Hi all

I have been looking in on this forum now and again as we have a Uylsse 2.0 auto Eleganza 03 plate.

Anyway just thought i would share our story so far with you!

Car was bought used in March 2004 from a car supermarket and we were well pleased with what we had got for our money!
First service came no problems only query we had was it was a bit slow to change up gear in the morning from cold but they said that no faults were found.
A few months pass then we had call from the dealer saying they needed to do some updates to the computer, so to cut it short it went in and out about four times before they successfully completed the update.
Then some time after that we got the "engine antipollution system faulty" warning message, so book it in with the dealer to sort it out under warranty.

A short while after it came back with the message again along with another message saying "automatic gearbox faulty" and the night mare starts!
So we called the dealer to Book it in with them only to find out that there examiner computer had been dropped and broken so we had to book it in with another dealer. We had to wait about a week before we could get it in to the dealer, in which time it had start intermittently getting stuck in 3rd or 2nd gear just as we were moving off after stopping for junctions or roundabouts, which was not nice moving off with your foot flat to the floor and only crawling out of a junction not to mention dangerous! After the dealer had it in to check it they told us that it needed a new gearbox as recommended by Fiat UK because there was a faulty pressure valve within the gearbox. Car went in to have new gearbox fitted after waiting about ten days for new gearbox to arrive at dealership, they completed the work in two days so picked the car up from them on the 1st Dec 2004 late evening only discover on the journey home that it had still got the same problem of getting stuck in gear but had got much worse and was now happening 3-4 times every 30 minute drive as opposed to 3 times a week before it had the new gearbox. Took it back to them they got a technician to connect the examiner computer and did some stuff to it while I waited, they said they had calibrated the gearbox again, so I took the car away again thinking that was it all sorted.

No it was still faulty so they said bring it back in after the weekend on Monday 6th Dec 2004. So we used it on Saturday Dec 4th 2004 to go shopping we stop for some food and the car just died in the waiting bay of a McDonalds, so had to get towed home. Had it recovered to the dealership on the Monday for them to sort out, in the mean time the AA where provided a hire car for up to 48hrs.

After a week of having the car they said they need to fit another gearbox in this time we were get very pi**** *** with it all so started shouting at Fait UK as they have not provided us with a loan car! After much shouting at Fiat UK they did hire us a MPV on 5th Jan 2005
Will cut it short now, they fit another gearbox still didn’t fix it, so we find out that they are recon gearboxes not new ones that been fitted. So the dealership demands that Fiat UK send brand new unit so they did and fitted that one which is the 3rd gearbox, then only to discover that a switch that stops it from being put in reverse is burn out so they have to get one of them in from Italy so we wait longer then on Thursday 27th Jan 2005 we got the car back Yeah!!!!!
So we use it to pick up our son from school and guess what it still has the same fault beep, beep, beep f*c** beep language was not good on that call back to Fiat UK. So we have a courtesy panda and no Uylsse, after talks with Fiat UK they are sending a Fiat UK technician out to the Dealership tomorrow Wed 2nd Feb 2005 and if he can’t sort it then they will replace the car.

It will be 9 weeks soon that this car has been in at the Dealership

Will let you all know what happens soon! :bang:

Cheers
Dean

Hi

Also forgot that we have had the mirrors not retracting thing, sliding manual side door not opening some times and the front tyres wearing on the outer edges because tracking was out badly.

Cheers
Dean

What a mightmare!
I'd had taken it back to the car supermarket along time ago for a full refund,I would also of expected the dealership to of got the UK technician out earlier,just wondering if the control unit & not the autobox is at fault?

Hi,

Is the beep beep thing happening without any warning on the dash, we had this and it was to do with the connect system not recognising the body computer. It is a constant beep beep beep and it just goes on and on, sometimes if you switch the engine on and off a few times it stopes. Alternatively just keep your finger on the escape key on the radio and it will reset, try it a few times and it might stop for a while.

Andy

Now there saying they will not replace the car! :bang: and they would like to put another gearbox in the car because all the other gearboxes have had a fualty part in them.

I can't see all these boxes being faulty. Are they putting in the correct oil in the box, it could be a ecu issue causing the box to keep failing.

the beep beep beep thats constant is indeed the connect system, it needs programming with the vehicles vin number and so matching it to the body computer.
I did not read anywhere at what point this beep started, but normally the connect system needs the vin after certain software updates, and in particular if the body computer has been replaced. (those babys need alot of setting up after there fitted and also req the vehicles vin programming in).
Dealer needs to plug examiner in and programme the VIN number into the connect system, after that the beeping will stop.
you can blame the french for all of this.

Just to clear this up, the beeps in my first post refer to swearing LOL just a bad worded post.

Anyway a little update for you all!
Fiat have not replaced the car as they are full of false promisses, but they did get the dealership to fit yet another gearbox into the car, this being the forth. They said that they had found one which does not have the faulty parts in it! Ha ha they are so stupid! because my wife had the car back on Wednesday late in the day and went out in it on Thursday and it got stuck in gear while trying to pull out of a junction and came up with a fault on the display again. Once again the car is back with dealership, they have put the examiner on it and told us that the fault reads there is a faulty regulator valve in the gearbox. Please could somebody wake me from this nightmare!

All we ask from Fiat is that they give us a like for like replacement car but they will not even do this for us, they are going to hire us a MPV for a week but only for a week! They are going to get this valve for the gearbox from Citroen to save time and fit it in, but i am very sure that this will not solve the problems.

How the hell can they getaway with trying to repair this car for nearly 10 weeks, not happy but dont no what else we can do :bang:

Cheers
Dean

Hi Deano

Sorry about the beep beeps, this is the usual sound from the Nav system.

You been to trading standards yet, or got legal advice?

No porbs

Yes tradings standards say yes we have rights with car supermarket that we got it from, but i have spoken to a solicitor and he said unless we have got lots of money burn then taking court action etc... would be a no go.

we have spoken to the car supermarket and they have reqested that Fiat supply a writen report as to what they have done to the car up to date. We have asked Fiat to supply this report and its still not appeared as of yet!

We have also sent details to Whatchdog yesterday.

Cheers
Dean

You should try invoicing Fiat for your time and inconvenience. Then when they don't pay you can get a CCJ summons in the internet via www.moneycliam.gov.uk which will only cost a few quid.

It is unlikely that Fiat will pay your invoice and they are also equally unlikely to want to go to court to fight a CCJ which they are forced to do.

Not sure of the legality of this, but it would cause them inconvenience and may trigger them to do something.

Andy

Personally i would complain to fiat, then take or vehicle to a different dealer. Just because it faults a componet it doesn't mean its faulty. The wiring or ecu could be faulty, causing this to fault.The examiner is only a good tool if the person using it is also good.

Hi I have had the same problem on my 51 plate auto eleganza it has had three replacement boxes and on the 3rd they sent a tech from italy to fit the new gearbox as it was costing them a small fortune about 3500 pounds a time, and it is now been running great for over 5 weeks now. I would put it down to the fact that most dealers in the UK sell mostly manuals and my dealer even said that my car was the first auto ullysse they had ever had in their repair shop. I think that I will very soon be saying goodbye to my fiat and mybe going the X5 route.

jamesant said:

I think that I will very soon be saying goodbye to my fiat and mybe going the X5 route.

Click to expand...

Not much difference...a Fiat and an X5....you will miss the space, the boot space is appalling......rear seat comfort is not up to much either. The 3.0 Diesel is a lovely motor though.

Paul

Plus the stigma attached to an X5 is immense....

Footballers wives with an X5. I test drove a X5 & X3, XC90 and Discovery 3 for my replacement car. The X5 was nice but very small inside and I didn't like the image at all. The X3 had suspension which was so hard that it would make your kidneys bleed.

The diesel XC90 and Discovery 3 are both very good and I think the Discovery 3 is better value for money. However the XC90 holds onto it's value really well and has seven seats, in the SE version you get loads of bits.

I would probably buy a Discovery 3.

Andy

Yeh guess your right might go for the volvo as it has won lots of reviews against the X5. The BMW has the badge stigam against it that most BMW drivers are pr**ks lol.