Hi I’m very stressed I wonder if anyone can help have had the car 3 1/2 years all fine for the first 3 apart from door handle and radiator repair ,drove fine .then from Xmas problem after problem it was rattling a bit at idle took to 3 separate garages first two said they didn’t know what was causing it ,then one day the it just went dead no power so had it towed to another garage ,they took it in and gave it a service spark plugs ,oil change as they said there was sludge in there and to have another two oil changes after 500 miles .car was running ok but kept going flat so had a new battery from Halfords and hasn’t broken down since .Halfords said the voltage wasn’t right and that I should see a garage to check alternator did and they said nothing wrong ,and car was driving it went in for another oil change came back out driving fine but with vibration still then two weeks ago the car was starting to crunch in reverse but driving fine and engine was vibrations but engine bolts were loose so my mums boyfriend righted them up and it was ok for a day or two then it went in the garage for breaks disks and pads had the car back first day was ok next day car is really hard to get into reverse and first with engine running when off I can change the gears no problem .when I get up to speed the car is ok driving but when coming to a stop it really spluttering almost launched forward once ,is really vibrating at idle and when sat at traffic lights so I stopped using it straight away as felt dangerous ,when packed up staters the car the next day and the video shows how bad the engine is vibrating and was getting a clanking noise from under the bonnet area aswell when foot on clutch and breaks the engine cover bolt was loose again so we tighten it again so the vibration is causing the bots to loosen ,could this be a fly wheel problem ?that’s what my mums boyfriend things it might be it’s my daughters car and she can’t afford to replace the car mileage is low 50,000 but we have already spent £1000 in repairs since Xmas with all of the above any help aprciated no warning lights have come up with the car at all
Technical Fiat 500 0.9 twin air
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Technical Fiat 500 0.9 twin air
Liteboy
Member
Our Panda Twinair started to run a bit rough and vibrating gradually got worse felt like it was going to shake itself to bits. Turned out that the dual mass flywheel had started to destroy itself. Luckily we caught it before it did any other damage. We had to take it to Fiat for repair so it was expensive, £850, but we had the whole clutch and flywheel assembly replaced. If you have a good independent garage who are familiar with the issue it ought to be cheaper.
Thanks so much for your help was your a dual mass flywheel ?as that what my car is will a Fiat garage do the work as the car is 9 years old ?how long ago was your done just so I know roughy price as looking online the part is £330 for dual mass plus I need the clutch done at the same time and labour my local garage charge £60 plus vat for labour and it says it’s a seven hour job so would be £330 df wheel,£420 labour plus clutch so think I’ll be looking at £1000 altogether but I don’t mind as long as that is what wrong just thinking if she scrapped the car and got something for £1000-£2000 don’t know what will be wrong with next car least with this most things will have been done thanks for your help so far I appreciate it
Liteboy
Member
Ours is a 2014 Panda so about the same age as your 500 we had ours done about two years ago so with how much things have gone up recon they would be even pricier. I know that the dual mass flywheel fitted to the Twin air engine is now a stronger part, think a certain range of engines suffered this issue due to deterioration of a plastic part in the flywheel . It's difficult to advise on spending £1000 on a car of any age so you definitely need a garage who can be 100% it is the issue. There is also the worry of other damage caused as the flywheel breaks up more. At the time we could not have afforded a replacement car so the cost was the lesser spend.The £850 was only the parts price as my wife has just reminded me. Think the labour was about £1000.
If its is the dual mass clutch you can replace it by a normal clutch system. There are kits available that include a new flywheel for the conversion. These kits cost around 350 Euro. Luckily my Twinair had conventional clutch that was much cheaper. You can check with Eper by entering the VIN when searching.
As said before your problem sounds like clutch issues.
As said before your problem sounds like clutch issues.
If it is the DMF, then:
Flywheel 55266573
www.shop4parts.co.uk
and OEM clutch kit:
Clutch Kit (3 Piece) 6000628459
www.shop4parts.co.uk
Probably the cheapest trustworthy UK source for a replacement DMF.
You can get a 10% discount off those prices if you make a donation to the forum.
Hi 
The advice from me..
1, StopDriving.. if it damages the gearbox its another £800
2. Ring shop4parts.. give them the VIN number from the cars V5c 'logbook'
They will then give you a partsprice for YOUR 500 ( the VIN is individual to the car.. so parts list should be accurate)
7 hours labour sounds excessive.. but they are probably covering themselves
Do let us know what you find.. I have 2 twinairs
The advice from me..
1, StopDriving.. if it damages the gearbox its another £800
2. Ring shop4parts.. give them the VIN number from the cars V5c 'logbook'
They will then give you a partsprice for YOUR 500 ( the VIN is individual to the car.. so parts list should be accurate)
7 hours labour sounds excessive.. but they are probably covering themselves
Do let us know what you find.. I have 2 twinairs
This is good advice. Running clearances are tight; collateral damage to both the bellhousing and the gearbox have been reported before following DMF failure.
This is also good advice. The links I provided earlier were just to give you an idea of the price of these parts; you need to check before ordering that they are the correct ones for your specific car.
shop4parts have a good reputation here and are generally very helpful.
I'd suggest getting a professional to look at your car before ordering parts. Someone else may be able to recommend a trustworthy garage in S Wales.
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@Bella2014
Where are you based..?
I am in Abertillery and Cardiff pretty regularly.. another regular on here is Newport based
If you are fairly local I could have a quick look for you both
Where are you based..?
I am in Abertillery and Cardiff pretty regularly.. another regular on here is Newport based
If you are fairly local I could have a quick look for you both
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JeffSmith
Member
I have a 2014, 105 bhp, twin-air 'Cult'. It has very low mileage - only 17,000 miles, but the gearbox has recently failed. Searching on the Internet, I found a Youtube article, that showed a lady in the USA that had experienced a catalogue of problems with the clutch & gearbox on a Fiat 500. the report indicated that 80.00 vehicles manufactured between 2012 - 2016 had been recalled because of gearbox / clutch issues, but I can't find any recall notices in the UK, so i'm guessing this recall may have just been in the USA. My car was a recent purchase from one of the car 'supermarkets' , who urged me to take out their RAC extended warranty on the vehicle . I did pay for the additional warranty, which covers me for a year. Unfortunately the warranty is not worth the paper it's written on, and i would strongly advise anyone buying a car to avoid these warranties like the plague. First of all, they were not happy for me to take it to a Fiat dealer, so i took the car to one of their approved repair garages, who had the car all day, and reported that their was no problem with the clutch, or gearbox. However, there WAS still a problem, so I contacted the RAC insurers again,, and insisted that I should be allowed to take the car to a Fiat dealer. They reluctantly agreed, but warned me that I may have to pay some of the repair bill myself, as they would not cover main dealer, hourly labour rates. Obviously, I was unhappy with this, but I advised them that if I had to pay an element of the total bill that would be preferable to the car being virtually unusable, and possible getting worse each time i used it. I then contacted the local Fiat dealer (Marsdons, of Newcastle under Lyme), who were very helpful, but confirmed that they had experienced many problems with the RAC warranty cover. They adviced me that one of the main issues, was that they refused to pay for their mechanic to examine the car, and diagnose the actual problem with the vehicle. I told them, that if it helped, I woul happily pay the fee for the diagnosis myself. Marsdons agreed that this should help, and advised me that the diagnosis fee would be £90.00. The following day I drove to Mardons in my other car, and was advised that the syncromesh was breaking up on 3rd gear, and this was causing problems in selecting any of the gears. However, this wasn't the only problem. The RAC warranty company would not take the word of Mardons mechanic, and wanted to car reassembling, and taking to thei 'approved; gearbox specialist for another diagnosis! Naturally, Marsdons were not happy about this, my car had been blocking up one of their service bays for two days, and now they were being told that they couldn't carry out the repair (which they were 100% confident they could complete), but take it to another repairer. I did not want the car moving anywhere else, and told Marsdons that i wanted them to carry out the repairs, as long as they ensured the swarf from the failing syncromesh, was cleaned out of the gearbox before reassembly, and and other dameged components were replaced while the gearbox was on the bench, Mardons agreed that this was the most sensible approach, but also advised me that the RAC Warranty would not allow them to touch anything, other than the component that had failed Clearly stupidity personified! Obviously, I asked mardons to give me an estimate of the total cost, and they advised me that if the also replaced the flywheel, which also appeared to have sustained damage, the total bill would be circa £2,500. I gave them to go ahead to complete the work. My intention is to try to recover part of the bill from the RAC Warranty scammers, after the work has been completed.
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Hi
You have an unusual failure
US only got 4cyl turbos..built in Mexico
People have found the extra torque of the 105 can lead to accelerated wear... but 17k smacks of low oil..or a manufacturing defect
You have an unusual failure
US only got 4cyl turbos..built in Mexico
People have found the extra torque of the 105 can lead to accelerated wear... but 17k smacks of low oil..or a manufacturing defect
North American cars have different engines & transmissions, so I'd say the US recall is a red herring.
IIRC all 105HP TA's have a Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF). As yours is a 2014 car, it'll be one of the early types which have something of a reputation for failing prematurely. 17k isn't a lot, but we've seen others that haven't lasted much longer.
If on stripping the car down, excessive wear has been found on the DMF, it would be foolish false economy not to replace it whilst the car's dismantled, together with the clutch wearing parts. It doesn't surprise me that RAC warranty won't pay for this part of the repair.
AIUI the DMF has been redesigned since your car was built, so provided the replacement is a current stock OEM part (should be if a franchised dealer is doing the work), it should at least last much longer than the original one.
To stay sane, I'd suggest regarding this repair as sorting a potential weakness (it's likely the DMF would have failed at some point in the future), and if you can get back more from the warranty company than you paid for the warranty, you're still better off than if you'd never bought it.
IIRC all 105HP TA's have a Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF). As yours is a 2014 car, it'll be one of the early types which have something of a reputation for failing prematurely. 17k isn't a lot, but we've seen others that haven't lasted much longer.
If on stripping the car down, excessive wear has been found on the DMF, it would be foolish false economy not to replace it whilst the car's dismantled, together with the clutch wearing parts. It doesn't surprise me that RAC warranty won't pay for this part of the repair.
AIUI the DMF has been redesigned since your car was built, so provided the replacement is a current stock OEM part (should be if a franchised dealer is doing the work), it should at least last much longer than the original one.
To stay sane, I'd suggest regarding this repair as sorting a potential weakness (it's likely the DMF would have failed at some point in the future), and if you can get back more from the warranty company than you paid for the warranty, you're still better off than if you'd never bought it.
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Many years ago I had a Fiat clutch changed by an excellent back street garage in Trefforest near Pontypridd. I can't remember the name but they were off the main road towards the Ponty end of town. Guys like this exist by maintaining a good reputation so well worth a look.
JeffSmith
Member
@Bella2014 Did you guys ever get to the bottom of this?? The first post is the exact description of my 0.9L twin air engine. It's hard to get into reverse, often crunching when I try to. Sometimes I have to lift the clutch whilst pulling into reverse or it won't go in. In addition it's loud, noisy and I recon sounds like an exhaust leak. The exact same tapping noise is coming from the engine as shown in the two videos at the start of the thread. Mine is a 2013 0.9l twin air model and any suggestions or help from anybody on this would be much appreciated as I am very concerned.
Thanks!
Thanks!
JeffSmith
Member
Thanks for all the interest, and constructive comments. BS Marsons in Newcastle under Lyme, Staffordshire, were absolutely brilliant, and repaired the gearbox *the 3rd rear syncromesh was breaking up), and replaced the DM flywheel, for just over £1,500, much less than their original estimate. I then pursued the warranty company for a refund of the £1500 I had paid. At first they were completely uninterested, However, I then started to threaten them with court action, and they started to listen. Eventually, they offered me just over £1,000 to settle the matter. I decided to accept this, and cut my losses. 2 lessons here 1. Don't be persuaded to buy an aftermarket warranty if you purchase a used car. 2. if you live in Staffordshire, and are looking to buy a Fiat, go to BS Marsons. They gave me far better service than the local Mercedes dealer (my previous 2 cars were Mercedes Benz E-class Hybrids.
As you will note they didn't respond to any of our replies... .
What do you want to know?
I've reasonable Twinair experience 100k over 10+ years
JeffSmith
Member
Hi Varesercrazy. Who is 'they;that have not responded to any replies? As the OP of this thread, I have thanked everyone who tried to help with my problem, and have posted an update today, to inform everyone of the outcome. Is there something else you would have expected from me? Kind regards JeffAs you will note they didn't respond to any of our replies... .
What do you want to know?
I've reasonable Twinair experience 100k over 10+ years
"Bella". Was the other person I thought you were asking (along with the rest of us..)
No problem from me..
As I said 70k in my long term 'keeper'
And 36 now in our not so good used purchase
I have tried to follow people's problems on here.. As a yardstick to general ownership
So am happy to try and assist
