Technical Is my diesel overfueling

[grimwau]

Well, heard back today from Fiat Customer Relations and they have told me to book it in at the dealership to investigate and if they cannot resolve the issue to open a technical case with Fiat Head Office and they will arrange for a technician from Fiat UK to carry out a more detailed investigation.

This is exactly the response I was looking for and hopefully this problem will be sorted once and for all.

I know that I will still need to make sure the car gets a good run at a sustained high speed regularly and I am prepared to do my part, it was just such a shock to get the clogged filter warning only a few miles after a 250 mile trip at an average speed of over 60mph.

Full marks to Fiat Customer Services.

 

[Jake_in_notts]

great that you now being taken seriously. I rarely give my diesel much thought with DPF. On the odd occasion when i notice it regenerating I let it rev higher to help it along a bit but do little else- certanly dont keep driving. I havent had the DPF light come on ever and apart from high idle and a bit of a pong its pretty much trouble free.
Hope yours gets to be like it soon

 

[nottsfiat07]

Great that you are getting the response you wanted Tony... lets hope they get to the bottom of it!

 

[grimwau]

Took the car in yesterday for a new engine mounting and the vibration and noise I experienced in reverse are now gone. Whilst there I booked the car in for them to look into the DPF problems and it is now booked in on 17/06/09 to be evaluated. I hope that something positive shows up as the regeneration cycles are becoming more frequent and lasting longer.

I went to Kew Gardens on Monday and within a mile of starting off the car started to regenerate. You can always tell as the intant mpg drops massively even though you are maintaining the same speed and throttle opening.

I was on a clear dual carriageway travelling at 60mph and the instant mpg showing in excess of 70mpg when it just dropped to 33mpg and on a slight incline went down to 24mpg. It stayed like that all the way along the M27 and almost another 6 miles on the M3, never going above 37mpg.

After approx 36 miles it suddenly shot back up to the high 60mpg and on slight downhill stretches on a very light throttle it was back to 99.9mpg.

Just as an aside the low fuel light came on so I pulled in at a petrol station to fill up. This was my first opportunity to check how much fuel it would take to fill up as normally it is always topped up before it drops to a quarter tank.

Filling it to the top of the neck it took 26 ltrs so although the Range indicator said 55 miles ther must have been 2 gallons still remaining in the tank, quite a safety margin.

p.s. I must mention that today I received a Fiat voucher for £100 as a gesture of goodwill from Fiat, nice one.

 

[cryocon]

Here's some advice from the AA about DPF's.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/fuels-and-environment/diesel-particulate-filters.html

 

[pearce_jj]

Someone posted some info from fiat about the regen (possibly on this thread) - at c.1800rpm 55mph mine takes the 4 mins specified. It did re-gen a lot more when it was cold, it's about once per tank at the moment.

 

[grimwau]

Well, the car has been at the dealers for three days and have just got a call to say it is ready for collection. Will be picking it up in the morning as the DET will be finished by the time I get there tonight and he wants to run through everything that has been done to the car.

Apparently the troubleshooter from Fiat has been working with him today so hopefully I can put this problem to bed and get on with enjoying my 500.

Will hopefully be able to post some more info tomorrow.

 

[grimwau]

Got the car back but nothing wrong was discovered. I still think that my experiences of regeneration cycles are excessive but the fact that the DET and the Fiat roving troubleshooter are agreed makes me feel better.

At least if I do suffer with DPF problems at a later date I have been told that it would be covered under the third year dealer warranty so not so much of a hurry to change cars at two years old.

I have to say that dealership were extremely helpful and kept me up to date on how things were progressing so top marks to them and as always full marks to Fiat CS for their support.

 

[grimwau]

Got the car back but nothing wrong was discovered. I still think that my experiences of regeneration cycles are excessive but the fact that the DET and the Fiat roving troubleshooter are agreed makes me feel better.

<update>

2200 miles since the last oil and filter change due to the flashing oil light and warning message and 2000 since the car was at the dealers for 4 days for investigation by the DET and the Fiat UK troubleshooter.

Since then the car has displayed the "particulate filter blocked" light/message at least every two weeks.

In my efforts to circumvent this problem I have been using Shell V Plus and BP Ultimate in case it was down to the Sainsburys fuel, have done a 20 mile trip at 70-80mph every Friday evening when the roads have been nice and clear and made sure that the revs have been kept up higher than my usual gear change speeds. Coupled with that the car has had more long trips (over 100 miles each way) and far less city driving but it seems that the problem is getting worse.

Car was collected from dealer on 31/05/2008

First enforced oil/filter change at 3575 miles on 15/11/2008.

First service (inc. oil and filter change) at 7466 miles on 20/05/2009

Second warning message yesterday 01/10/2009 at 9754 miles.

A question for any Fiat techs completely off the record, does this seem the norm because other diesel owners I have asked have not had these problems even though a few drive under worse conditions than myself.

Also, I need to point out that when the oil was changed at the first service the oil warning hadn't come on and afterwards the service schedule was reset back to the 18000 mile countdown.

Would this have cleared any data held by the ECU regarding the number of regeneration cycles that had previously been carried out or is that a separate operation.

I ask (clutching at straws) hoping that this might be the cause of the warning at such a low mileage this time or else I can see the car needing to have £100 oil changes every month soon if it carries on this way.

Needless to say I shall be contacting Fiat CS and getting their views as it would appear that if all the checks were carried out correctly then maybe it is the DPF itself that is faulty!

 

[01101001]

Sounds like the car is unfit for purpose. I would tell them that you want a new car.. If you stick by your guns they should do it..I did it a few years ago with a new VW and they gave me a new one.

Good luck

 

[RobW]

reading this makes me so glad i have a petrol 500

 

[306maxi]

Sounds like the car is unfit for purpose. I would tell them that you want a new car.. If you stick by your guns they should do it..I did it a few years ago with a new VW and they gave me a new one.

Good luck

I've never understood this mentality. Grimwau's got a car that other than the silly DPF problems is pretty much what he wants and I applaud him for sticking with the car and trying to get the fault resolved rather than bawling his eyes out and playing Fiat for a new car.

Grimwau, you should contact D4nny8oy, he says he's never had a DPF problem with a 500 that he couldn't sort out I did suggest that he get in touch with you as well.

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/211196-dpf-how-get-engine-cover-off.html

Daniel :wave:

 

[306maxi]

In my efforts to circumvent this problem I have been using Shell V Plus and BP Ultimate in case it was down to the Sainsburys fuel, have done a 20 mile trip at 70-80mph

Interesting! I did suggest using V-Power before because due to its composition it doesn't produce as many particulates as it's a gas to liquid fuel. BP ultimate is just traditional diesel so doesn't give the same advantages. Pity that suggestion hasn't helped at all, perhaps other than lightening your wallet

 

[grimwau]

reading this makes me so glad i have a petrol 500

Rob, Glad that there is a plus side to this, LOL.

Interesting! I did suggest using V-Power before because due to its composition it doesn't produce as many particulates as it's a gas to liquid fuel. BP ultimate is just traditional diesel so doesn't give the same advantages. Pity that suggestion hasn't helped at all, perhaps other than lightening your wallet

Daniel, I did take this on board from your original post, the only thing I didn't realise was that BP Ultimate wasn't in the same league as the V-Power. Still, at least it has eliminated a possible cause.

You have real problems I guess it has been said many times before but shut up. I guess as a child you were bullied or maybe worse.. If so carry on being the prick that you have turned out to be, If not grow up.
All I am doing is trying to help someone, They have said they are having a nightmare with the car and are not happy.

Mr Binary, thanks for the support but I am afraid you are a little out of line with your comments above. 306Maxi and I have had our differences in the past but in this case he is spot on.

My wife loves the car and apart from this (and maybe the clutch/transmission noise problem) it has been great. It has had a few little niggles, flashing mileage, BLUE&ME Microphone, knocking underneath when reversing, all sorted by my dealer to my complete satisfaction and I want to persevere in trying to get it sorted out.

If I don't get it resolved then I am prepared to take it further but I want to give Fiat every opportunity to put it right before going down that road.

If I had just been given the runaround I might feel differently but up to now Fiat CS have been very supportive and I am awaiting a phone call on Monday for more information on how to proceed.

p.s. Daniel, D4NNY8OY has been very helpful in this matter, I hope he might have some more input.

 

[baxwalker]

Hi Grim and others -

Interesting thread with a lot of common sense discussion. Sorry to come back in late on the thread but I've been away for a week.

I too had to have an early oil change and a software update. Now at 17,000 miles and first main service nearly due.

I drove back from North Lincolnshire today. Motorway/Dual Carriageway without a break, door to door. Outside lane for most of the journey - average speed - high!

Returned 61 mpg and engine showed no signs of being particularly hot when I finally stopped.

Very relaxed - especially up long inclines - it just kept going and still had power in reserve - the reason I opted for the diesel in the first place.

I would like a 1.9 diesel (weighing the same as the 1.3) under the bonnet - that would really suit my style of driving

Cheers

 

[Venters]

[If I don't get it resolved then I am prepared to take it further but I want to give Fiat every opportunity to put it right before going down that road.

I hope I'm as calm and thought out as you when I get old.
I put a hole in the mareas dash with my heel because of a rattle today.:bang:

 

[306maxi]

I hope I'm as calm and thought out as you when I get old.
I put a hole in the mareas dash with my heel because of a rattle today.:bang:

Can I ask why you were wearing heals?

 

[grimwau]

:Offtopic: Anyway, everyone (even Stewart) is entitled to a little mystery in their lives. LOL.

Obviously I am loathe to use the car with an oil light flashing so went to dealers on Friday to book it in for the oil/filter change but their first available apppointment was 17/10/09. I was surprised that they don't have spare capacity for "fast" jobs but I guess they are working flat out. Anyway, managed to talk to a senior advisor and asked if it was OK to drive for two weeks in this situation and managed to get the car booked in for a week earlier.

However, I wanted to minimise the driving so have managed to get a cheap hire car for a few days which should help.

As the car has been in the garage for a while I checked the oil level and sure enough the reading was over the maximum as previously and hence the thread heading. Now I check this weekly and it has been gradually rising but I was surprised that it was so high again. I didn't imagine that so much fuel could get past the piston rings on such a new engine especially, bearing in mind that the extra fuel is injected on the exhaust stroke.

If I push the dipstick in as far as the bottom of the yellow plastic piece at the top of the dipstick it shows it being on maximum with still nearly an inch further to go.

I still think this is a problem with my car as opposed to all 500 diesels due to the frequency of it happening and hopefully, if it is getting worse which seems to be the case, if I can get Fiat UK to open a case then there might be something for them to find this time.

 

[306maxi]

Fook me. Something definitely wrong there.

 

[grimwau]

Well, I didn't get the promised phone call today which is a little disappointing as Fiat CS have previously been pretty good in this respect.

Still, I was informed that the guy who helped me previously (Jonathan Britcher I think) had been off work sick and even if he was back today he probably had a desk full of paperwork to plough through.

I'll wait until Wednesaday and if I have not heard anything by then I will get in contact again.