Let me preface this by saying this is in no way intended to be negative. Actually quite the opposite. I am curious what actual repair work people have had to have done on their smart since buying it new. 'm not asking for full service records. No need to tell about scheduled service either. Everyone has to do oil changes and the like. What I am curious about is what work have you had to have done to your smart that is outside the normal service schedule.
So far, the only things I've had to do is have a nail pulled out of a tire and get it patched and had to have the drivers side door lock reconnected because the wires came loose. When my smart first arrived, the sunshade was not properly installed, but that was fixed nicely. I've also had the 2.0 upgrade, smart popped in a new battery during that service visit.
So far, the only things I've had to do is have a nail pulled out of a tire and get it patched and had to have the drivers side door lock reconnected because the wires came loose. When my smart first arrived, the sunshade was not properly installed, but that was fixed nicely. I've also had the 2.0 upgrade, smart popped in a new battery during that service visit.
Replies to This Discussion
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From New: (Self serviced)
Let the air out of the tires (over-inflated at 36 psi all round)
Fix sunshade that popped out of the rear LHS guide.
40 ah Battery started going flat at 10 months - found that the negative post connector had not been tightened at time of delivery. Positive terminal needed cleaning. Recharged the battery; no problems since.
Under Warranty:
11,000 km at 11 months the crankshaft positioning sensor started playing up. Replaced last Friday at zero cost.
I suspect that the sensor was causing the rich fuel mix at low rpm and the erratic fuel consumption was a result. The car now has more torque at low rpm. Off on another 800 km round trip over the next couple of days and hope the fuel consumption has improved.
Matter of interest: at the first service recently, the smart centre used a Mitsubishi oil filter that is about 50% larger than the original smart part. Mitsu filter: MZ690115
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Ian - great tip on the oil filter given the size of the stock one, this one give a bit more filtering surface and a touch more oil capacity.
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What do you mean "over-inflated"? My door jamb sticker (US model) says 29 front 36 rear. I have always tried to stick with the factory specs if not a little MORE pressure, not less. Thanks for the Bishi filter number
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I have the Australian pulse model.. with turbo... a hairier beast than the USA pure and passion models. So...
Overinflated for the larger wheels and tyres on the pulse model. Fronts are 175 @ 26 psi; rears are 195 @ 32 psi. The problem is that the skinny wheels are lsted above the fatter ones that I have and the service guys don't seem to read the label correctly and thus overinflate. I taped over the pure / passion wheel data on the label to try and stop it recurring... after I collected the car from a service and the fronts had been inflated to 30 psi (the label reads 29 psi for 155 tyres... but it is 26 psi for 175 tyres) Those excess pounds make a big difference in handling and road sensitivity.
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The drivers door was hard to close and the left front fender would rub occasionally on the door when it opened. Also the air conditioner was not cooling as I felt it should
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Hi Steven, thanks for sharing. I have to say compared to my other cars, my smart's air conditioning seems to do a really good job. The interior is cooled of in just a matter of minutes. One of my other cars (that we purchased new) takes so long we took it back to the Dealer a half dozen times. Turned out that it was the way they all worked on that model. We learned patiences and often hunt for the shady spaces to park in. That car now had 90K miles one it and is ready to be traded in.
So I hope they got your AC blowing ice crystals for you and that your doors are working smoothly now.
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Permalink Reply by D Wilson on -
Tony,
I brought my SMART middle of Aug 2008 (2008 model) and I've had to have the roof shade replaced and the passager side airbag replaced, because they could not reset the sensor light on the dash that came on out of no where in March.
Also I had to have the battery replaced after the 5th jumpstart and work done on the lighter, had a short in it. While I had everything fixed in March I had the 2.0 upgrade. Zero cost. Thank you, Plaza Motors. But they left all my wires to my digital radio and Navi unit hanging from under the dash and disconnected my backup camera. (Self serviced) The service light for the oil change came on in the middle of Aug 2009 and I just put 4000 miles on it last week. I'm going to wait till Dec to go in for that. Oh yeah, the sensor came on for the tires last week, had a nail in it. Tire store repaired.
The 2.0 upgrade made shifting smoother but capped the speed a little in 5th gear. Having a few strange things happening when shifting into reverse and than back into drive. I have to turn off the car and restart to put it in drive. Just a few times since the upgrade.
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Hello D. We took delivery of our Orphan smart in August 08 as well. Seeing that it has now been a year since we got the smart is the reason for the services rendered question. I neglected to mention in my first entry that I've had the 2.0 upgrade done, at which time smart popped in the new battery. So far we have logged just over 14,000 miles and are impressed with the cars reliability. I'm also pleased with the service from the SmartCenterOrlando. When I need to bring my car in for service I almost always do so with an appointment. I've never had to go more than a couple hours from start to finish. I hope as more and more smarts are sold that the quality of work out of this facility remains high.
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I had a flat the second day. I hit a flying rubber cone going about 60 MPH. The narrow end went perfectly into the fog light, smashing the plastic grill, the light, and the large plastic frame (width of the car, from the fog lights to the windshield with all accessories mounted). smart fixed it for $167, not including the frame, which is not structural, and is being held together by the fog light case, which bolts on on the two sides of the break. A permanent fix is a lot of labor to get the old frame out. The fact that this is all I have in 2500 miles is a tribute to smart.
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Good Morning Walter. Sorry to hear about your misadventure with the flying road cone. I travel the highways of central Florida very frequently. I'm impressed with the smart's behavior at highway speed. On more occasions than I've counted, intensely fast maneuvers have had to be executed to avoid debris on the roadways. In a previous forum about cracked windshields, I mentioned that increased following distances has become the norm for me. Flying rocks and other odd bits have made their mark on my previous cars, including cracking windshields.
Seems to me that our poor tires are vulnerable in so many ways. The tire pressure sensor system has proven valuable. Letting me know well in advance that there was an issue. Some folks hate it because its another gizmo to have to deal with. I like that its another gizmo dealing with something for me.
Hope your smart keeps on keeping on keeping service to a minimum.
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Tony,
I know the factory doesn't like the aftermarket wheels and tires, but if you ever change to a 16" wheel with the 215's in the rear and the 195's in the front you will think you are in a go cart for handling and a Mercedes for ride. When all done, it only costs $0 to $250 for the conversion.
Steve
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Steven, as it is the new wheels/tires are on order. I decided to purchase a set of Genius Darwins... all 15's same size as would go on the rear. The tires from my stock wheels on the rear will make their way to the new wheels since they only have 14K miles on them and are in great condition. I have 2 new matching to go with the fronts. They'll transfer the sensors and do all the work. My hope is that it will be done by the end of the day Saturday. I'm looking forward to non skinny fronts in so many ways. I'll be selling my stock wheels once the new ones are in place.
Tony
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