General Fiat 500 - Metal Grinding Noise and Leaking Boot

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General Fiat 500 - Metal Grinding Noise and Leaking Boot

drayja

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I have a Fiat 500 which is about 18 months old - it is a 2012 plate - I have done 22,300 miles and all of a sudden it is making the most horrendous metal grinding noises! Also, when it rains I've noticed that the boot is wet! I really is bad depending on the weather!

I've been reading the forum and found it really helpful and I think the noise might be due to the fact I need new pads and discs - have I done my car any damage by driving it this past week or so? Also, could anyone give me an idea of how much this type of repair is likely to cost?

Any thoughts as to what might be causing the rain to get in to the boot - and one more thing the boot will not open unless you use the key fob - I use to be able to open it by hand not any more!!!!!
 
You really need to get it looked at. If it is the brakes, new front discs and pads installed at an independent would be around £200, over £300 at dealership.

Boot being wet is likely to be rear seal damaged or broken, but I have no idea what other commons faults on a 500 can cause this. I'm sure someone can add here.

Rear boot not opening manually is likely to be an issue with the pressure switch. You can get this replaced under warranty.

Cheers

Steve
 
LOL 200 pounds? What kind of ripoff merchant indi do you use?

I have no idea where OP is located for a start. Also OP may want genuine parts only as it's still in warranty. RRP for the Genuine Fiat parts are ~£90 for a pair of discs and ~£60 for a pad set. Like anything you can get it cheaper by shopping around and even less by not buying genuine.

Personally, I'll be surprised if any independent just books this as 30 minutes. My local Alfa/Fiat specialist charges ~£50+ vat an hour.

I just gave an indication so OP has a realistic cost, you have a different view.

Cheers

Steve
 
Why would you want ****ty genuine Fiat parts? Plus it's not something you need a specialist, any garage can do it.
 
Hmmm, I'd be interested to know whether or not during those 18 months and 22,300 miles, whether the car has been serviced?

As for the cost of parts, well ours is still under warranty, well, the 3rd year part anyway, but I've just bought a set of genuine Fiat front discs and pads (1.2 POP) all from ebay for less than 50 quid. If you're not mechanically adept, find a good indy using

http://www.goodgaragescheme.com/

You really shouldn't be paying more than £100 even letting someone else do the job for you.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fiat-500-...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item3a839d544a
 
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Why would you want ****ty genuine Fiat parts? Plus it's not something you need a specialist, any garage can do it.

Jesus who rattled your cage, are you such an arse with everyone, or just having a bad day?

I'm quite aware you don't need a specialist to change a set of pads and discs. I was just giving you the hourly prices of my local fiat specialist as you felt my original post was so outlandish.

The OP may want genuine Fiat, who knows. Personally when I had the front pads and discs on previous 500C changed in August I didn't choose genuine, if that makes you feel better.

Cheers

Steve
 
I'm personally quite happy to buy genuine Fiat service items, I just wouldn't purposely bother my backside going to a Fiat dealer to buy the stuff, especially when you see what their so called 'retail' prices are, some of which in my very humble opinion, seem utterly ludicrous. The Fiat 500 1.2 in our own case, is hardly a high performance vehicle and so doesn't necessarily warrant having 'better' parts than Fiat's own, though I accept that when it comes to rear shock replacement, I'll be fitting the Bilstein's!

The only time I'd put my car anywhere near a Fiat dealership these days, is for warranty work, and seeing as there's only three months left on that, I won't be worrying about it in the future
 
Brake issues depend on whether or not you just need brake pads, a cheap and quick job, or if the discs themselves need replacing or machining as the worn pads can scour them . Not sure if your car has drum brakes at the back but that's also easy to sort. Any garage can do this repair as it's very standard.
Mechanic just needs to take off the wheels to assess what needs to be done - or even shine a torch at the discs for a quick check.
 
I'm personally quite happy to buy genuine Fiat service items, I just wouldn't purposely bother my backside going to a Fiat dealer to buy the stuff, especially when you see what their so called 'retail' prices are, some of which in my very humble opinion, seem utterly ludicrous. The Fiat 500 1.2 in our own case, is hardly a high performance vehicle and so doesn't necessarily warrant having 'better' parts than Fiat's own, though I accept that when it comes to rear shock replacement, I'll be fitting the Bilstein's!

The only time I'd put my car anywhere near a Fiat dealership these days, is for warranty work, and seeing as there's only three months left on that, I won't be worrying about it in the future



Filters are fine, but Fiat brake parts are complete and utter cack. Why the hell would you pay £150 for brake bits when you can get FAR better parts for less?
 
Filters are fine, but Fiat brake parts are complete and utter cack. Why the hell would you pay £150 for brake bits when you can get FAR better parts for less?

But who the hell is buying brake parts for £150? Certainly not me and as for the brake pads, well they ain't any different to the standard stuff on most other cars. As I stated earlier, I bought genuine Fiat parts for peanuts. They'll easily last the next three years, so I'm not going to worry about whether I've bought Brembo, or Febi Bilstein or ADC, Blueprint, Pagid or any other make out there which others might deem better.

The only thing I wouldn't bother doing as was mentioned by another poster, is getting my discs machined. Why bother? You might as well just by new discs and that's what I've done. The price of them just doesn't make it worth messing about having them skimmed. New pads on new discs, makes perfect sense to me.
 
But who the hell is buying brake parts for £150? Certainly not me and as for the brake pads, well they ain't any different to the standard stuff on most other cars. As I stated earlier, I bought genuine Fiat parts for peanuts. They'll easily last the next three years, so I'm not going to worry about whether I've bought Brembo, or Febi Bilstein or ADC, Blueprint, Pagid or any other make out there which others might deem better.

The only thing I wouldn't bother doing as was mentioned by another poster, is getting my discs machined. Why bother? You might as well just by new discs and that's what I've done. The price of them just doesn't make it worth messing about having them skimmed. New pads on new discs, makes perfect sense to me.

The big issue with the Fiat pads is the lack of feel, they're pretty much on/off
 
You are spot on the car hasn't been serviced! Why do you say this! I take it 22,300 miles is high and that I should have serviced it before now! Worried sick I've neglected my new car!
 
Just want to say thanks for taking the time to get back to me with all your comments seems like I need to get my car to a garage asap!

Steve are you a mechanic?
 
You are spot on the car hasn't been serviced! Why do you say this! I take it 22,300 miles is high and that I should have serviced it before now! Worried sick I've neglected my new car!

22,300 miles without an oil change is the thing that would concern me most.

You can run the pads down until they're making metal and all you'll do is trash disks you'd likely be replacing anyway, but the long term engine damage you can cause by running on seriously degraded and contaminated oil could cost someone thousands later on in the life of the car.

At least you can use an indie without worrying about the warranty - you've lost that now anyway.
 
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22,300 miles without an oil change is the thing that would concern me most.

You can run the pads down until they're making metal and all you'll do is trash disks you'd likely be replacing anyway, but the long term engine damage you can cause by running on seriously degraded and contaminated oil could cost someone thousands later on in the life of the car.

At least you can use an indie without worrying about the warranty - you've lost that now anyway.

I think you are probably right regarding the warranty sadly. However, the car sounds as though it is still just about within the initial two years, so the OP might be able to just about get away with keeping the warranty intact; it all depends how charitable the dealer/Fiat is. All you can do is ask though.

drayja - before you contact your dealer, make sure you've had a look through your service booklet first. It contains all the info you need regarding the service schedules/intervals etc.

I can tell from the tone of your posts that you are really worried about your car; unless something is really, really wrong with it, it should all be relatively easy to fix which you will be pleased to hear. Of course it should really have been serviced earlier, but I think you may just about get away with it! I only say that as my dad was literally the WORST person in the world for getting his cars serviced, and yet somehow they just carried on and on, year after year, MOT after MOT...one was a Proton for goodness sake!:eek:

Also - one final point regarding your boot. It might just needs a little bit of a cleanout in between the plastic parts and actual boot switch. Have a look at this thread, the likelihood is that it will sort it out. And if your warranty is void now, at least this is a free fix!
https://www.fiatforum.com/500/336101-key-fob-boot-release-problem-2.html
 
I live near Glasgow.

I live in the same part of the country as you. Can I advise you to try to avoid the big franchised groups who dominate our neck of the woods. I have had loads of negative experiences with all three of them.
Maybe someone could recommend a good Fiat independent in Glasgow/Lanarkshire area.
 
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