Technical Proxi Alignment issue costs

[welshfifi88]

Hi all! I'm hoping I am in the right place here for a query in regards to my flashing mileage. I've seen from other posts here that this seems to be a common issue but I've been unable to find anything to say how much this kind of repair might cost? At my dealership when I brought up the issue they said they didn't know what caused it but could be the blue and me system and to repair it would cost £350 but that it wouldn't affect the running of the car to me this seems a little excessive! From what I have read my understanding is that it seems a simple procedure to fix. Am I being misled by my dealership?
Also I am having issues with my battery not holding charge and relying on jump leads to start the car in recent weeks. Could this be linked to the allignment issue?
I would like to go into my dealership with a little know how in order to not be ripped off. So any help would be much appreciated. And I'm sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place, I'm just currently in a state of panic that this is going to be a costly fix

Thanks!

 

[ahmett]

Hi all! I'm hoping I am in the right place here for a query in regards to my flashing mileage. I've seen from other posts here that this seems to be a common issue but I've been unable to find anything to say how much this kind of repair might cost? At my dealership when I brought up the issue they said they didn't know what caused it but could be the blue and me system and to repair it would cost £350 but that it wouldn't affect the running of the car to me this seems a little excessive! From what I have read my understanding is that it seems a simple procedure to fix. Am I being misled by my dealership?
Also I am having issues with my battery not holding charge and relying on jump leads to start the car in recent weeks. Could this be linked to the allignment issue?
I would like to go into my dealership with a little know how in order to not be ripped off. So any help would be much appreciated. And I'm sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place, I'm just currently in a state of panic that this is going to be a costly fix

Thanks!

your first point of call would be to get yourself a new battery.

 

[welshfifi88]

your first point of call would be to get yourself a new battery.

I had a feeling that would be the answer. Hoping it wouldn't be as I've been quoted a high price for a new battery due to having a stop/start engine. Thank you for your help though. Much appreciated

 

[ahmett]

i had a feeling that would be the answer. Hoping it wouldn't be as i've been quoted a high price for a new battery due to having a stop/start engine. Thank you for your help though. Much appreciated

dont buy a battery from a fiat dealer they rip you off

 

[frupi]

dont buy a battery from a fiat dealer they rip you off

Agreed, it will be well over and above cost wise what you can buy from Eurocarparts for instance.

 

[welshfifi88]

Agreed, it will be well over and above cost wise what you can buy from Eurocarparts for instance.

Yes I would never buy from the dealership, been warned over their overpricing. It's very frustrating that this has all happened just 2 months after I had my 2nd year service. It's as if the car has waiting until I was out of warranty. Thank you both for your help!

 

[frupi]

Hi all! I'm hoping I am in the right place here for a query in regards to my flashing mileage......
....... Am I being misled by my dealership?
Also I am having issues with my battery not holding charge and relying on jump leads to start the car in recent weeks. Could this be linked to the allignment issue?
I would like to go into my dealership with a little know how in order to not be ripped off. So any help would be much appreciated. And I'm sorry if I'm posting in the wrong place, I'm just currently in a state of panic that this is going to be a costly fix

Thanks!

How old is the car? If you are running a 2009 or earlier car, then I suspect the battery isn't much cop now. Also, if you read other posts concerning the Stop/Start system and jump starting or incorrectly charging, it may cause damage to certain components.

Is your dealer misleading you? Most likely not, but as always with stuff like this, get a second opinion from another dealership. Clearly I have no idea where the next Fiat dealership is on from where you live, but don't get sucked into using just using your nearest. People often have quite different results with different dealerships, especially on cost.

Worth remembering too, if you decide to ever have a Fiat dealership service, diagnostics are generally included in the charge and should pick up anything untoward and they'll apply any software updates that may be required. Trouble is, some folk seem to think that all dealerships charge the earth, well that's where shopping around comes in and playing one off against the other. The only reason I didn't take our old POP into a dealership for its second service, even after they'd reduced their initial quote of £475, yes, you read that right, down to £150, I was so disgusted, I took it to a well respected Fiat independent garage who charged me 20 quid more, but was up front from the very start.

Hope you sort out your problems.

 

[jrkitching]

Hello and welcome :wave:.

Sorry to hear you're having problems.

This is the right place for your post (but not in the guides section please); we'll do our best to help you get it sorted as cheaply as possible.

From what you've posted, your battery is now worn out and should be replaced with one of the correct specification before proceeding further.

This may, or may not, fix the flashing mileage issue, but there's no point spending money on a proxi alignment if the battery is known to be defective.

Do not be tempted to try to save money by fitting a cheaper battery of a lower specification to a S/S 500 - your S/S won't work for more than a short while, if it even works at all.

This link:

Varta Start-Stop EFB Car Battery (027EFB) (D53): Amazon.co.uk: Car & Motorbike

will get you one of the cheapest batteries you can buy that's up to the job - another member here has recently bought and fitted one of these. You can read their story here.

You could also get this one from EuroCarParts, for similar money.

If you don't mind spending a little more, this looks interesting; it's a slightly different technology to the OEM battery and could just possibly prove to be more durable.

OEM batteries are most likely good for between 2-4 years at most. Once you're out of warranty on a S/S 500, that first battery replacement is probably not far away.

 

[snes]

I seem to recall that proxy alignment can be done via Multiecuscan?

Although with a s/s car with battery issues, I suspect most issues will disappear when the new battery is fixed in place.

Even if you let the garage do a proxy, surely it would only be the usual £60 odd charge for the electronic hook-up?

 

[dave]

and to repair it would cost £350 b

Thanks!

Your dealer is drunk send them this link and never go back there again, who are they?

 

[welshfifi88]

Thank you very much everyone for all your advice. Sorry for posting in the wrong place before. Unanimous thoughts that I need a new battery, best get shopping! Thank You again!

 

[ahmett]

Thank you very much everyone for all your advice. Sorry for posting in the wrong place before. Unanimous thoughts that I need a new battery, best get shopping! Thank You again!

glad to be of help! if you have any problem with the car do let us know, this forum has quite a few genuine experts who would be much more helpful than most Fiat dealers and much cheaper as well.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Sorry but I have to disagree, changing the battery will not suddenly cure a flashing dash.

The reason that the dealership will be quoting £350 is because it's not uncommon for the blue and me module to die and in doing so cause the dash to flash as its missed by the rest of the CanBus network, however you would likely see issues with buttons not working on dash etc.

There is also a chicken/egg issue with the battery, is the battery dead and causing the problems with needing jump starts or is there a faulty module not switching off with the rest of the car draining the battery.

Did the flashing dash begin before or after the first jump start, because again it's not uncommon for jump starting to cause issues or damage to the electronic modules of the car leading the dash to flash and the battery to drain.

I don't want to see you spend £100 on a stop start battery only to go out the next morning to a car that won't start and a dash that will still be flashing

And just to reiterate the point, a new battery will not fix the cause of the flashing

 

[MarginWalker]

Battery replacement seems to have cured the flashing mileage on my car - no flashing dash so far, over 6 months on from battery replacement. While I can't be sure that the cause of the flashing was fixed by the new battery, the flashing has gone and all functions/features appear to be working normally (incl. blue and me); I can only conclude that, in my particular case, the replacement battery solved the problem.

 

[jrkitching]

Moderator's summary of this thread so far:

...you could go to a Fiat dealer and pay £200 to be totally confused, or you could come here and be totally confused for nothing...

Seriously, though, modern cars can be tricky to diagnose even when you have the car in front of you and a full set of workshop diagnostic equipment. Without sight of the car, and only a keyboard to work with, it can be well nigh impossible.

AndyRKett has a shedload of experience with Fiats & his post is worth reading carefully. I'd still try a new battery myself, but I'm changing my opinion to "it might fix the problem". My justification is that on a >3yr old S/S 500, it'll likely need replacing soon anyway and it at least eliminates one common cause of the issues the OP is describing.

 

[dave]

I've seen battery cure flashing dash on mk2b punto before, battery was changed as mes wouldn't connect to ecu to do Proxi Alignment so new battery fitted and to my surprise didn't need to do Proxi Alignment after all.
You could also buy a full version of mes leads and a laptop to run it on for less that the 350.

how old is the car and battery? if its out of warranty then even if its not the problem changing it now might not be chucking money away.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

Battery replacement seems to have cured the flashing mileage on my car - no flashing dash so far, over 6 months on from battery replacement. While I can't be sure that the cause of the flashing was fixed by the new battery, the flashing has gone and all functions/features appear to be working normally (incl. blue and me); I can only conclude that, in my particular case, the replacement battery solved the problem.

Did you at any point disconnect the battery before you had it replaced?

Disconnecting the battery for an hour or two can sometimes cure a fault with a module which has gone a bit haywire

 

[staffordmike]

Batteries can be tested of course, to see what condition they're in. Might be worthwhile if only to put your mind at ease before splashing out on a pricy Stop/Start battery.

 

[MarginWalker]

Did you at any point disconnect the battery before you had it replaced?

Disconnecting the battery for an hour or two can sometimes cure a fault with a module which has gone a bit haywire

The period between the spent battery being removed and the new battery in place and connected was probably close to an hour.

 

[welshfifi88]

Hi all!
I just wanted to update you on what I've been experiencing. This morning I had to call out the RAC in order to get the car running as it was completely dead. The battery was tested by the engineer and at first he thought the battery would need replacing as he believed it to be faulty.
On further inspection he discovered a drain on the battery measuring at 0.5amps. He then told me that this is usually caused by an interior light but inspecting the vehicle he couldn't see any culprit. When I then told him about my flashing mileage issue he said this could be a cause of the drain, and that the software may need to be updated. He simply then started me up advised me to charge the battery overnight on a slow charge and then take it to get inspected by a garage. Once he noticed the drain he seemed pretty confident that the battery was not the issue itself and shouldn't need replacing.
To be honest I'm still none the wiser, and now have to try and find the time between work to get it to a garage to solve the mystery. Thankfully I'm not reliant on my car for work.
Time will tell I guess!