Technical Fiat 500 0.9 twin air

[Bella2014]

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

 

[Frizzle02]

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

Basically my twin air has the exact same symptoms as the one in the second video that Bella posted.
I was just wondering what exactly she did to fix it.
Im assuming I should go for new clutch and DMF and then check my exhaust for any leaks.
My car is also at 90k so I'm thinking should I do a timing chain at the same time and then hopefully I'm all set until my very reliable Italian car becomes unreliable again!

 

[varesecrazy]

Chains rarely get a mention on the TA

I am not aware of a scheduled interval for chain work... Have you seen one?

 

[Bella2014]

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.

Thankyou for all your help it was the dual mass after it was £952 all together with a new clutch aswell car driving fab now thanks for your help

 

[Bella2014]

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

Only now seeing all these it was the dual mass and clutch it was £952 in total with labour and vat but the car is running great now thanks for everyone’s messages and advice

 

[Bella2014]

@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

Only now seeing all of these the car is fixed now but Thankyou for your kind offer

 

[Bella2014]

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.

Omg so sorry for your problems that’s awful hope you get your money back

 

[Bella2014]

@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!

Hi yes so sorry for the late reply mine was the dual mass had failed and had that replaced and the clutch and the car is now back to normal no vibration and running great .I took mine to four different garages who failed to diagnose the vibrations but on here and my mothers boyfriend said straight away that it was the dual mass the original ones fitted when the cars were made weren’t very good it cost me £952 for the dual mass and clutch and labour I guess it depends if your car is worth the fix I only done it as the car was still low mileage and had lots of other things done aswell I’ve spent more this year on the car than what it worth but least I know it will last for a while now fingers crossed ,hope you get your car sorted x

 

[Bella2014]

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

Sorry I have replied them now and Thankyou everyone for your help

 

[Bella2014]

Hi update and for if anyone has this problem in the future it was the dual mass fly wheel which had failed that and the clutch was replaced now the car is running great no vibration anymore it cost £952 with parts and labour

 

[JeffSmith]

Omg so sorry for your problems that’s awful hope you get your money back

Thanks Bella, but the outcome I got was the best i could have hoped for. These added cost warranties don't appear to be worth the paper they're written on. There are so many clauses, and small print. I really wouldn't have liked to take then to court. It seems to me there is a serious issue with the clutch/gearbox/flywheel on the 105hp twin-air. Perhaps Fiat should have done the decent thing, and recalled the affected vehicles. Ironically the problem was worst if the car was stuck in heavy, stop-start traffic (as a city car, exactly the sort of conditions it was designed for - indeed, the 2 previous owners lived in London, so i suspect they must have experienced problems with the gearchange). I live in a remote, rural location, and first noticed the problem when I had to drive into a city for a hospital appointment. As with all hospitals, parking was a nightmare, and I was driving into sections of the car park, which were displaying ''spaces available'. only to find there weren't any spaces. and then having to reverse out again. The car had particular problems in allowing me to select 1st, or reverse gear from neutral. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to view the videos you posted showing the fault on your car (they wouldn't play for some reason). However, I've just seen your update, saying your car has been successfully repaired. I'm really pleased for you. Kind regards Jeff

 

[Bella2014]

Thanks Bella, but the outcome I got was the best i could have hoped for. These added cost warranties don't appear to be worth the paper they're written on. There are so many clauses, and small print. I really wouldn't have liked to take then to court. It seems to me there is a serious issue with the clutch/gearbox/flywheel on the 105hp twin-air. Perhaps Fiat should have done the decent thing, and recalled the affected vehicles. Ironically the problem was worst if the car was stuck in heavy, stop-start traffic (as a city car, exactly the sort of conditions it was designed for - indeed, the 2 previous owners lived in London, so i suspect they must have experienced problems with the gearchange). I live in a remote, rural location, and first noticed the problem when I had to drive into a city for a hospital appointment. As with all hospitals, parking was a nightmare, and I was driving into sections of the car park, which were displaying ''spaces available'. only to find there weren't any spaces. and then having to reverse out again. The car had particular problems in allowing me to select 1st, or reverse gear from neutral. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to view the videos you posted showing the fault on your car (they wouldn't play for some reason). However, I've just seen your update, saying your car has been successfully repaired. I'm really pleased for you. Kind regards Jeff

Yes I agree Fiat should of recalled them especially as you say they are meant for start stop city life .yes warranty’s always try to riggle out of paying for things I agree they are not worth it ,my first car 22 years ago was a Fiat punto that was excellent and Fiat recalled that with a break problem but it was a good car for the 8 years I had it ,after all the problems with Fiat 500 I never want another Fiat 500 again what I’ve spent the last four years the price of the car £4500 and around £3000 in repairs and considering all the lockdowns we had