General Stuck in neutral please help

[Veqtro]

Bought a 2004 Fiat Panda 1.2 Petrol Semi-Automatic Eleganza a month ago. Day after we bought it the car wouldn't start until it was jumped. Then it ran smoothly for a month a week ago, it randomly stopped working and wouldn't come out of neutral. I unplugged the battery and left it for an hour and then plugged it back in and the car worked for 24 hours and then it brokedown in the middle of the road. I've tried disconnecting and reconnecting the battery again and this time it wouldn't work, I also bought a new battery and tried that. The brake lights work. The car makes a clunking noise when shifting gear and clicks but doesn't sound bad. I'm not sure what to do, does anyone have any suggestions on quick tricks or things to check before I take it to the fiat dealer for a diagnostic?

 

[koalar]

Theres an over 50% the diaphragm in the accumulator has failed

A simple check for a garage would be to depressurised the system and weigh it

There's no easy way to test without specialized software

When the car hasn't been used overnight, and you first open the door, how many seconds does the hydraulic pump buzz for

Check the hydraulic level if you can (not easy)

 

[Veqtro]

Theres an over 50% the diaphragm in the accumulator has failed

A simple check for a garage would be to depressurised the system and weigh it

There's no easy way to test without specialized software

When the car hasn't been used overnight, and you first open the door, how many seconds does the hydraulic pump buzz for

Check the hydraulic level if you can (not easy)

It's our first car, we've only had it a month so we're not very experienced. I'll measure how many seconds tomorrow morning. I've contacted around 12 garages and none of them will touch the car. The only place that said yes is Fiat Dealership who will do a Diagnostic Test for £155. Is it likely to be an expensive repair as the car was only £1100 with 45k miles?

 

[koalar]

It's our first car, we've only had it a month so we're not very experienced. I'll measure how many seconds tomorrow morning. I've contacted around 12 garages and none of them will touch the car. The only place that said yes is Fiat Dealership who will do a Diagnostic Test for £155. Is it likely to be an expensive repair as the car was only £1100 with 45k miles?

Dualogic system is a fairly simple system

But also fairly rare in a panda so finding an expert probably will not be straightforward

It is the same system as used in the 500 and similar to the Punto, there a company, can't remember it's name but can look it up, if your near Staffordshire

 

[jrkitching]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'm sorry to hear that your recent purchase has developed a problem.

The only place that said yes is Fiat Dealership who will do a Diagnostic Test for £155

I would bet serious money that all you will get for your £155 is to be told that the car can't be economically repaired.

there a company, can't remember it's name but can look it up, if your near Staffordshire

Are you thinking of CD Motors in Stoke? If the OP is indeed in Dover, unfortunately that's 250 miles away!

Is it likely to be an expensive repair as the car was only £1100 with 45k miles

Sadly it's unlikely to be repairable by any garage at an economically viable price. As you have already discovered, even finding a garage reasonably local to you that will take the job on will not be easy.

If this were my car, I'd not spend any more money on it and would sell it 'as is' to try to recover at least some of what I had paid for it. You've been unlucky; sometimes buying a 20+ yr old car just doesn't work out. Trying to get this repaired by a garage risks just throwing good money after bad.

 

[DaveMcT]

Duologic achieves a smooth gear shift by excessive clutch slipping. One with 45,000 miles will almost certainly have a trashed cutch.
If you want to keep the car, you'll need to find a Fiat Alfa Selespeed specialist.

The alternative would be to fit a manual transmission but only worth doing when your own labour costs are not priced in.