General Into Neutral at speed

[Notatallduological]

Our Fiat Panda Duologic has a rather dangerous problem. After suffering it going into neutral on a country road it was taken back to Fiat for repair. A new clutch switch was fitted and the whole cluctch gearbox system software updated. Three months on whilst crossing a two lane l carrigeway it happened again. This must have be subject to a recall as we only just had enough momentum to reach the santaury of the centre. Fiat must be aware of the potential failings of the duologic gearbox, selecting neutral as a precausion to save the gearbox from damage. What about the safety of the driver on motorways, crossings railway and hills.

 

[jrkitching]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear you're having problems with your dualogic. You're not the first, and you won't be the last - these transmissions are well known for giving problems after around 5yrs/50k miles.

How old is yours, and how many miles has it covered?

Have a read of this thread - the Panda dualogic is mechanically identical.

What about the safety of the driver on motorways, crossings railway and hills

If you really want peace of mind that this won't happen again, one option is to sell the car and buy something else.

 

[Notatallduological]

Yes, Fiat have it now and think its the Male/ Female connector to the clutch box. Expensive fix but wilk defo sell it. Thinking more old school auto box needed.

 

[jrkitching]

Thinking more old school auto box needed.

I'd agree, but there aren't many small cars left using that type of transmission, and those that there are are getting rather elderly now. If you think the dualogic Fiat is bad, the current crop of 3 cylinder turbocharged robotised 'automatics' are even worse.

If an automatic is essential to you, I'd give serious consideration to going electric if your budget will allow it.

 

[Marcus Daly]

Those Dua Lipas were bad news from day one.

 

[rmjbn1]

There have been some DIY repairs, but not for a novice.

Involves removing unit, draining, cleaning, replacing seals, and calibration with software.

The one and only Dualogic repair thread | FIAT 500 (2007+)

Ok, so we're had a discussion thread about dualogic issues for a few years now, and it's basically 41 pages of doom and gloom, offering little hope to new folks who come here looking for answers. So I'm starting this one to try to redress the balance. There are a few garages out there claiming...

www.fiatforum.com

I'm disappointed if not surprised FIAT haven't specified this fairly straightforward repair/service routine.

And the fact that so few companies are prepared to work on them makes the cost prohibitive most of the time.

 

[the green vanper]

Proper and regular servicing is a must on these gearboxes!

I'm disappointed if not surprised FIAT haven't specified this fairly straightforward repair/service routine.

They have:

Home Page

aftersales.fiat.com

 

[rmjbn1]

Good to know, and thanks for the link

With the anecdotal evidence on here, I wonder how often a service routine is implemented by franchised dealers?

Cleaning and replacing seals seems like a good starting point to me in troubleshooting DuaLogic, but FIAT seem to prefer replacing the actuator at a cost of multiple thousands