Technical  Proxi Alignment issue costs

Currently reading:
Technical  Proxi Alignment issue costs

......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.

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!

Sadly welshfifi you could find yourself just going round and round in circles here. Many of us see it all the time, people often spending weeks and dare I say it, months trying to work out what the issue is without actually taking it back to the dealership and letting them sort it out. I appreciate you might? be out of warranty and you've already taken it to your local dealership and from what you posted earlier, you don't seem to have much joy from them. I stand by what I said earlier, find another dealership and get another opinion, even if it means travelling further. Explain the issue and see what they can do. It won't cost you £200 for a diagnostic check, £60 to £80 is about the going rate. Yes, a lot of money outside of a service, but it might be the only way to properly resolve your issue. This might not be what you want to hear, but I personally would just go and find another dealership. Good luck!(y)
 
Thanks very much for the advice. Yeah I think it will just be a case of biting the bullet and facing up to the fact it's most likely going to set me back a few quid. There is another dealership relatively nearby so I will try them and see what they say. I am still covered by 3 year dealership warranty however I'm not full sure what that actually covers.
 
Thanks very much for the advice. Yeah I think it will just be a case of biting the bullet and facing up to the fact it's most likely going to set me back a few quid. There is another dealership relatively nearby so I will try them and see what they say. I am still covered by 3 year dealership warranty however I'm not full sure what that actually covers.

Trust me, the 3rd year dealer warranty covers more than many would have you believe. I was rubbished when I first joined this forum for 'wasting' £27 by paying for the 3rd year warranty as a second owner. Well that £27 saved me over £1k, and I soon discovered that the faults I took the car back to the dealership to be fixed, were fixed under warranty without fuss, albeit following a Fiat assessor approving the work.

I know spending money on cars isn't fun and the advice offered on forums such as this are generally excellent, the problem is, the rest of us are just armchair mechanics/advisors and can only offer armchair advice based on personal experiences, which is all very well and good, but sometimes not even excellent advice given this way will solve your own problems.

Anyway, I wish you well and hope you get the issue resolved.
 
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.
I had my battery tested by a couple of places and they both said it was good and nothing to worry about.

I took advice on here and bought a new SS battery, and everything is fine now.

The old battery has been relegated to the shed. It gets charged from time to time, but still holds its charge and seems perfectly ok. Why it didn't perform properly in the SS 500 I haven't got a clue. If and when the battery dies in our non-SS Clio we own, the old SS 500 battery will be put in, and I reckon it will work absolutely fine.

There's nothing wrong with our SS 500 battery, but it won't work properly in the 500. Gordon only knows why the SS 500 is so fussy, but the batteries can be tested professionally and declared good, but not be good enough for a SS 500.

Change the battery? Expensive, but maybe worth the money.

Good luck,
Mick.
 
Yes, a mystery.
It holds it's charge, started the car perfectly every single time, but steadfastly refused to allow the stop start to remain stopped for more than a few seconds.

The new battery will allow the engine to stop for the full three minutes even with ACC on and headlights on.

Maybe it's something to do with internal resistance. Too high for SS use, but perfectly OK for a "normal" car.

Regards,
Mick.
 
Yes, a mystery.
It holds it's charge, started the car perfectly every single time, but steadfastly refused to allow the stop start to remain stopped for more than a few seconds.

The new battery will allow the engine to stop for the full three minutes even with ACC on and headlights on.

Maybe it's something to do with internal resistance. Too high for SS use, but perfectly OK for a "normal" car.

Regards,
Mick.

I suspect it's down to the rate at which the battery voltage drops once the alternator stops spinning.
 
I bought a cigar lighter digi voltmeter to see this phenomenon, and I've compared the old battery info to the new info, but I couldn't see anything conclusive in that regard.

The old battery reads 12.3v in the cold shed and has read the same for the past few weeks. I've charged it twice since being taken out of the car in mid December last year and I've connected the cigar lighter digi voltmeter up to it via croc clips so each time I go in the shed, the voltage is plain to see.

Either way, our 500TA has been transformed. I'm sure she's more economical too.

Thanks
Mick.
 
Hi everyone!
So I thought it worth me giving you a little update on what happened with my battery issues. I ended up taking it into a garage and having the battery replaced, however they advised that they were unable to carry out the correct proxi-allignment procedure to sort out the flashing mileage. This apparently is due to a 'faulty convergence unit' which I am quoted would cost £465 to replace with labour as it is a fault which I'm told is not covered by my three year warranty. Despite this they replaced the battery and let me drive away. For six weeks I've had no problems, then a week ago I noticed the car struggling again when starting. Three days of not using the car and I've gone to start it today, couldn't even open the car with the remote key the first warning sign that all is not right. When I turn the key in the ignition exactly the same problem as before.
I'm now at a point where I feel let down, and not even sure where I stand. Obviously the battery was not the problem initially, and this faulty convergence unit is the source of the drain, but if a garage can't even work that out what am I supposed to do.

Looks like I'll be making another call to the RAC first thing tomorrow. Lucky I wasn't planning anything for the easter break eh! Ha!
 
Hi everyone!
So I thought it worth me giving you a little update on what happened with my battery issues. I ended up taking it into a garage and having the battery replaced, however they advised that they were unable to carry out the correct proxi-allignment procedure to sort out the flashing mileage. This apparently is due to a 'faulty convergence unit' which I am quoted would cost £465 to replace with labour as it is a fault which I'm told is not covered by my three year warranty. Despite this they replaced the battery and let me drive away. For six weeks I've had no problems, then a week ago I noticed the car struggling again when starting. Three days of not using the car and I've gone to start it today, couldn't even open the car with the remote key the first warning sign that all is not right. When I turn the key in the ignition exactly the same problem as before.
I'm now at a point where I feel let down, and not even sure where I stand. Obviously the battery was not the problem initially, and this faulty convergence unit is the source of the drain, but if a garage can't even work that out what am I supposed to do.

Looks like I'll be making another call to the RAC first thing tomorrow. Lucky I wasn't planning anything for the easter break eh! Ha!
oh poor you. call fiat customer services and ask that they sort this out under third year warranty, or at the very least contribute to this repair.

failing that, go to an indie and sort it out (bosch car service is my favorite choice, and bosch is very experienced with car electronics/ they produce most of them for cars anyway!)
 
oh poor you. call fiat customer services and ask that they sort this out under third year warranty, or at the very least contribute to this repair.

failing that, go to an indie and sort it out (bosch car service is my favorite choice, and bosch is very experienced with car electronics/ they produce most of them for cars anyway!)


Fiat customer services will definitely be one of my points of call. Right now I'm more angry with the garage for charging me for replacing a battery that by the looks didn't need replacing.

Is the faulty convergence unit really capable of completely draining a battery when car is not used for 4 days? Being a car owner is a headache :(
 
I installed my new SS Battery today having taken the old battery out and leaving it disconnected for an hour. Reconnected, Power steering error has gone but I still have the flashing mileage so it didn't work for me.

All the buttons on the dash seem to work.

I'm thinking of investing in ECUScan or whatever it's called. I know there are other threads on this, but could someone point me in the right direction for which cables I would need. I don't have a Windows laptop, so will probably have to buy one.

I thought I saw something about ECUScan using Bluetooth via an Android phone, is that a possibility?
 
I installed my new SS Battery today having taken the old battery out and leaving it disconnected for an hour. Reconnected, Power steering error has gone but I still have the flashing mileage so it didn't work for me.

All the buttons on the dash seem to work.

I'm thinking of investing in ECUScan or whatever it's called. I know there are other threads on this, but could someone point me in the right direction for which cables I would need. I don't have a Windows laptop, so will probably have to buy one.

I thought I saw something about ECUScan using Bluetooth via an Android phone, is that a possibility?
why dont you just install windows on your mac as part of apple bootcamp?

cables are here: http://idiagnostics.co.uk
 
why dont you just install windows on your mac as part of apple bootcamp?
I considered that.
BootCamp is free of course, but how much does Windows cost? I don't know, I never looked, but it would cost something.

I bought a Del PC laptop for £50 delivered and it came with Windows already installed. No fuss, no bother, simple.

Regards,
Mick.
 
I went to my local fiat dealers today and asked them how much a proxy alignment cost. The answer, £45 including vat. They can do one.

I've seen the cables on eBay for £17, my daughter has a windows laptop so I'll borrow that. I do have windows on my iMac, so I guess I could load it on my MacBook.
 
I bought the three coloured cables, but for a Fiat 500 you only need the yellow one. Blue and Green are superfluous.
ALL have a use..but for diagnosing DIFFERENT scenarios, :)
normally the 3 x adaptor cables;
Engine =KKL or ELM depending on MES set-up page;)

ABS,
PAS,
Body module

when you work on different Model FIAT vehicles you'll appreciate how varied this can be - and RELY on the Reference table / Chart,(y)

Charlie
 
Back
Top