Fiat Seicento...heater action...cambelt now...temp gauge

[daimlerman]

Now I know perfectly well that you should not buy an elderly fix it again tomorrow,but.....
'er indoors has been very moody since I sold the Toyota Starlet to the scrap man(I wieghed it in for £118.40!)so I have been looking at these things on Ebay.

Any known issues that I should bear in mind when looking?

Or any other suggestions for a cheap(sub £250!)small car?

[beema_boy]

Bicycle? much faster yet still more economical ; )

[daimlerman]

Bicycle? much faster yet still more economical ; )

She falls off bikes!

(this means time off work=no pennies for me to spend...)

[MJJ_ZX6RR]

Cannot comment on the Seicento, but my wife ran a Cinq Sporting for 3 years. It was a great car, if a little embarrassing to me when I drove it.

We had one issue with ours in all those 3 years (a bit of a random wiring fault in the ECU plug), but it was a good car to live with.

I would not want to crash one though. We had a head on in the Pug 406 I had as the family car back then, and seeing how well the crumple zones are used on a 406, I made Cath sell the Cinq. It has zero space betwixt front end and driver.

Martin.

[beema_boy]

Stabilizers ; )

[beemerbird]

My ex work partner and I used his wife's Cinquecento for a while and it was a great little runner - regularly doing Manchester - darn saarf runs twice weekly. Could pack a good amount of tools in the back and boot. Could do worse.

[snakebrain]

micra

[beemerbird]

You're not wrong, Snakebrain. My ageing mother has had her present Micra for bloody years with very few issues.

[Felix79]

Ford KA?

[320Touring]

KA or the Cinc Malc..

Getting the cinc sporting in silver or blue is a plan, and a lot less "please pull me" than the yellow ones..

I've done 7500 miles in a v-reg KA down to Gibralter and back- sat all day at 80, and gave 53mpg..

Service it and keep the rust in check- they like to rot about the filler cap

[universal]

rear handbrake mechanism seize all the time, easy fix. fuel tanks rust, but only 60-70 so not bad. clutch cables snap at the end in the car, uprated ones are available. rear trailing arm bushes knock, iratating more than aything else. seicentos have no temp gauge, so any heating probs usually blow the head gasket.

[m8782538]

i hat a siecento about a year ago, they a identical to the Cinq mechanically, (if you need a haynes manual you get a cinq one as they didn't bother since they are the same).

As with all fiats, you want to red key, if not either don't touch it, or make sure absolutely everything on it works, door locks everything as you cannot get a replacement without the red key, means a trip to a stealer for new keys, locks, ignition and immobilser (around 4 figures fitted).

Check the rear drums, these canknacker up and lean up and rub against the rear shocks, check all the locks work, and also listen for what appears to be tappet noise, when cold and warm, means the engine is knackered, happened to mine, can't remember exactly what is was that was wrong but it was about £300 to fix.

All electrics should be checked, its an italian car after all.

Don't take it over 70mph, they don't like it.

cheap economic transport otherwise

[Morat]

Won't she drive an E30?

[m8782538]

go jap, never go wrong and are reliable, on my 3rd suzuki swift run about. just put a battery in it, 2 spots of welding (only welding on the car since new (1997 R reg) and replaced 2 rear brake pips (they were original too). paid £500 for it, had 12months MOT, new rad, head, gaskets and a cam chain fitted in leiu of the original belt.

Runs perfectly, currenly just under 97k miles and will be serviced shortly before i sell it (once the E30 is on the road)

can pick them up for peanuts, get a 1.3 GLS (3 door) or GLX (5door, same as mine) its more powerful, better on fuel and a nicer drive. Would drive mine anywhere, solid and reliable, cruises at 80mph on the motorway no worries, got one of my old 1.0 3 door ones at 95mph on the motorway on a 170mile trip and was fine.

[daimlerman]

Won't she drive an E30?

Regretably,yes!

E30's is mine....

[m8782538]

Get her a 316i to run around in then?

[daimlerman]

Well,after extracting several moths from my wallet and upping the budget somewhat,we have a result.

From a one day sale on Ebay;







Fetched the Yellow Peril back from Stoke on Trent this afternoon and 'de infanted' the interior immediately.

I have not yet been allowed to drive it,but filling the screenwash bottle up made the front washers work and produced a puddle under the car from the rear one....
Passenger door is locked from the inside and will not lock from the outside,and the gearlever gaiter frame thingy is broken,but,only 48k miles and I am assured that it will do 80mph!

Cost me £320....

[E30BeemerLad]

That's cheap motoring Malc.

Every insect within a 20 mile radius will find it's way to the car though

[DaveD]

did it come with a tumble dryer.......?

[daimlerman]

did it come with a tumble dryer.......?

Shhhhh,that's not been mentioned for ages.....

Sunday morning the Yellow Peril was washed,T cut and polished,came up quite well.It's becoming apparant that this is a Fiat Arbath kitted Sporting,it's certainly got the 14'' alloys(175/50 14 tyres,seems an oddball size)lots of Arbarth badges and a claimed close ratio 'box....these seem more valueble than the standard one's....any thoughts?

I also was able to fix the pax door problems,the link rod to the catch had come off the internal handle and the latch gear responded to the addition of a few drops of light oil,so the door now locks from both the inside and outside.I also repaired the broken rear bumper bracket.Noted whilst underneath that an exhaust hanger is goosed and the tailpipe from the back box is virtually rusted away,along with a rattle from loose baffles.

I was allowed to take it to work yesterday evening,the clutch cable needs adjusting(last owner's dad had just fitted a new cable....)and the heater will only give out hot air!So just like an E30,then,fix one snag and find two more...
I guess it drives OK,very quiet,but it aint no BMW!

[320Touring]

did it come with a tumble dryer.......?

Shhhhh,that's not been mentioned for ages.....

Sunday morning the Yellow Peril was washed,T cut and polished,came up quite well.It's becoming apparant that this is a Fiat Arbath kitted Sporting,it's certainly got the 14'' alloys(175/50 14 tyres,seems an oddball size)lots of Arbarth badges and a claimed close ratio 'box....these seem more valueble than the standard one's....any thoughts?

I also was able to fix the pax door problems,the link rod to the catch had come off the internal handle and the latch gear responded to the addition of a few drops of light oil,so the door now locks from both the inside and outside.I also repaired the broken rear bumper bracket.Noted whilst underneath that an exhaust hanger is goosed and the tailpipe from the back box is virtually rusted away,along with a rattle from loose baffles.

I was allowed to take it to work yesterday evening,the clutch cable needs adjusting(last owner's dad had just fitted a new cable....)and the heater will only give out hot air!So just like an E30,then,fix one snag and find two more...
I guess it drives OK,very quiet,but it aint no BMW!

Glad you got a good un Malc- Thae faults you ahve there are similar to those exhibited when new (used to have them at Europcar hire places) so term them "Character" and leave them be

[Jozi]

I'm left driving the older version of this. Are the pedals way to close to each other as well in this one? Miles better than the Micra I was let drive before moving back home, Micra is officially THE worst car I have ever driven!

[daimlerman]

I'm left driving the older version of this. Are the pedals way to close to each other as well in this one? Miles better than the Micra I was let drive before moving back home, Micra is officially THE worst car I have ever driven!

Yes,the pedals are very offset to the left,and the stop and go one's can be easily covered by one of my steel toecapped work boots! does make 'heel and toe' gearchanging a doddle,though!

I mentioned above that the previous owner's dad had fitted a new clutch cable recently,on Sunday,whilst I was playing with the car the clutch stopped working.....I traced it.....eventually....to a missing split pin at the point under the dash where the bloody cable enters the car.

I also got the o/s flasher repeater to work by slicing the harness plug off and fitting a pair of spade terminals.Fitted a s/h exhaust system today,and bought a s/h tyre(do you know just how much 175/50-14's cost new?),just leaving a bit of brake pipe between me and a fresh MoT!

[daimlerman]

This is the offending section of brake pipe;



I was unable to seperate the flexi,so I've had to invest a further £11
Note the way the flexi mounts,attach to the caliper,then offer the other end up through the bracket which includes three mounting tabs to hold the top,then slide the spring clip in.


As almost all of my brakepipe fiddling has been with E30's,this much simpler approach I found interesting.

Anyway,after only two attempts at bleeding,I got an acceptable pedal and a year's ticket....whoooo!
So 'er indoors now has a tidy runabout for a total cost(excluding insurance and MoT fee)of just under £400,result!

And it's her birthday tomorrow....

[RM2186]

Well done Malc, 'er indoors will be most impressed with your efforts

[DaveD]

she would be even more impressed with a t............ d...........r:D

[m8782538]

Just remember that in the summer all the insects will love the car and can transform from yellow to a kind of grey/ black with the number of bugs on it, depending on where you are. lol sounds unbelievable but i have seen it, from a distance it looked like a custom paint job and a bad one at that.

only got rid of mine becuase of the knackered lump in the front, couldn't be bothered with dropping a fresh lump in, thats a 1 man job without a hoist as its so light, i can lift the whole front end of the car up off the ground they are that light.

[daimlerman]

Took 'er indoors a couple of hours and a bottle of T-cut to get most of the black blobs off!

I've fixed the rear washer this morning,it was leaving a puddle under the radiator when the stalk was operated...took the one way valve out and decided that it was missing a bung,so fitted a small self tapper,adjusting the position of this varys the strength of spray! Yet another gripe sorted for free.

I still have the heater to sort,though,it only delivers hot air and I am unable to get the control panel off.I've found the two screws at the bottom,and the two spring clips at the top,but it still seems firmly attached,any advice?

[daimlerman]

Having very thin fingers,and an accute sense of touch(as 'er indoors says )I discovered that the cable had popped off the dashboard temp control.I've managed to re-fit,but the cable is sticky,so I am hunting for the other end of the little swine.

C/L and interior light are both playing up,and seem to share a common 'switched earth',still playing with that...but running a replacement 'switched earth' from the interior light to the door switch on the driver's side has got me an interior light that comes on when the driver's door is opened!

Tank full to tank full has given a jaw dropping 55.6mpg,that's not a typo,that's 55.6mpg,and that is without trying....

[daimlerman]

finally found the heater control valve this morning,had to remove the battery and a bit of the bulkhead insulation to get me hands in there.Valve is free,so I oiled the cable and took the heater panel apart..again...and discovered a hidden screw behind the fan motor switch,cunning Italian designer and Polish builders,to find that the cable is kinked at the control end.I've bitten the bullet and ordered a new one from the local stealer,'That's just short of £20 and will be here Friday,sir'...I will wait and see if it turns up! Should be attached to a bottle of Chianti at that price...

[daimlerman]

This is the old and new heater valve cable;



and the destination for the cable;



This bloody spring clip refused point blank to spring into action;



Day saved with a cable tie....hopefully...

[daimlerman]

In order to access the sodding cambelt on this thing,one needs to remove not only the r/h headlight,but the o/s front wheel and archliner,and move the header tank clear as well!

This shot is through the removed headlight hole,the bowden cable centre shot is the throttle cable;



And through the wheel arch,the tensioner for the belt is out of sight,up the l/h side of the belt run,round thing r/h side is the motor for the leccy fan,alternator on the left,


I found that the upper belt cover was hanging loose,both of it's fixing 'ears' had vanished,as had one fixing bolt,so a nice shiny plastic cover has been bought and fitted.
Lower cover was a swine to remove,next door's kids learnt a few new words.

[TheHeap]

You know it's impossible to mess the timing up. They are non interference engines and head gasket replacement is 90 minutes or less. These things are a mechanics dream to work on

Good luck with it

[daimlerman]

You know it's impossible to mess the timing up. They are non interference engines and head gasket replacement is 90 minutes or less. These things are a mechanics dream to work on

Good luck with it

That's good to learn,most of my recent experience is with E30,so it's a learning curve for me!

Next job is installing a temp gauge....

[Andyboy]

On the Fire engined Punto Mark 1, the cambelt is 30 minutes work to change. Mechanics with very strong fingers do them without touching the tensioner.