Technical Multiple electrical problems after swapping wheels. (2008 Fiat 500)

[W Bakker]

I've recently swapped the wheels on my 2008 Fiat 500 1.4 16v. Ever since my car has developed the following problem.

No lights on startup.

When driving, after about 60 seconds, the yellow triangle light on the bottom right of the instrument cluster starts flashing under acceleration and restricts the car from accelerating like it's a form of traction control. after fighting the car for a few seconds, the following lights come on: (see picture below)

The screen starts flashing that the following features are disabled:

ABS, ESC, Powersteering and hill hold.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi

It seems like a glitch..

Personally..

I would disconnect the battery Black Negative cable for an hour..

Keep the key in your House


Then reconnect cable.. hopefully the car will reset


If not.. maybe the jacking has stressed the same Black Negative cable ( it runs from battery to chassis to gearbox)

And these can fail internally.. through age and corrosion


Let us know more

 

[John202020]

New battery and new earth strap to gearbox, turn off the headlights too, PAS light indicates a lack of electrical power, if battery new(ish) then check the earth strap, if its never had a new one I'd bet a £1 its this problem?

 

[W Bakker]

Hi

It seems like a glitch..

Personally..

I would disconnect the battery Black Negative cable for an hour..

Keep the key in your House


Then reconnect cable.. hopefully the car will reset


If not.. maybe the jacking has stressed the same Black Negative cable ( it runs from battery to chassis to gearbox)

And these can fail internally.. through age and corrosion


Let us know more

I've just tried this, it didn't solve the issue but it did make the car show me what's wrong in the gauge cluster.

It told me the EBD system has failed. Any ideas how this could've happened? I'm not all that confident in driving it to the dealer or a local garage with storms forecasted for the next few days.

 

[jrkitching]

Possibly one of the ABS sensors has been disturbed when the wheels were changed?

Doesn't explain the PAS light; I'd check the battery connections & earthing first.

 

[A3jeroen]

ABS sensor is quite likely. All wheels have the same circumference?

Edit: Where in the Lowlands does your house live?

gr J

 

[W Bakker]

Update:

After a lot of trial and error, I gave up last week and decided to wait until yesterday. The car was booked in for a new throwout bearing and clutch so I asked my garage to take a look at it.

In short, after reinstalling the summer tyres the car somehow recognized the difference in wheel speeds due to the different circumferences and didn't want to continue anymore.


For anybody interested in the exact problem:

They tried a few things and came to the conclusion the car was going into some sort of limp mode because the front and rear tyres were two different sizes. (195/45R16 in front and 195/55R16 in the rear) It was odd because the car came to me with these wheels and I drove it for a few months without any trouble. It was quite fun however to see a Fiat 500 drive on Volvo wheels to test our theory.

Garage quoted me a great deal on 2 brand new Hankook Ventus Prime 3's.
I now run 195/50R16 in front and 195/55R16 in the rear and haven't had any trouble since.

If anybody from the Netherlands needs a reliable and honest garage, I highly recommend Qarz in Naarden, NH.
They specialize in Volvo's but always do great work in my Fiat's.

Thank you everybody for the help and I hope my update can help somebody else in the future.

 

[John202020]

Does the book specifically state two different sizes? Front/rear

 

[decappottabile]

If anybody from the Netherlands needs a reliable and honest garage, I highly recommend Qarz in Naarden, NH.
They specialize in Volvo's but always do great work in my Fiat's

Thanks for the update. Will keep your recommendation for the garage in mind.
I don't live too far from Naarden. (in fact, I live in the same town as you )

 

[W Bakker]

Does the book specifically state two different sizes? Front/rear

I honestly don't have any idea. My book is somewhere in the back of the shed but I can imagine traction control going crazy since it was quite a big difference in circumference.

 

[chris3234]

Update:

After a lot of trial and error, I gave up last week and decided to wait until yesterday. The car was booked in for a new throwout bearing and clutch so I asked my garage to take a look at it.

In short, after reinstalling the summer tyres the car somehow recognized the difference in wheel speeds due to the different circumferences and didn't want to continue anymore.


For anybody interested in the exact problem:

They tried a few things and came to the conclusion the car was going into some sort of limp mode because the front and rear tyres were two different sizes. (195/45R16 in front and 195/55R16 in the rear) It was odd because the car came to me with these wheels and I drove it for a few months without any trouble. It was quite fun however to see a Fiat 500 drive on Volvo wheels to test our theory.

Garage quoted me a great deal on 2 brand new Hankook Ventus Prime 3's.
I now run 195/50R16 in front and 195/55R16 in the rear and haven't had any trouble since.

If anybody from the Netherlands needs a reliable and honest garage, I highly recommend Qarz in Naarden, NH.
They specialize in Volvo's but always do great work in my Fiat's.

Thank you everybody for the help and I hope my update can help somebody else in the future.

That makes no sense no fiat I know of has different sized wheels it makes even less sense to have bigger tyres on the rear of a small light FWD car like the 500 with probably less then 400kg on the axle

 

[W Bakker]

That makes no sense no fiat I know of has different sized wheels it makes even less sense to have bigger tyres on the rear of a small light FWD car like the 500 with probably less then 400kg on the axle

The wheels are both 16 inches. I think they were on an Abarth before. The previous owner must have liked a more raked look I guess.

 

[A3jeroen]

The sizes are still wrong. They should have put the exact same size on the front as the rear. The correct size is 195/45 R16 84V XL

These are 5% and 10% of 195mm width too high.

gr J

 

[W Bakker]

The sizes are still wrong. They should have put the exact same size on the front as the rear. The correct size is 195/45 R16 84V XL

These are 5% and 10% of 195mm width too high.

gr J

I know, they told me the correct sizes but I opted for the bigger tyres because the rears were close to new. Also, the speedo now reads the exact same speed as I get on Waze. Which I personally prefer

 

[A3jeroen]

Whenever the rears are worn put 50's on there as well.

gr J