Technical The one and only Dualogic failure thread

[snuffalicious]

I've had no joy even after charging the battery again.

I'm going to scrap it via an online site that's offered to collect, scrap and pay me £131.

Hey ho.

 

[Anonimouse]

Possibly the most inconvenient timing ever!

My wife is collecting her new Nissan Figaro tomorrow afternoon, which will replace her current '61 500C 0.9 TwinAir. The Fiat has been surprisingly reliable during our 4 years of ownership and I mentioned in passing that perhaps we should keep the car as a winter runaround, to keep miles off the Figaro. Well, that was until this morning ...

I parked up in town and placed the gearbox into neutral. I heard some squeaking, as if an auxiliary belt was slipping due to moisture, but naturally thought the noise was coming from a nearby bus or taxi. However upon selecting a gear, the car juddered a few times and stalled. The cabin filled with the immediately obvious smell of burning clutch. I switched the car off, switched it back on and attempted to choose a gear - another judder, followed by the engine stalling again. On the fourth attempt, I managed to select a gear!

That gear was 2nd, and we drove all the way home in 2nd gear. Manual selection of any other gear would result in some squeaking noise and little else. The dash displayed '2', and 'auto' was no longer available. Every time we pulled up to a junction, the clutch would disengage, as well as reengage when the throttle was applied. Once home, I tried again and essentially the gearbox now seems stuck in neutral - 'N'.

Not sure if anyone else has experienced this? Anyone fancy hazarding a guess as to what could be the issue? Does anyone know of any Dualogic specialists in Buckinghamshire or Berkshire (UK)?

If the transmission is indeed 'proper stuffed', I guess our best bet is either finding a new gearbox from a scrapyard ... or auctioning the car?

Any help is much appreciated!

 

[varesecrazy]

A for Alfa

Worth checking the pump runs 1st though

 

[jrkitching]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

That's incredibly unlucky timing.

As you'll have gathered by now if you've been looking through this thread, you don't want to be holding a dualogic when the music stops. This sort of fault can appear out of nowhere without warning, and rectification can often (though not always) be problematic and costly.

A significant burning smell would suggest to me that it's lunched its own clutch; whilst fitting a new clutch is easy enough to cost justify, if you find after you've fitted it that there is a serious underlying problem, you might have done better to simply sell it on 'as is'.

If you can't drive the car, your repair options are limited; getting it properly assessed likely means trailering it somewhere, and you could soon find yourself being sucked down an expensive path with no easy way off.

So, what to advise? I'm hearing that you've no plans to keep this car, so you have no intrinsic interest in it beyond trying to recover as much value as possible. Think about what it's worth 'as is', what it would cost to repair, and what it would be worth once repaired. Given that the cost to repair is a big unknown and possibly large number, personally I'd sell it as is and limit my losses. From what you've posted, your only justification for repairing it would be to try to recover more money from it; I'd suggest that's not enough of a good reason for taking on the potential risk inherent in such a course of action.

On a '61 plate car, its value as a repair project may be close to its value if broken for parts; @typecastboy might be able to advise on the latter.

 

[typecastboy]

As soon as you unlock the car with the remote, the pump primes.

As a 61 plate car I really wouldn't bother. It's going to be costly whatever it is which is why I've been put off ever getting a dualogic car unless it had a warranty. As a 9 or 10 year old car, I would get what you can for it as is. If you are able to break it for parts, you will make far far more money.

 

[Anonimouse]

Thanks for the replies!

According to other examples on Autotrader, it’s worth a good £5-6K. WBAC was offering £4500 prior to inspection. I tried again this morning and the pump primes itself, but the priming period continues longer than usual - almost 10 seconds! The car starts, but there is a very loud squealing noise. If I select drive, it stays in neutral and continues to squeal ...

 

[jackwhoo]

We buy any car are notorious for offering amazing pre-inspection value then on inspection knocking a massive percentage off.

 

[Anonimouse]

I’ve found a guy on the Fiat 500 FB owners group who will recon the robot for £450. A clutch appears to be around £50-100. I have the means to remove/refit the robot for a small fee. As such, the repair could cost around £1200. The big question is, will that actually fix the issue?

What’s the car worth as scrap/auction? Probably not £1000 ...

 

[jrkitching]

According to other examples on Autotrader, it’s worth a good £5-6K

It isn't. You could advertise it on Autotrader for that, but all you'll get is an endless string of calls from hustlers asking for more money to advertise it elsewhere.

What’s the car worth as scrap/auction? Probably not £1000 ...

Describe it fairly and put it on ebay 'as is'; you might just be surprised.

I’ve found a guy on the Fiat 500 FB owners group who will recon the robot for £450. A clutch appears to be around £50-100. I have the means to remove/refit the robot for a small fee. As such, the repair could cost around £1200. The big question is, will that actually fix the issue?

Who knows? Having read this thread, would you buy a car that had been repaired this way? Anyone with any knowledge looking at a dualogic and seeing evidence of a significant repair without supporting paperwork will run a mile.

One scenario is that the £1200 repair ends up at £2500, it works, sort of, but isn't quite right - nobody responds to your private sale ad and you struggle to get £2k from the trade for it. Is that really a risk you want to take? And do you want to spend the next few weeks of your life focusing on this?

What's been lost has already been lost. Cut those losses and move on.

 

[Anonimouse]

Thanks for the advice! Some good points and we’ve sold the car to a Fiat breaker for £1900. It sold pretty quick! Cheers!

 

[jrkitching]

Thanks for the advice! Some good points and we’ve sold the car to a Fiat breaker for £1900. It sold pretty quick! Cheers!

Thanks for coming back and letting us know the conclusion to your story. It's much appreciated; not everybody does this.

Now it's time to leave all this behind and concentrate on enjoying your new car. I wish you all the very best of luck with it.

 

[ampo]

Hi there,

I have Fiat 500 2010 1.4 dualogic and recently I noticed one issue with robotic transmission. When I am not moving and gear is in Neutral, sometimes dualogic starts to make regular noises. I noticed that reverse light is lighting on and off. It seems that car is trying to put R gear although it is in N! Does anybody know what could be the*problem please? I'm starting to be really desperate from this car

Thank you for all advices!

As a new member I can't post any link.

Edit: video links added by moderator

VIDEO 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBNYCZ6jNfI
VIDEO 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik7GdaqI8-A

 

[P0rta1]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for this topic, I found a lot information about Dualogic, but I have strange problem and if someone can help or have any information please help.

I have Fiat 500 1.2 v8 (2010 year), it's second hand car with 85 000 KM on clock and gearbox shifts become really slow - I mean it shifts at 2.5-3 RPM but when starts to shift there is as moment when car is not engaged and this moment. At 80000 KM shifting was short now it is longer also it sometimes judders in city traffic jam after long driving on highway or if I have air conditioner on(Cold one only). Got car to several mechanics and was software checked but there are no errors. I'm thinking of gearbox oil change would be fix.

So please if someone had same problem or has other recommendations, please share it would be huge help.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hello everyone,

Thank you all for this topic, I found a lot information about Dualogic, but I have strange problem
Got car to several mechanics and was software checked but there are no errors. I'm thinking of gearbox oil change would be fix.

So please if someone had same problem or has other recommendations, please share it would be huge help.

When the mechanics plugged the car into diagnostics

Once they communicated with the GEARBOX what figures for clutch wear..etc.. did they see

Did they try any adjustments??

 

[P0rta1]

When the mechanics plugged the car into diagnostics

Once they communicated with the GEARBOX what figures for clutch wear..etc.. did they see

Did they try any adjustments??

They did not, because there is no adequate service in my area. Tomorrow I will try Fiat Center, hope they have it. Thx for responding

 

[jrkitching]

... and was software checked but there are no errors. ...

What equipment was used to do this?

Generic code readers may not be able to see details of dualogic faults.

 

[P0rta1]

What equipment was used to do this?

Generic code readers may not be able to see details of dualogic faults.

I don't know, Just left car at fiat center and will be checked tomorrow.

My main question is what would it be caused by? :bang:

 

[P0rta1]

I don't know, Just left car at fiat center and will be checked tomorrow.

My main question is what would it be caused by? :bang:

It was fixed by changing Engine mounting which is under engine and transmition. Still don't understand how could engine mounting cause problems like this much.

 

[Diana Monteith]

Re: Automatic drops into neutral after braking

Hi - I've already posted this, but this seems like a better thread to post it to...
I bought a fiat 500 dualogic on Saturday. It has twice done exactly as this member describes. Driving along the road and suddenly all power lost, dashboard says its in neutral and yet gearstick still in automatic drive. First time on a clear road, second time on a main road, with traffic. Nearly caused a major accident. The garage are refusing to believe me. Has anyone else had this experience with such a new car. (2019, very few miles on the clock)

 

[jrkitching]

Re: Automatic drops into neutral after braking

Hi

I bought a fiat 500 dualogic on Saturday. It has twice done exactly as this member describes. Driving along the road and suddenly all power lost, dashboard says its in neutral and yet gearstick still in automatic drive. First time on a clear road, second time on a main road, with traffic. Nearly caused a major accident. The garage are refusing to believe me. Has anyone else had this experience with such a new car. (2019, very few miles on the clock)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

I have no problem believing you. A quick perusal of this thread will tell you there have been a lot of folks who have had problems with these gearboxes.

On a car this new, my suspicion is that there is an intermittent electrical fault somewhere. Finding it may not be easy, particularly if it has not logged any error codes.

Whatever, given how recently you've bought it, I'd suggest you return it to the dealer you've bought it from and insist that it's fixed properly. Write down every time this happens, and document everything you do - you have consumer rights, and this will help protect them.

Now for the big question; did you buy it from a Fiat franchised dealer, or an independent used car lot?

It's vital to get any stored fault codes read, and most independent dealers won't have the tools to do this properly.