Hey guys, ive been reading through this forum for a while now but just managed to register. Great job to all trying to help with any issues people are having with their Fiats.
My wife has a 2013 Fiat 500 Sport with just 30.000klms on it. We moved to Australia from Europe where these cars are very popular and bought it second hand with 10.000klms and it has been a great little car for the past 2 years.
BUT, i have been driving it on a daily basis lately for the past 3 months due to not having a company car anymore and it has developed a problem. Not sure if my driving style has contributed to this but sometimes on a downhill or uphill when in AUTO and in FIFTH gear it will drop into Neutral when trying to downshift to 4th. I decided to drive it for a while in manual mode and the car is fine, have done over 500klms in manual mode and it has not missed a beat. No warning lights or error codes have come up at all.
Here in Australia as you might know from other members dealer service and mechanics in general just want to take your money, and a lot of it. I went to the fiat dealer here and they just told me to leave the car there and come back after a week to tell me what the problem is and how it can be fixed.
The local mechanic that we take the car to has no idea, and he is only just good enough maybe for oil changes and brake pads so no luck there.
I have previous experience with repairing cars my self so i have decided to have a look at the actuator oil/fluid my self and to top it up if it is low. It doesn't seem like a big job so i purchased the Tatela oil from Fiat and just waiting for the weekend to have a go at it. Now i know this is probably the start of many headaches to come so we have decided to sell the car and get something else. > Now as i mentioned in the beginning this issue only happens when the car is in AUTO mode and not in MANUAL mode, at least not yet. <
Generally Selespeed faults when the unit is failing are reasonably consistent. So if the car drives faultlessly in manual mode for hundreds of miles, then this car probably only needs a main dealer software update! Check to see if there are any leaks from the actuator, but you can´t check the fluid reliably without completely depressurised it to get the correct level.
I have owned a couple of cars in my life and i think that the duallogic is probably the most stupid auto or semi auto transmission probably ever made. >
OK so generally no automatic transmission is going to be as reliable as the manual versions. These type of robotic gear changes offer the best solution for a small automatic car that needs the best fuel economy and emissions rating. The car is designed in Europe, where this is very important.
Fiat/Alfa are one of the manufactures that have been working on these systems the longest. This single clutch system is one of the smoothest (although I am aware that individual cars seem to differ), compared to the Smart car systems it needs no general adjustment or service for the life of the clutch. Compared to the VW DSG type auto box the selespeed/Dualogic system, although isn´t as smooth is much cheaper to fix when it goes wrong!
When its not in SPORT mode the accelerator needs to be floored for the car to get moving and when changing gears its almost like the car brakes first and then changes gears. Many times when stopped at traffic lights, when accelerating (not aggressively) when changing from 1st to 2nd the car behind has almost hit me from behind due to this issue.
When in SPORT mode, the car just revs too high as if its a ferrari and stupidly changing gears as if its on a race track. Not sure if this is normal but defiantly very annoying. My wife has been complaining about the NORMAL mode since day 1 and thats why she always drove it in SPORT mode.
This may be characteristic of the 1.4l engine and the Dualogic set up, I don´t know.. These engines were dropped in Europe once the TwinAir arrived on the scene. The TwinAir Dualogic doesn´t behave like this and the lighter the pressure on the accelerator pedal and the quicker the system changes up! It may be that a later software update changes this? But if the car has never been seen by fiat for servicing, it will have missed any updates!
When i manage to have a look at the actuator oil/fluid level i will post an update and some pics also. >
Check for leaks only! Do not add oil unless you have the MultiECUscan software to do this properly
Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks