[vivekshukla]

Originally Posted by DownTheLine

I have also heard that now whole ECU replacement is not required for this problem, so insist your Service advisor to change or upgrade the ECU. AS per my knowledge FIAT had sent a circular regarding this problem to all FIAT service centers in India...

I took my Linea for an AC upgrade to KHT Motors on Saturday after taking an appointment but on reaching I was told that currently the kits are only available for Puntos that too Active variant only. Kits for Emotion+ variants for both Punto and Lineas are expected this week and they will give me a call when it comes. I am just hoping they call - I am going to call them anyways almost daily!

But they did some quick fix around the AC after checking gas levels and cleaning the filters and I must say that performance have improved somewhat. Saturday was quite warm for Feb in Bangalore at 36 degrees and car cooled in 15 mins which it used to take longer earlier.

My other issue of MID showing "Insufficient Pressure" with temperature needle shooting to high was also resolved. They have reflashed the ECU ROM after connecting the car to Pune HQ. Apparently there's an update released for the ECU which ideally they should be doing for every car. But they do whenever there's complaint from a customer.

[gaganharsh]

Folks,

I got this done on my Linea about 3 weeks back and thought of testing the AC out before posting my observations here. So here it goes:

1. This is only for Petrol version and not for Linea MJD
2. There is an obvious waiting time involved for the "kits" being shipped across to the A.S.S. for retro-fit
3. The waiting time for E+ is longer owing to Airbags being involved - The retro fitting involved opening up of the dashboard.
4. It takes atleast 2 days (manpower issues??) for the entire process. You are lucky if you are able to get it done in a day

Now for the obervations:

1. Does it work? - Of course, there is a substantial improvement in the effectivesness of the AC. Though the real test will be when the summers peak.
2. Is there a drop in performance? - I never felt any change in the performance or engine load after this change.
3. Does it affect FE? - I haven't observed anything substantial as far as impact on FE (+ve or -ve) is concerned.

Thanks Fiat - Better late than never

[Zenster]

Hello Friends,

I got the AC Kit fitted last week. I too wanted to give it sometime before posting my impressions here.

1. Concorde (Dairy Circle) took 2 full days for just the Kit fitting (after taking an appointment a week in advance). I had some issue with the noise from rear suspension and that took another Full day . Not to mention, the car came back dirtier then it went to them. Don't think I'll go back to Concorde Dairy Circle again.

2. The change in the air-con is a Welcome one though. I mean it cools faster than before and the chill from the vents at any level is more then before. I can vouch for this, because I own a Emotion which doesn't have the climate control. Hence I have the vents facing my face and upper-body. The blast from the vents is much cooler than it was earlier. Yesterday was a warm afternoon (MID showed temp ~30degrees) and I had to park the car under the sun for about an hour. Before the upgrade I had to let the hot air went out through open windows for a few minutes with the AC On to get effective cooling. But this time to check the upgraded HVAC, I kept windows Up and used the AC on its coolest level with fan speed on level-3. I could feel the chill in about 8-10mins and then lowered the fan speed. I guess this explains the change in the effectiveness pretty well.

3. The revised HVAC does take a lesser toll on the engine. Earlier I did feel the need to revv the engine harder with the AC On. But now this feel has reduced atleast 20-30%, not big change but very helpfull when overtaking stupid Rickshaw fellows in Bangalore traffic chaos. And even in steady speed in Higher gears, when the AC was switched On there was a "Engine-Breaking" (came from losing some power due to AC load) sort of feel earlier. This has reduced to a "not-so-annoying" extent.

Haven't checked the mileage yet (My MID was all reset to some weird defaults by the service center with no effort of putting it back in shape) will report after a Full-Empty-Full cycle soon.

All in all, I'd definitely advise all Fiat Petrol owners to get it done.

[hemanth.anand]

@Zenster,
You are right, The concorde dairy circle wash quality is the worst of all but I felt their problem solving capability is good .

I had rub marks all over the body of my car after they washed it.
Since I had taken the delivery at around 7PM, While driving back home, The visibility was almost 10% because of those marks and the oncoming vehicles' high beams. I had to get it washed again outside.

I had earlier given a washing quality rating of 5 and an overall rating of 6 and after that, I got frantic calls from the dealer and they promised it would be better. But then the next time it was just a little bit better

After the AC kit replacement, I had a peculiar smell of aome kind of gas.
It was there till almost the next morning but disappeared later.
I felt it was the smell of the AC gas which was refilled. Did you experience anything similar to this?

[iceman7]

We just got a Linea 1.3 MJD E+ last week. It is a 2011 manufactured car. Is it fair to assume that this won't require a replacement?

[hemanth.anand]

@iceman7,
Since it is a MJD forget about the manufactured date and the replacement.
AC KIT REPLACEMENT IS ONLY FOR 1.2 AND 1.4 (PETROL ENGINES)

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by Zenster

I mean it cools faster than before and the chill from the vents at any level is more then before.

It does cool faster but I was expecting more. There is a difference but the coming summer months will be the best judge. Grill temperature is way lower than what it used to be. The air coming out is actually cold which was never the case before.

Originally Posted by Zenster

The revised HVAC does take a lesser toll on the engine. Earlier I did feel the need to revv the engine harder with the AC On

I am not so sure about this and its also not clear what engine variant you drive. The strain is a lot less on my friends 1.2 but I don't know if the car itself has improved in terms of overall response as the miles have been clocked on the odo. Only saying this cause the upgrade does not involve any compressor replacement and this is the one component than can reduce load on the engine.

Originally Posted by Zenster

And even in steady speed in Higher gears, when the AC was switched On there was a "Engine-Breaking"

This is a big problem on a 1.2 block.

[IQBAL VEERJI]

Hi friends, I also got SMS from FIAT to contact the local dealer for replacement of the AC unit in my 2010 Linea.

But as usual mentality of our so called dealers, typical when it comes to anything to do with FREE replacement. I called them and I got the typical reply which I was expecting "Sir the parts and kit for FREE replacement is yet to come from the factory, we will call you when the kit comes.

Now it is my JOB to keep track of the kit arrival by keep calling them and asking so that I can send my car to them,(THEY DONT GIVE YOU ANY FOLLOW UP NO or YOUR TURN NO.) This is from Concord mumbai, its been almost 18 days now without any reply from concord .

Everytime I call I am told still my turn for replacement has not come.It should be before expiry of my warranty and before actual Summer arrives in Mumbai,

[jacksons]

I got my kit changed on tuesday, I wanted to do on 28 Feb but kits were exuasted by the time called them to know and was told to wait for a week, when i called after few days, they said they have received the kits and total of 25 but they are already booked to replace kits till monday so they confirmed me for tuesday.
I got my 3rd service and AC kit replaced on same day as I reached there at 9.30 AM.
I was told that difference will be of around 4 degree cel. but I have to yet test it in May/ June when its matter the most.

[getsriram]

Hello friends, One of my friend has got a Linea Petrol Emotion PK. He got AC retro-fitment done in his car recently at TAFE Motors, Chennai. After the AC retrofitting, AC seems to be cooler but the noise from the AC fan is very loud.. It sounds like a big motor running when the AC is ON! He took it to the dealer again but was told that the AC Fan is bigger and this loud noise is prevalent in all the cars in which retro-fitment was done. Also, a humming noise is heard inside the cabin when the AC fan is on. Have any of you experienced the same issue? Is it true that the noise outside has become noticeably louder?

[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by getsriram

Hello friends, One of my friend has got a Linea Petrol Emotion PK. He got AC retro-fitment done in his car recently at TAFE Motors, Chennai. After the AC retrofitting, AC seems to be cooler but the noise from the AC fan is very loud.. It sounds like a big motor running when the AC is ON! He took it to the dealer again but was told that the AC Fan is bigger and this loud noise is prevalent in all the cars in which retro-fitment was done. Also, a humming noise is heard inside the cabin when the AC fan is on. Have any of you experienced the same issue? Is it true that the noise outside has become noticeably louder?

The AC fan's sound has indeed increased.
its much louder than before.
There is no humming sound inside the cabin for me though.

PS: Mine is a punto 1.2 emotion.

[@tombum]

The fan has become very noisy! Not much noise on the inside though! However, I am sure if you in traffic, the people will wonder whether you run a factory in the car!

[hemanth.anand]

Have anybody experienced that the central 2 AC vents give cooler air compared to the AC vents on the left and right sides of the car?? (I have seen this after the AC upgrade...I don't recall if this was the same even with the older AC).
The side vents always give out "Less cool" air...even after many kilometres.

I would want this to be checked in the free checkup camp if its a one-off issue with my car.

[kalpurja]

Fiat changed AC kit in my car(Punto 1.4 EP). Initially I found change in cooling. But nowdays when temperature is above 39C AC take lot of time to cool the cabin. And cooling is not good. Am I doing something wrong with ACC? Most of the time ACC in Full auto mode. After 10-15 mins I change ACC to Auto mode(Air recirculation) still cabin is not at pleasant to sit.

[vivekshukla]

Originally Posted by vivekshukla

I took my Linea for an AC upgrade to KHT Motors on Saturday after taking an appointment but on reaching I was told that currently the kits are only available for Puntos that too Active variant only. Kits for Emotion+ variants for both Punto and Lineas are expected this week and they will give me a call when it comes. I am just hoping they call - I am going to call them anyways almost daily!

Finally, I got the AC kit upgraded in my Linea sometime in March at KHT Motors. I gave the car on a Friday morning and was told that it will take two days for the upgrade. Next day, I got a call from KHT that my car is ready and I promptly went there to pick. While taking the delivery, I noticed that my Fiat Key Chain is missing (but that's a different story), I took a test drive and couldn't spot any difference in AC performance. Even the Service Advisor told me that it has not improved. Then they advised me to try the AC for a couple of days to see, suggesting that after few kilometers AC improves.

I kept the car for a little over a week and then called Service Advisor who offered to pick up the car once again and car was picked up next day and was delivered the same day. This time AC was significantly better and I could sense the nip near the AC vents and car cools much faster than before. I asked about the job done and I was told that last time after the upgrade, they forgot to get the remapping done of ECU.

So, moral of the story - Fiat will not only make you fall in love will their cars but also make you semi automobile engineer!