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500 Slightly concerned newbie

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500 Slightly concerned newbie

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Forrest

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Hi sorry if this is in the wrong section but I'm a newbie so here goes...
Just collected on Saturday a 500 Lounge 1.2 2010 model...great looking car in Bossa Nova white, But I've a slight problem which is....I can drive the car any amount of miles and the start stop works fine and then all of a sudden the start stop light comes on with the generic engine fault light comes on. This has also happened on a few occasions when stating up the engine, sometimes if I switch car off then back on it clears but on a couple of occasions it's stayed on.

My second problem is when I collected the car from a non fiat dealer when returning home and checking all paperwork I noticed there were a couple of advisories on the MOT...these are nearside & offside lower suspension arm have slight play in ball joint? Is this a problem ie is it going to be expensive in the future.

Thanks for any help
 
Forrest said:
Hi sorry if this is in the wrong section but I'm a newbie so here goes...
Just collected on Saturday a 500 Lounge 1.2 2010 model...great looking car in Bossa Nova white, But I've a slight problem which is....I can drive the car any amount of miles and the start stop works fine and then all of a sudden the start stop light comes on with the generic engine fault light comes on. This has also happened on a few occasions when stating up the engine, sometimes if I switch car off then back on it clears but on a couple of occasions it's stayed on.

My second problem is when I collected the car from a non fiat dealer when returning home and checking all paperwork I noticed there were a couple of advisories on the MOT...these are nearside & offside lower suspension arm have slight play in ball joint? Is this a problem ie is it going to be expensive in the future.

Thanks for any help
Click to expand...

Hello and welcome :wave:.

The S/S issues you are having are almost certainly battery related.

On a 4yr old S/S equipped 500, it's odds on that the battery will need replacing. S/S cars use different battery technology to the earlier cars and it's essential to replace with the correct type (and they're not cheap, so worth shopping around). Check the manufacturing date on the battery; it's also possible the previous owner (or even the dealer) replaced it with the wrong sort.

Bottom swivels are a common issue and fortunately a cheap repair, but do it now or you'll likely be adding a new pair of front tyres to the bill.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the advice...sorry for what may seem stupid but why when driving with no radio, aircon, heating etc does the warning light & start stop lights come on even after a good drive surely the battery would hold charge?
Also as mentioned lights can be on but turning engine off the warning lights do sometimes clear!
 
Forrest said:
Thanks for the advice...sorry for what may seem stupid but why when driving with no radio, aircon, heating etc does the warning light & start stop lights come on even after a good drive surely the battery would hold charge?
Also as mentioned lights can be on but turning engine off the warning lights do sometimes clear!
Click to expand...

S/S cars are very fussy about battery state, voltage & self discharge rates - a worn battery may be out of limits as far as the S/S sytem is concerned, but appear to function normally in all other respects. As little as a thousandth of a volt may be the difference between working normally and turning the display into a disco.
 
Forrest, out of interest, how many miles has the car done?

I suspect you won't have much idea of the previous history of the vehicle in terms of how it has been driven, but if it has previously only done very short journeys over a long period of time, it may well not have had much opportunity over its lifetime to receive adequate charging.

I would however go with jr's explanation concerning battery life. Batteries can of course last for several years, some people have managed 5 to 8 years on the same battery, but I would imagine they have generally not been employed on stop/start systems. The original conventional battery on our old MX5 last 7 years from new and I thought that was pretty exceptional. I replaced that battery with an AGM battery just a couple of months before we parted with the car.
 
Thanks for advice everyone.
Hi frupi the car has covered 21500 miles, 1 owner with service history...yes I see what is being said just didn't realise that was the case as we also own a ford focus with start stop system which has never been a problem.
Looks like it's a new battery then and into the garage for the ball joints!...not the best of starts to life in our 500!
 
21.5k in 4 years, so just over 5k a year. Quite possibly the car may have been used as a short run/city car.

Anyway, good luck with the car. I hope it gives great service to you. ;)
 
306maxi said:
Not new ball joints sadly.... New suspension arms!
Click to expand...

Quite a variation in prices so do shop around.

Shop4parts list OEM arms for about £55 each; ECP want about £58 for OCAP or £126 for Lemforder.

OEM arms are rubbish quality; knackered bottom swivels at 21000 miles is truly appaling, and sadly not that unusual from what others are posting.
 
Last edited:
Forrest said:
Thanks for the advice...sorry for what may seem stupid but why when driving with no radio, aircon, heating etc does the warning light & start stop lights come on even after a good drive surely the battery would hold charge?
Click to expand...

No, it won't, or at least not enough for the S/S system. I'm curious about the lights; a new battery fixed my S/S woes which I had from new but I never had any warning lights at all. Perhaps your battery is more far gone than mine was however.
 
Interestingly the SS has worked flawlessly on my TA since new last Jan, however I havent used the car since the weekend as I was 'exercising' my Alfa. Car started up fine this morning but over my 10 mile journey to work SS dident cut in once until I was parking up at work. Just goes to show that if the battery is not regularly kept on the boil SS wont cut in. My car was a special order so I know it wasent lying around prior to delivery.
 
Forrest said:
Thanks for advice everyone.
Hi frupi the car has covered 21500 miles, 1 owner with service history...yes I see what is being said just didn't realise that was the case as we also own a ford focus with start stop system which has never been a problem.
Looks like it's a new battery then and into the garage for the ball joints!...not the best of starts to life in our 500!
Click to expand...


Hi, and welcome,


everybody seems to comment how FORD/ BMW, etc systems work better,

I suspect they have got a much bigger engine doing the charging..!! ;-)


TBH buying ANY used car I would expect to be shelling out for wear + tear components..,

that's the nature of them,

no warranty to cover these..?? - probably not for consumables..


Charlie - Punto TA - Oxford
 
Unfortunately, I recently had to replace the front coil springs on my Saab as one was so pitted, it would have snapped very soon. Saab's and Vectra's are known for snapping coil springs at early mileages. Mine were pretty stuffed at just 40k. I did of course replace both coils and I put in new shocks (Bilsteins) for safety and ride reasons. Thankfully, a fairly easy job for the home mechanic.

The battery, yes, four years life especially on a stop/start system, seems reasonable.
 
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