kavinsanders87
Member
Dear All,
I would like to share my experience with the fiat panda 4x4 312PXL1A.
Issue list I had :
1) I had the car delivered to my home by the 2 hand dealer, just noticed that the gear stick was not getting back to center (manual neutral) after moving it left or right
Solution : car fixed in warranty (3 month warranty). gear selector rod cleaned and maybe greased by the garage? I know for sure that they took it out.
2) one of the bolts of the engine protection snapped, right side, fixed by a garage with a cable tie.
3) Propsharf bearing gone, at fiat they are genius, they made a not serviceable propsharf...... if you beak the central bearing , "sayonara"
cost from fiat dealers (item and fitting 2500 vat incl £..... i spent a day looking for alternative, i found a propsharf shop in uk , got the propsharf ordered by my local garage 700 vat incl £ (item + fitting)
4) water falling on the foot rest after turning right at roundabout. I just checked in the forum and found the solution (water drains clogged, did tjhe fixing myself......
5) now point 1 problem again, I read there is a solution in this forum about the gear selector rod being cooreded and gear stick stiff, but it is long and now wheater is not good, I do not have a covered parking spot..... nightmare again, I think my local garage could charge me up to 100 pounds for that job. but If the rod get corroded and stuck every year, it is a 100 pound pain in the neck.
6) Got the mot in october, (I knew where the stuts attachments are , they are under the plastic wipers cover i removed to fix the issue at point 4 water in the foot rest, I do not know what they where thinking in FIAT when they designed it, the fiat panda 169 has the strut attachments inside the bonnet, covered and safe from water and rust., in the 312 version they are constantly in contact with rain water, especially in uk. LONG STORY SHORT if you have an mot with 312 fiat panda 2012+ the garage mechanics should check the strut attacments (part of mot checking)...... when you get the car back, check that they put the plastic cover back correctly..... after 20-30 days from the mot I just stopped to check leaves and small wood from trees in the wipers harms , I noticed that the plastic cover was not attached completely to the glass in the right side, making a half inch (more than 5 mm) gap, allowing leaves and dirt to go traing inside. I had to remove all wipers harms again and plastic cover to clean the mess.
7) when aI bought the car after 3 months, I noticed that the front of the car was significantly lower that the back, I check in this forum, some people fixed this issue replacing the springs with aftermarket one. I am planning to do this job next year, I just spent money in mot + service and disk and pad replacement in the front. and more money for other things.
8) I replaced the air con filter (pollen filter). the filter is not specular, they kept on the right in the uk version. long story short, to remove the 2 bolts you have to keep the cluch pressed and , in addtion to the non sense, there is the steering pole just attached to the plastic cover, making more difficult to remove.
I did not say what I had to do, but I want shopping in halfords and other very tecnical shops, nobody blo...dy had the 5/32 wrench....... just ebay........ I had to adapt another wrench to to the job.
9) I know , now , why fiat has a bad reputation in uk
I would like to share my experience with the fiat panda 4x4 312PXL1A.
Issue list I had :
1) I had the car delivered to my home by the 2 hand dealer, just noticed that the gear stick was not getting back to center (manual neutral) after moving it left or right
Solution : car fixed in warranty (3 month warranty). gear selector rod cleaned and maybe greased by the garage? I know for sure that they took it out.
2) one of the bolts of the engine protection snapped, right side, fixed by a garage with a cable tie.
3) Propsharf bearing gone, at fiat they are genius, they made a not serviceable propsharf...... if you beak the central bearing , "sayonara"
cost from fiat dealers (item and fitting 2500 vat incl £..... i spent a day looking for alternative, i found a propsharf shop in uk , got the propsharf ordered by my local garage 700 vat incl £ (item + fitting)
4) water falling on the foot rest after turning right at roundabout. I just checked in the forum and found the solution (water drains clogged, did tjhe fixing myself......
5) now point 1 problem again, I read there is a solution in this forum about the gear selector rod being cooreded and gear stick stiff, but it is long and now wheater is not good, I do not have a covered parking spot..... nightmare again, I think my local garage could charge me up to 100 pounds for that job. but If the rod get corroded and stuck every year, it is a 100 pound pain in the neck.
6) Got the mot in october, (I knew where the stuts attachments are , they are under the plastic wipers cover i removed to fix the issue at point 4 water in the foot rest, I do not know what they where thinking in FIAT when they designed it, the fiat panda 169 has the strut attachments inside the bonnet, covered and safe from water and rust., in the 312 version they are constantly in contact with rain water, especially in uk. LONG STORY SHORT if you have an mot with 312 fiat panda 2012+ the garage mechanics should check the strut attacments (part of mot checking)...... when you get the car back, check that they put the plastic cover back correctly..... after 20-30 days from the mot I just stopped to check leaves and small wood from trees in the wipers harms , I noticed that the plastic cover was not attached completely to the glass in the right side, making a half inch (more than 5 mm) gap, allowing leaves and dirt to go traing inside. I had to remove all wipers harms again and plastic cover to clean the mess.
7) when aI bought the car after 3 months, I noticed that the front of the car was significantly lower that the back, I check in this forum, some people fixed this issue replacing the springs with aftermarket one. I am planning to do this job next year, I just spent money in mot + service and disk and pad replacement in the front. and more money for other things.
8) I replaced the air con filter (pollen filter). the filter is not specular, they kept on the right in the uk version. long story short, to remove the 2 bolts you have to keep the cluch pressed and , in addtion to the non sense, there is the steering pole just attached to the plastic cover, making more difficult to remove.
I did not say what I had to do, but I want shopping in halfords and other very tecnical shops, nobody blo...dy had the 5/32 wrench....... just ebay........ I had to adapt another wrench to to the job.
9) I know , now , why fiat has a bad reputation in uk