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

[daimlerman]

My favoured location was alongside the rev counter pod on top of the dash,but the internet souced pod had a flat foot,so it's ended up here...



But can still be seen through the top of the steery wheel...



I decided to keep the 'idiot light' for the benieft of 'er indoors,so I welded a nut to a piece of tube of similar diameter to the top hose,forgot that the sensor worked via a 'switched earth',so had plenty of practice draining/filling/bleeding the cooling system,it's the yellow tube centre shot,the tube was a bus handrail in a previous life!



I've just a parking scar on the driver's side rear wing(not us,not even 'er indoors!)to sort,now,and this 55mpg pocket rocket is fit for a few more miles.

[capri_rob]

Nice work Malc.

Annoys the crap out of me when manufacturers choose not to fit temp gauges !

First time I experienced this was on an E90 i had as a courtesy car ! Then on my company Astra Sporthatch vauxhall also decided that a warning light was sufficient

The more dials a car has the better it is IMO - one of the reasons I got into Capri's was the 6 Clock dash

[daimlerman]

Current issue on this damn turd is the alternator.

Had to go out to it a few evenings back with the jump start because 'the battery had run down'....started the thing and noted that the ign warning light did not go out until the engine was revved.Pointed this out to 'er indoors,who reported that she needed to do this several times over the next few days.

So I ordered in a shiny new alternator via Ebay for £60...it arrived the following day and I had a look at fitting it this morning.Two mounting bolts and two wires,dead easy...except that after removing the r/h front wheel and arch liner I discovered that the upper bolt would not come out until the r/h engine mount was removed and of course,the rubber part with an alloy centre sleeve was siezed to the bolt.So the mount was destroyed removing it....best price I can get for a new mount is just under £60.

Bloody Italian design!

[B7]

Par for the course malc. If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the "italian" kitchen.

Its where they consistantly fall over in the italian car design! They can build flair and soul in but not address silly design issues.

We are spoilt rotten with german engineering!

[harry_p]

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.

I was looking at the cam pulley and thought it looked nicely shaped for just slipping the belt over!

Having to remove the wheel to get the the cambelt is standard practise on every fwd car i've ever worked on. Youre too used to dangerous bmws with the engine the proper way round

having to remove engine mounts to do things is pretty standard too.

now try doing an alternator change on an integrale. even with header tank removed, power steering pump loosened and fuel pressure regulator moved you can just about get a couple of fingers on a spanner on one of the mounts, the others have to be done through the wheel arch, and the driveshaft needs removing from the inner cv to get the alternator out through the gap. there's not enough room to get it out the hole from the top