Technical My semi automatic fiat 500 keeps shifting into neutral whilst driving

Currently reading:
Technical My semi automatic fiat 500 keeps shifting into neutral whilst driving

pwincesz

New member
Joined
Mar 5, 2024
Messages
2
Points
1
Location
England
Hi there ;)

I have read this question being asked a couple times on here from Googling the issues my car has been having, but there is never a solution in any of the replies so i thought id try to ask again to see if maybe someone now knows what it could possibly be. I have just passed my test 4 months ago, and this is my first car. It is a 59 (2009) plate fiat 500 1.4 lounge edition. It's also semi automatic transmission. The issue is rather dangerous, I will be driving along and suddenly i hear this awful shifting noise, like when it changes gears except louder and jolts the car. It honestly sounds like the car is trying to self destruct, and which it probably is. I suddenly have no throttle response, and soon after follows the awful beeping noise to let me know it is now in neutral, despite me never touching the stick. The stick is still sat in A/M, drive mode. In order to get going again, i have to put my foot on the break, move the stick to neutral, then move back to drive and HOPE it lets me drive away.

This has happened to me on dual carriageways, 70mph. Having to pull into a lay-by to try to fix it. And sometimes it doesn't always go back into gear, one time it didn't have any other gears other than 2 and 5. Or i will be driving along in 5th, barely touching the throttle and it will make this awful noise, shift down to 2nd gear and redline the revs then into neutral. I have taken it to 2 garages, both could not find an issue with it. Said it drove nicely in fact. Now it is booked in with Fiat. It's just come back from a diagnostic, no faults found, they took it for a road test and it was fine. When i go to pick it up and drive it home, 2 mins into the drive it has done it to me again on a 60mph road on a blind bend, so anyone could've been coming round that corner and not seen me in time to stop. The person i got it from said it had a new gearbox put in, at first i didn't wonder why. But it's obvious this issue had been happening to him and he had try to get it fixed. Fiat said the gearbox had been changed, They reckon new clutch and flywheel. But I think it may be more to do with the computer side of things. But it's going in for a gearbox strip. I do not think the issue will be fixed by that. Does anyone have any idea as Fiat itself doesn't even seem to know!!! I see this being asked on Reddit also in the Fiat500 sub and there is never an answer or solution! Ive only been driving 4 month and i am absolutely TRAUMATISED being an already nervous driver :(
 
Hello,

As I could find the 'semi automatic transmission' in the Fiat 500 is only an electrohydraulically motorized manual gearbox, FIAT called the system Dualogic. It is the same as the Selespeed used in Alfa Romeo (even FIAT calls it the Selespeed in MultiEcuScan). A friend of mine was struggling with it for a long time until he found a good mechanic who knew how to deal with it.

Apparently it needs regular servicing which includes applying a special procedure. I once posted some instructions here, but cannot find the post. It was something like bleeding the cylinder and depressurizing the system. It needs a correct order. I'd start with doing the whole procedure, which shall adjust the system.

There's also a known problem with the actuator, but from the symptoms you got it doesn't sound to me like your case. The clutch actuator also needs adjusting from time to time. I drive a daily car with a very similar system (which luckily doesn't include any hydraulics, it is operated by electric motors only) and I'm getting it adjusted every 5000 km (twice a year) to maintain the shifting comfort and speed. It's a 10 minutes operation on the makes' equivalent of MES.

There's a long thread about the Dualogic problems here:


(in one of the posts on page 40 they name someone who can repair the actuator if needed)

And an explanation how the system works in the first post here:


MultiEcuScan has also several adjustments to make to the Dualogic system:

1709683675079.png


Reading the symptoms you've posted I think it just needs some care. The only problem is to find someone who knows how to deal with it.

And first thing to do is check the error codes with MES. That shall give some indications on the cause of the problem.
 
Last edited:
Hello and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry to hear about your problem.

This is a hard post to make, but realistically I suspect your transmission is just plain worn out.

On a 15yr old 500, repairing it properly would likely cost substantially more than the car is worth.

My suggestion to you is to sell your car as it is and put whatever you get for it toward buying something else.

Don't put too much hope on fixing this by connecting it to a computer and running a few diagnostic and recalibration procedures.

I wish I could offer you some hope of an affordable fix; unfortunately there are no easy solutions and very few garages who have any real understanding of these transmissions.

I'd hate to see you spending more money on a repair, only to have it fail again a few days or weeks later.
 
Last edited:
There's also a known problem with the actuator, but from the symptoms you got it doesn't sound to me like your case. The clutch actuator also needs adjusting from time to time. I drive a daily car with a very similar system (which luckily doesn't include any hydraulics, it is operated by electric motors only) and I'm getting it adjusted every 5000 km (twice a year) to maintain the shifting comfort and speed. It's a 10 minutes operation on the makes' equivalent of MES.
I appreciate you're trying to help, but I'm concerned this could mislead some people. Recalibration with MES very rarely fixes problems with hydraulically operated dualogic transmissions. Sometimes this will put out the warning light and get things working again for a short while, but realistically this just buys you some time to sell the car.

Anyone contemplating buying a car with this type of transmission should be aware its previous owner may have done just that.

I drive a daily car with a very similar system (which luckily doesn't include any hydraulics, it is operated by electric motors only)
If your transmission isn't operated hydraulically, it's not the same at all. Most dualogic failures reported here are caused by problems with the actuating hydraulics.
 
I appreciate you're trying to help, but I'm concerned this could mislead some people. Recalibration with MES very rarely fixes problems with hydraulically operated dualogic transmissions.


If your transmission isn't operated hydraulically, it's not the same at all. Most dualogic failures reported here are caused by problems with the actuating hydraulics.

All around the globe the problem is the same. People don't know the Dualogic system needs regular maintenance and precise calibration. If you go through the new threads related to the Fiat 500 gearbox problem, the majority of them says 'automatic'... If we do not need to change gears and press the clutch pedal, we assume it's an automatic gearbox. So it doesn't need any special treatment. But it's not an automatic gearbox and it needs regular servicing.

I know the system in my daily car is different, but the idea is the same: there is a dedicated, separate (from a gearbox and clutch) system that operates the clutch and the gearbox. And if it is a separate system, it needs a separate attention. How many people do it if even the workshops don't know how to deal with it?

I understand that it can be one of the cases where nothing can be done at a reasonable cost, but investigation and proper maintenance are always the first steps to take.
 
Hi there ;)

I have read this question being asked a couple times on here from Googling the issues my car has been having, but there is never a solution in any of the replies so i thought id try to ask again to see if maybe someone now knows what it could possibly be. I have just passed my test 4 months ago, and this is my first car. It is a 59 (2009) plate fiat 500 1.4 lounge edition. It's also semi automatic transmission. The issue is rather dangerous, I will be driving along and suddenly i hear this awful shifting noise, like when it changes gears except louder and jolts the car. It honestly sounds like the car is trying to self destruct, and which it probably is. I suddenly have no throttle response, and soon after follows the awful beeping noise to let me know it is now in neutral, despite me never touching the stick. The stick is still sat in A/M, drive mode. In order to get going again, i have to put my foot on the break, move the stick to neutral, then move back to drive and HOPE it lets me drive away.

This has happened to me on dual carriageways, 70mph. Having to pull into a lay-by to try to fix it. And sometimes it doesn't always go back into gear, one time it didn't have any other gears other than 2 and 5. Or i will be driving along in 5th, barely touching the throttle and it will make this awful noise, shift down to 2nd gear and redline the revs then into neutral. I have taken it to 2 garages, both could not find an issue with it. Said it drove nicely in fact. Now it is booked in with Fiat. It's just come back from a diagnostic, no faults found, they took it for a road test and it was fine. When i go to pick it up and drive it home, 2 mins into the drive it has done it to me again on a 60mph road on a blind bend, so anyone could've been coming round that corner and not seen me in time to stop. The person i got it from said it had a new gearbox put in, at first i didn't wonder why. But it's obvious this issue had been happening to him and he had try to get it fixed. Fiat said the gearbox had been changed, They reckon new clutch and flywheel. But I think it may be more to do with the computer side of things. But it's going in for a gearbox strip. I do not think the issue will be fixed by that. Does anyone have any idea as Fiat itself doesn't even seem to know!!! I see this being asked on Reddit also in the Fiat500 sub and there is never an answer or solution! Ive only been driving 4 month and i am absolutely TRAUMATISED being an already nervous driver :(

Hi
This has happened to me many times. I took it to my local garage and they couldn't find anything wrong. It's always in the back of my mind now when I drive, will it be happening again today!
Did you find out what the problem was?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi
This has happened to me many times. I took it to my local garage and they couldn't find anything wrong. It's always in the back of my mind now when I drive, will it be happening again today!
Did you find out what the problem was?
Hey there,

I’ve cancelled its appointment with fiat as I highly doubt it will be fixed. It costs more than what the car is worth in my eyes. I am selling it and financing something newer. With a real automatic gearbox haha. Nobody has a fix for this and if there is, it costs thousands. Not worth it for a 59 plate fiat 500. Rather just sell it and put deposit down on something newer unfortunately.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum
This has happened to me many times. I took it to my local garage and they couldn't find anything wrong. It's always in the back of my mind now when I drive, will it be happening again today!
Sadly @pwincesz is correct; the cheapest way to have peace of mind is probably to sell it and put the money toward something better.

How old is your car, by the way?
 
Back
Top