Hello,
I'm new here & relatively new to fiat 500x ownership.
I bought a 2016 Fiat 500X 1.6D (manual) as a cheaper alternative to a large German 4x4 which was going to bankrupt me. The first 8k miles were relatively pain free. I changed the timing belt, water pump, diesel filter, air filter, oil & oil filter as soon as purchased - no issues, but the car later developed some problems which stretched my ability so I thought I'd share the resolution to possibly help others.
Several faults arrived all at once (~82k miles):
P0034 - turbocharger bypass. A new battery & good clean of battery terminals resolved for me. I'm fairly certain this fault was the battery on its way out.
P0036 - O2 post cat heater low. Sensor heater and wiring checked out pristine with multimeter at cold (3 ohm), but a new Bosch replacement resolved the code for that EML.
Car jumping out of cruise control - no immediate fault code. I snapped the clutch position sensor mechanism trying to remove it for inspection. This forced replacement with new - cruise control issue gone. If your a large human you will not find this job easy - upside down, footwell, lock clutch in a depressed position for clutch sensor removal & replacement.
Clutch slip on harsh acceleration. It's actually had this since I bought at 75k miles (didn't give it enough welly on test drive). I put this to a garage (thankfully). Mechanic said it was a real bass to do this job. Swapped clutch, flywheel, hydraulic release bearing & main rear seal as a while in there. Pressure plate fingers were deformed (oe Valeo). Still plenty life in clutch plates. £1300 LUK parts seemed reasonable for this but in hindsight I overpaid for car with this fault. Rear main seal showed signs of weep so I'd budget for this work around 60-85k miles.
Electronic Parking Brake warning message + stuck in hill hold on a road in traffic (embarrassing). I thought this was going to be water damaged EPD actuators (like previous car), but it turned out to be cheap rear brake pads 'frozen' with a little corrosion inside their stainless retention clips. I replaced with better quality pads and discs with a small amount of grease on the slide surfaces + replaced actuators (keeping originals as spares).
Strong coolant smell (no obvious leak). I checked all visible coolant system components with a UV torch (black light). Adding a small amount of UV dye into the coolant header tank, I ran the car above thermostat opening temperature. I reinspected coolant system with UV (in dark). I found a small glow from the radiator (barely visible unless laying on the ground looking diagonally through lower grill). It was so minimal I tried liquid molly rad seal. It took a good few hundred miles but smell has now gone & no coolant loss. Plan radiator replacement in due course.
Oil leak from upper valve cover. Inspection whilst running showed a tiny hair line crack in the metal cover. I used a v-shaped file to open the crack slightly, cleaned thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol, let to dry & then applied several layers of high temp, good quality grey RTV - even after several thousand miles, this fix has held.
In better news I got a tow bar fitted - pulls an un-braked trailer like it ain't there. I went a size up on stock tyres
4 x Falken Ziex ZE320 225/55 R17 W (101), Reinforced. Slightly wider tyre and deeper sidewall Vs standard = noticeable improvement in ride comfort.
I'm new here & relatively new to fiat 500x ownership.
I bought a 2016 Fiat 500X 1.6D (manual) as a cheaper alternative to a large German 4x4 which was going to bankrupt me. The first 8k miles were relatively pain free. I changed the timing belt, water pump, diesel filter, air filter, oil & oil filter as soon as purchased - no issues, but the car later developed some problems which stretched my ability so I thought I'd share the resolution to possibly help others.
Several faults arrived all at once (~82k miles):
P0034 - turbocharger bypass. A new battery & good clean of battery terminals resolved for me. I'm fairly certain this fault was the battery on its way out.
P0036 - O2 post cat heater low. Sensor heater and wiring checked out pristine with multimeter at cold (3 ohm), but a new Bosch replacement resolved the code for that EML.
Car jumping out of cruise control - no immediate fault code. I snapped the clutch position sensor mechanism trying to remove it for inspection. This forced replacement with new - cruise control issue gone. If your a large human you will not find this job easy - upside down, footwell, lock clutch in a depressed position for clutch sensor removal & replacement.
Clutch slip on harsh acceleration. It's actually had this since I bought at 75k miles (didn't give it enough welly on test drive). I put this to a garage (thankfully). Mechanic said it was a real bass to do this job. Swapped clutch, flywheel, hydraulic release bearing & main rear seal as a while in there. Pressure plate fingers were deformed (oe Valeo). Still plenty life in clutch plates. £1300 LUK parts seemed reasonable for this but in hindsight I overpaid for car with this fault. Rear main seal showed signs of weep so I'd budget for this work around 60-85k miles.
Electronic Parking Brake warning message + stuck in hill hold on a road in traffic (embarrassing). I thought this was going to be water damaged EPD actuators (like previous car), but it turned out to be cheap rear brake pads 'frozen' with a little corrosion inside their stainless retention clips. I replaced with better quality pads and discs with a small amount of grease on the slide surfaces + replaced actuators (keeping originals as spares).
Strong coolant smell (no obvious leak). I checked all visible coolant system components with a UV torch (black light). Adding a small amount of UV dye into the coolant header tank, I ran the car above thermostat opening temperature. I reinspected coolant system with UV (in dark). I found a small glow from the radiator (barely visible unless laying on the ground looking diagonally through lower grill). It was so minimal I tried liquid molly rad seal. It took a good few hundred miles but smell has now gone & no coolant loss. Plan radiator replacement in due course.
Oil leak from upper valve cover. Inspection whilst running showed a tiny hair line crack in the metal cover. I used a v-shaped file to open the crack slightly, cleaned thoroughly with isopropyl alcohol, let to dry & then applied several layers of high temp, good quality grey RTV - even after several thousand miles, this fix has held.
In better news I got a tow bar fitted - pulls an un-braked trailer like it ain't there. I went a size up on stock tyres
4 x Falken Ziex ZE320 225/55 R17 W (101), Reinforced. Slightly wider tyre and deeper sidewall Vs standard = noticeable improvement in ride comfort.
- Model
- 1.6D Multijet
- Year
- 2016
- Mileage
- 84000
