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Hi everyone
I created a post last week about my 500 diesel needing 4 oil changes in 16 months. I have been speaking to a lovely and very helpful lady called Kay in Fiat Marketing and it seems there is a recall in place to sort out this problem.
If anyone else is having this problem I suggest you contact your dealer or raise this with marketing.
My dealer was going to charge me for the latest oil change and filter but Kay sorted him out!!
Thanks for the great feedback Jersey500 - glad your issue has been sorted.
Just to clarify to everyone, Jersey500 has been speaking to customer care, so you need to direct your issues to them. You can call them for free on 00800 3428 0000
Kind regardsFiat Marketing
Bet you are relieved Jersey to know that there is fault and that fault will now be correct.
Similar issue on another site was classed as 'piston slap'.
Good luck
Hi Cadbury. I am relieved there is now a reason for the problem. It's a shame this wasn't picked up earlier and I wouldn't be £160 out of pocket.
Perhaps Fiat Marketing can lighten the blow to my pocket by sending me a set of new mats or some other goodies.
Cadbury,
There has been no recall campaign issued for this concern. There is however a “service news” published that advises dealers what to do if a vehicle fitted with a diesel particulate filter (DPF) has the oil change light come on before 10,000 KM (6,000 Miles).
Any customer with the above concern should go to their dealer and quote service news number 00.15.09.
Hi all
I've had my 500 since April 2008 (1.3 multijet lounge) and love him to bits but it all went pear shaped 3 weeks ago. My husband was driving the car home when it started accelerating and masses of smoke began pouring out of it (filling the cabin too). He pulled into a layby and the engine was over-revving madly - didn't stop even when he pulled the key out of the ignition. It was a very scary experience. The AA man thought it might be a fault with one of the injectors and when it went back to the dealer they didn't have any idea as to what the problem might be and said they'd never experienced this with a 500 before. My husband reported the incident to Fiat Customer Care who, to be honest, weren't that helpful. On reading through this forum it seems like this isn't the first time this type of problem has occurred so I'm surprised by Customer Care's lack of concern and the dealer's lack of knowledge.
I wrote to Honest John (Daily Telegraph letters' page) describing the incident and in his reply he said that it's quite a widespread problem with the DPF which when it's clogged contaminates the sump oil etc, etc. There was a letter in the Telegraph just yesterday from another 500 owner who had exactly the same problem.
I now have my car back after 3 weeks off the road - during this time we were kept pretty much in the dark by the dealership - they never returned phone calls and never indicated what the problem was. They say they have fitted a new engine and that if the DPF light comes on again I need to drive the car hard until the light goes off or, if I'm concerned to bring it back to them for it to be checked out. As this light has tended to come on intermittently every couple of months this could be a pain.
This seems like a worrying design/technical failure on such a new car and I'm dreading that little orange light coming on again. I'm really thinking that I should have gone for the petrol engine and avoided the diesel at all costs.
Has anyone else experienced this?
What a frighening experience for Topo's Dad !
Isn't it sad when the dealers have no idea of what the problem is and the aftercare service is so poor.
Keep us posted
Hi Topo's Mum
I had exactly the same thing happen to my Bambi (1.3 multijet lounge) on Monday, the day after you'd posted your message.
Over-revving, sounded like a jet about to take off, clouds of thick white smoke pouring out the back and, most frighteningly, the engine wouldn't stop when the key turned off. I had to abandon it and run up the bank as I thought it was going to blow up!
The local dealers were great and immediately came out with a truck and a courtesy car. They've since told me that one of the injector heads had broken and that it will need a new engine. I too am worried about this happening again, and maybe not being so lucky next time.
Anyone else had this problem??
I am seriously worried now.......should this be something that should be on a recall if it's happened to more than one car?
I do a lot of motorway driving, so do not want this to happen to me at high speed.
FM can you give us/me any advice?
Zanadoo
As my car is back at the dealer's again because of smoke coming out of it and a burning oil smell just a few days after having its new engine fitted I think it is the start of a worrying trend. I do feel very nervous now about what is going to happen next. Would be very interesting to hear what the people at Fiat think about this. I'm also not very happy with my experience of my dealer (although they don't sell Fiat anymore - now Mitsubishi - but still do the Fiat servicing).
Hi Bambi's Ma
Sorry to hear about Bambi. Unfortunately Topo is back with the dealer again after just 4 days on the road. I went out in Topo today and when I parked at my work garage the colleague who was with me in the car said "there's smoke coming out of your car and I can smell burning". When I got out of Topo the smell like burning oil was very strong and white smoke appeared to be coming from the sides of the car. There's no way I wanted to drive the car back to the dealer but unfortunately they were not as helpful as yours - they told us to get the car to them so we had to call the AA. Neither did they have a courtesy car available. They said that they had changed the engine but they hadn't changed the turbo. I'll keep you posted but it looks like a worrying trend might have started here - what happens when our cars are out of warranty (if they last that long)?
Not good news, thanks for filling me in on Topo, I'll let my dealer know and see what he suggests. I'll keep in touch. I wonder how many others have had this problem and what Fiat Marketing have to say about it? Good luck.