Technical Post Service Electronics Issues

[ahmett]

After having my car serviced in Greece the left side of the air conditioning controls are not backlit anyore and the USB connector thing doesnt work!!! I am thinking they ruined the fuse box thing when they aggressively no doubt opened the fusebox to run diagnostics on the car. Good old dealer visits. People say car should be serviced every year? I think taking a car to service can do more harm than good = ) It is not a coincidence that my first problems with my Fiat 500 happen after its first ever service!!!


(of course changing oil and sparks do help but not at a useless Fiat dealer!!!)

 

[ahmett]

I guess it is an unnanounced visit on Monday morning back to the dealer then, accopanied by a bit of good old aggro.

 

[306maxi]

I doubt they've done anything to the light, all the lights will be on the same fuse. Give the air conditioning panel a gentle tap and see what it does. What does the windows button on the steering wheel do when you press it? You may need to install a language pack.

 

[ahmett]

Yeah I tried that nothing. at one stage it was coming and going and now it went away for good. Regarding the USB it was always working and I was always charging and listening to my iphone in my car. Now suddenly it doesnt connect at all as if i never connected the USB. The cable itself is working becuase i use it to connect my iphone to my computer so it must be something wrong with the car. These two things I noticed at the same time the day after I left the dealer for the first time. Something must be up electrically.

 

[306maxi]

Yes, but what does the windows key do?

 

[ahmett]

I am away for the weekend so I will check on Sunday afternoon when I return to the car. Thanks for the advice. I will probably end up going to the dealer in any case to fix that backlight on the climate control problem. I will let you know when I press the windows button.

 

[sharpyboy]

i had a similar problem on my first service when i drove it home the fan didn't work so i tested the fuse and it was ok so booked it back in to the dealers and they fixed it within 5 minutes i'm sure they left something disconnected and just plugged it in again. they were very cagey and wouldn't tell me what they had done...

 

[306maxi]

i had a similar problem on my first service when i drove it home the fan didn't work so i tested the fuse and it was ok so booked it back in to the dealers and they fixed it within 5 minutes i'm sure they left something disconnected and just plugged it in again. they were very cagey and wouldn't tell me what they had done...

It's unlikely they've done anything to affect the lighting on the air con panel tbh. There's nothing to unplug really. The bulbs don't seem to be very snug fitting.

 

[ahmett]

It is still as if the usb cable doesnt work at all even though blue and me is working. The backlight of the climate control comes on and off also erratically (left side comes on and off all the time (the lights of the temperature and power setting) it must be something loose in the wiring. I will take it in tomorrow.

 

[306maxi]

Like I said, it's not wiring, it's the bulb. As for the USB, that's a strange one.

 

[jnoiles]

It is still as if the usb cable doesnt work at all even though blue and me is working. The backlight of the climate control comes on and off also erratically (left side comes on and off all the time (the lights of the temperature and power setting) it must be something loose in the wiring. I will take it in tomorrow.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU PRESS THE WINDOWS BUTTON <-- CAPS LOCK TO BRING ATTENTION TO THIS VITAL TROUBLESHOOTING STEP.

Also, the blubs in the dash that light up the air con controls are small, flimsy and don't fit well unless you give them a shove. Replacement ones are about 10 pence. Buy some, pull the panel out yourself and replace the bulb. I did this on mine. It requires no tools, just a firm hand.

If the windows key doesn't work on all the Blue&Me functions or appears to do nothing then pull the battery leads for 15 mins to reset the whole thing. This is a reasonably common problem/fix.

 

[ahmett]

Thank you jnoiles. Funny thing is that the windows button and blue and me work fine it is just the usb cable that doesnt recognize anything! The windows button works just fine I played with it for 15 minutes but this did nothing to solve the car not recognizing USB! The lights go on and off erratically for the climate control. I went to one dealer today and they said they were 'too busy' to have a look so I will go to the one that i suspect created this problem since it happened like a day after I took it there and throw the keys at them.

Funnily enough the dealer I went today was the one that tried charging me 320 euros for the first service. Eventually I got it done at 240 euros (i know maxi its too much!) They probably dont like me there since I refused to be ripped off so much and they didnt negotiate so I just walked out there.

 

[ahmett]

Hello,

Ok i went to my dealer and told them the story. They went into the diagnostics thing regarding the USB and they fixed it after resetting the system. They told me it could have happened when the electronics were interfered with when installing the pollen filter (the wires could have been tampered with)? Regarding the ligthing in the climate control well as jnoiles said they just removed the center console thing and put two new bulbs in for 8 euros.

They also told me to upgrade my blue and me from fiats website when new upgrades become available by plugging in a usb stick in the car.