Technical Second breather pipe

[Heidi]

Hi (long time no speak!)

Just had to take car in for second breather pipe replacement. However, this time the Fiat dealer said that as the car was in it's third year of warranty then these things aren't covered. I thought I'd bought a car with three years warranty, but apparently not :bang:. The third year is, from what they told me, a dealer warranty and if you read the book that came with the car it basically has a list of exclusions and I find it hard to see what IS included lol. They also said that the back order for this pipe is a month or so.

(oh and my rear wiper kept coming on when starting the car and they said serious electrical fault to it, they've done a temporary repair but again it isn't covered under warranty and therefore would estimate cost to be c£800. Well a month on and the 'temporary' repair is still working and so I've decided to just disconnect the fuse to the rear wiper if it happens again rather than spend c£800!)

So, took car into local Ford dealer today, got a call at 11am, new breather pipe on and all for £30. He showed me the pipe when I went to pick car up and it had a 2 x 1 inch tear in it plus two smaller tears.......surely these pipes shouldn't be going this often? This is the second one I've had in a year! He did say it's a wonder I haven't been getting migraines considering the amount of fumes coming into the cockpit (I have had to drive round with fan off and both windows open to keep smell away from 5 year old child lol).

Is this a known fault with Fiat 500 - I personally think it's rather a dangerous fault, petrol fumes aren't meant to be breathed in!

H

 

[grimwau]

Hi Stranger

Well it seems that there is a modified pipe and Fiat are aware that it is a problem but unfortunately they aren't doing the decent thing and fitting them retrospectively to cars suffering the problem in the third year of warranty.

 

[Lloyd71]

This is really bad, it simply shouldn't be happening on cars this young and it's fairly dangerous too. I'm quite lucky in that mine hasn't gone at all yet *touch wood* but it's reasons like this that I'm getting rid of mine after my holidays.

If I'm going to have a car that constantly needs repairs, I might as well own one that I can fix myself from a scrapyard!

 

[D4nny8oy]

Unfortunately the third year warranty has nothing to do with Fiat- its covered by a third party, who don't include hoses as a covered item.

You could argue with the warranty company that its a manufacturing defect with the hose, rather than wear and tear, but your best course of action is contacting Fiat Customer Services and getting it covered under goodwill.

The more you've been a loyal customer (ie, used the dealer for service work and other stuff), the more likely they'll bend over backwards to help, though if the pipe is on back order, you'll have to wait 'til it's in stock.

 

[Skye]

Do parts / repairs not have a 12 month warranty? If the breather hose doesn't last a year there is something very wrong? I wouldn't be paying for a second one

 

[Bhindi]

I think that is quite a good point, it obviously isn't fit for the job!

 

[T14086]

I thought I'd bought a car with three years warranty, but apparently not :bang:.

why i would never buy a new fiat!

 

[306maxi]

This is really bad, it simply shouldn't be happening on cars this young and it's fairly dangerous too. I'm quite lucky in that mine hasn't gone at all yet *touch wood* but it's reasons like this that I'm getting rid of mine after my holidays.

Have you checked whether yours is gone? It doesn't always result in a vapour smell. Mine was gone at the end of March and just had a couple of big splits in it (got it in July 2009) though I suspect it failed a while ago as one of the symptoms I got was a rough idle and it's been idling rough for a while, then the replacement pipe went a week and a half later. Replacement pipe seems to be a silicone one and seems MUCH better I'd check yours

Personally it's the fact that the breather pipe is the worst problem 99% of people seem to have with the 1.2 that I'm keeping the 500 for many many years to come Things which I'm more or less banking of going on the 500 are the dampers, front suspension arms (balljoints), droplinks and top mounts. Depending on what happens to other people with similar mileage/age cars I think I might even have a couple of non-genuine front arms, droplinks and top mounts sitting on the shelf waiting for the inevitable.

 

[306maxi]

Have to say it's pretty pissweak that the dealer didn't have a breather pipe in stock..... when my 500 went into the dealer in March they had the pipe in stock and when it went a week and a half later I just popped in and they replaced it while I waited. Any dealer that doesn't keep a part in stock that they're going to need loads of is a bit of a waste of time.....

 

[D4nny8oy]

Have to say it's pretty pissweak that the dealer didn't have a breather pipe in stock..... when my 500 went into the dealer in March they had the pipe in stock and when it went a week and a half later I just popped in and they replaced it while I waited. Any dealer that doesn't keep a part in stock that they're going to need loads of is a bit of a waste of time.....

Unfortunately there's 100's of other Fiat (and Ford) Dealers across Europe all ordering large volumes of the modified pipes on the basis that they'll all need doing at some point.

The Dealer has probably gone through their last batch of new pipes and are awaiting the next load from Fiat. It's not their fault the factory can't keep up with their order requests.

 

[306maxi]

Unfortunately there's 100's of other Fiat (and Ford) Dealers across Europe all ordering large volumes of the modified pipes on the basis that they'll all need doing at some point.

The Dealer has probably gone through their last batch of new pipes and are awaiting the next load from Fiat. It's not their fault the factory can't keep up with their order requests.

Fair points

 

[Lloyd71]

Have you checked whether yours is gone? It doesn't always result in a vapour smell. Mine was gone at the end of March and just had a couple of big splits in it (got it in July 2009) though I suspect it failed a while ago as one of the symptoms I got was a rough idle and it's been idling rough for a while, then the replacement pipe went a week and a half later. Replacement pipe seems to be a silicone one and seems MUCH better I'd check yours

I've not checked it as I've not had any symptoms. It's running really well at the minute, I recently stopped at traffic lights with my music on and thought the engine had cut out, you can't even feel the idle which is nice. I'll have a look later though, just incase.

 

[slimgimli]

Same happened to me, second breather pipe needed in 3rd year, rang up was told it wasn't covered but the garage were extremely good and told me to ring fiat customer care as they also thought it wasn't on, cut a long story short as it is already on here under breather pipe topic, FCC paid for it which also included having my front washer things replaced as they had come out in the snow!!

Heidi .......ring customer care , complain and tell them you know someone else that they have paid back!!!
Welcome to use my name.....Suzi Love Reg. S 500 LUV

Let me know how you get on!!!

Suzi

 

[306maxi]

I've not checked it as I've not had any symptoms. It's running really well at the minute, I recently stopped at traffic lights with my music on and thought the engine had cut out, you can't even feel the idle which is nice. I'll have a look later though, just incase.

I would be very surprised if your breather pipe isn't broken You may not notice the car idling a touch rough if you're not particularly sensitive.

 

[Lloyd71]

I would be very surprised if your breather pipe isn't broken You may not notice the car idling a touch rough if you're not particularly sensitive.

That's the thing though, I am sensitive to the tiniest changes in my cars, especially at idle! I used to spend hours tweaking the carb on my old Metro trying to get it to idle perfectly! Whereabouts should I be looking for the breather pipe, and what for? Should it just be cracked like an old dried up hose? I've no idea where it is on the 500 and I'm going to check mine either tonight or tomorrow morning.

 

[RobinPJ]

Gazz_bee was kind enough to post pictures at post #45 in this thread:

https://www.fiatforum.com/500/262092-another-broken-breather-pipe.html.

 

[Engineering500]

Hi all,

My breather pipe went aswell in March this year, took it to the local dealer and quick as a flash it was repaired. I did not know it was the breather pipe until I asked the question on the forum, so thanks guys for that.

Really hope it does not go again

Lloyd what car you getting?

 

[Lloyd71]

Lloyd what car you getting?

I'm not entirely sure yet, but I need to be able to buy it outright and not on finance. My current favourite is a Focus 1.6 Zetec, I've seen some going for good prices round here and I loved the one I learned to drive in!

I checked my breather pipe last night and it's looking worn but it's not cracked open anywhere yet!

 

[306maxi]

I checked my breather pipe last night and it's looking worn but it's not cracked open anywhere yet!

Interesting. When was it last serviced. Could be that they replaced it then (My dealer says they end up replacing them on most cars that come through as they've broken most of the time)

Do you remember if it was a shiny black pipe or a kind of foamy rubber matte finish one with a seam running along it?

This is the original one from my 500. You can see the seam running along the pipe, that's where it cracks. If you don't have the seam then they've replaced the pipe at some stage

 

[Lloyd71]

It's never been replaced according to the receipts etc. from the services, and it's definitely the old type. It's cracked all along the edges horrendously but it's not quite broken yet! It'll go at any second by the looks of it though. I'll see if I can get it replaced when I get the suspension seen to. I'm not paying for it though, it's clearly a design flaw.