petrol has had both drivers side and passenger side door handles replaced since the car was purchased new.
Drivers side was covered under warranty, they would not do the passenger side, i also had the "Never heard of this happening before" from the dealers.
I did the passenger side myself, bought the kit off e-bay for £9.99.
regards
-=G=-
Drivers side was covered under warranty, they would not do the passenger side, i also had the "Never heard of this happening before" from the dealers.
I did the passenger side myself, bought the kit off e-bay for £9.99.
regards
-=G=-
madrat
Member
Fiat's stock answer for whatever is wrong.
Lol! "Never heard of this happening before" from a dealer.....I'll tell you what, when we had the passenger door handle replaced on our old POP, the dealer was more than happy to tell me it was a common problem, but then I knew that anyway and he knew that I knew! He also revealed they'd just done a couple the day before. Just like the inoperative boot switch. They all know this can be a problem.
Why any dealer would bull their customers is beyond me, especially with just about every issue affecting the cars ready available for all to see on't 'tinternet.
Lol! "Never heard of this happening before" from a dealer.....I'll tell you what, when we had the passenger door handle replaced on our old POP, the dealer was more than happy to tell me it was a common problem, but then I knew that anyway and he knew that I knew! He also revealed they'd just done a couple the day before. Just like the inoperative boot switch. They all know this can be a problem.
Why any dealer would bull their customers is beyond me, especially with just about every issue affecting the cars ready available for all to see on't 'tinternet.
So you don't make the brand you're supporting look like crap to each and every single person coming through the door.
If you were a Fiat dealer and you were telling everyone that Fiats are crap then you're not going to be in business for long I can tell you. Plus you're also going to get Fiat coming down on top of you when people call up Fiat CS relaying the information you've given them.
Sorry maxi, I'm confused here, are you saying that the Fiat brand is crap?
I'm not, I think they produce fine engineering and I'm proud to have just bought one of their fine cars! Long live Fiat!
Sorry maxi, I'm confused here, are you saying that the Fiat brand is crap?
I'm not, I think they produce fine engineering and I'm proud to have just bought one of their fine cars! Long live Fiat!
That's the impression most people would get if you told them something like "this happens all the time"
There's a fine line between lying to the customer, telling the customer the truth and making the customer think they've bought a heap of **** when they haven't.
Good, I'm glad we've got that cleared up. I'd hate to think I'd made a poor purchase!
And for what it's worth, despite a couple of the minor ridiculous issues the last POP had, it was a good little car which gave us good service and I don't regret having bought that one.If we want to go into the realms of crap cars, the Austin Metro I had was diabolically crap. Just about everything that was bad about a car was summed up in that pathetic little motor of mine, though still not as bad as a wedge Austin Princess!
Good, I'm glad we've got that cleared up. I'd hate to think I'd made a poor purchase!
If we want to go into the realms of crap cars, the Austin Metro I had was diabolically crap. Just about everything that was bad about a car was summed up in that pathetic little motor of mine, though still not as bad as a wedge Austin Princess!
My Metro took me a round trip of 80 miles every day, five days a week, for two years and never let me down.
Now let me start to tell you about our 500.............no life too short.
Lol! I had my Metro for six loooong years! I put 121,000 miles on it before it went for scrap but I spent a small fortune on it just keeping it running. I had bought it on finance and couldn't afford to get rid of it in the early days so just kept the thing running.
Anyway, to get back on topic! I can't remember if I'd ever mentioned it, but the only car other than the 500 where I had an incident of a door handle coming off, was on the Metro. I went out one very cold morning, grasped the passenger door handle and it snapped off. Clearly I wasn't expecting that to happen but the upshot was, as the handle came off the car, I went backwards, stumbled and cracked my skull on the pavement. There was blood and I had a headache!
madrat
Member
All year round.
Linz290789
New member
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I have a 2010 fiat 500 and my handle is now hanging off, unfortunately my car is no longer under warranty. I'm guessing after reading this thread that this is a common fault?
You guess correctly.
You can buy a replacement hinge here for £8.99. Replacement involves removing the door card - there's a guide on this forum, here. It's more awkward than difficult.
If you're unable to fix it yourself, an independent garage should be able to do it for about £50 all in, including the part.
A franchised dealer will likely charge you a lot more than that.
The handle falls off because the hinge isn't lubricated and water running into the handle corrodes it. The hinge then seizes up and snaps when you operate the handle. For those whose hinges have not yet failed, removing the door card and greasing the hinge will likely prevent this, but as the part only costs £8.99 there seems little real merit in doing that much work. Another option is to squirt a spray silicone lubricant in the direction of the hinge from the outside (please don't use WD40); this should prolong its life.
IMO it's stuff like this that will ultimately be FIAT's undoing. This issue has been known about for ages and AFAIK the cars are still leaving the factory with hinges that are almost certainly doomed to fail at some time during the lifetime of the car.
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