I have a Grande Punto 1.2 Dynamic petrol which I bought from new 9 years ago and it has now covered 73,000 miles. I have had it serviced yearly, originally at a Fiat dealer, but more recently at indendent garages - and indeed there are now no franchised dealers nearby. My general impression is that in practice most garages (including dealers) do not strictly adhere to the service schedules - and indeed it is often a struggle to get them to use the correct grade of oil. In fairness of course, the standard services are very expensive - and this becomes more difficult to justify as the vehicle gets older.

According to the service schedules my vehicle should have the tappet clearances checked every 24 months, but given that I have never been charged for a replacement gasket I suspect this has never been done. Should I worry about this given that the vehicle runs OK. My concern is that asking for it to be checked at the next service may do more harm than good if the person concerned is not familiar with the engine and may not have any necessary specialised tooling.

Any comments or experiences.

Andrew

I am no expert on tappet clearances, but I share with you that I too have a 1.2 bought new in 2007, but with 24000 miles only. Same experience with no main dealers anymore nearby ( south-east coast) , independents with 'funny' oil choices ( and cheapest ECP filters I noticed the last time, may therefore do it myself again next time) .

Mine too then has never had any tappets checked, but the engine is as sweet as possible with not a virtual drop of oil use. I suspect that even at your decent mileage it doesn't matter too much.

I also have not had my cambelt replaced; I know FIAT says 4 years or 40.000. But others, such as the Peugeot 508 are 12 years or 130.000 now. I am taking a chance, especially with my low mileage ( was SORNd for 2 years too). I am not sure whether FIAT just plays ultra-safe, or whether it is to give dealers more turnover; the belt materials surely come out of the same factory, such as Continental's.

I suppose you could just book it in once with a main dealer for very specific work such as a tappet check . Personally I would combine it with a cambelt change which should be more efficient and less costly then. Since hearing about timing mistakes after independents' cambelt changes, I would only get a main dealer or real Fiat specialist to do this kind of work.

Thank you for sharing your perspective on these issues. I am inclined to leave the tappet clearances this year on the basis of "don't fix it if it isn't broken".

I had my cambelt changed after 5 years at a dealers. The interval now seems to have been reduced to 4 years, so by the book it should be replaced again this year, but like you I intend to leave it longer. It would be interesting to know the full statistics between age, mileage and failure rate. How does the risk compare with say the risk of the vehicle being written off in an accident - although insurance may partly cover the cost of the latter. Also the cost of expensive maintenance is justified on a relatively new vehicle, but in purely financial terms becomes disproportion as the book value of the car decreases.

Andrew

Andrew56 said:

Thank you for sharing your perspective on these issues. I am inclined to leave the tappet clearances this year on the basis of "don't fix it if it isn't broken".

I had my cambelt changed after 5 years at a dealers. The interval now seems to have been reduced to 4 years, so by the book it should be replaced again this year, but like you I intend to leave it longer. It would be interesting to know the full statistics between age, mileage and failure rate. How does the risk compare with say the risk of the vehicle being written off in an accident - although insurance may partly cover the cost of the latter. Also the cost of expensive maintenance is justified on a relatively new vehicle, but in purely financial terms becomes disproportion as the book value of the car decreases.

Andrew

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I guess it's down to mileage and risk. I only had the cambelt done on my 06 last year after finding it had never been done

BrigiteBardot said:

I suppose you could just book it in once with a main dealer for very specific work such as a tappet check . Personally I would combine it with a cambelt change which should be more efficient and less costly then. Since hearing about timing mistakes after independents' cambelt changes, I would only get a main dealer or real Fiat specialist to do this kind of work.

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anyone good with a set of spanners AND THE CORRECT LOCKING TOOLS should find the cam belt chance a piece of p155 ...

also worth changing water pump at the same time as its driven off the cam belt

OK AM, I appreciate your advice and know you are capable. But it's often difficult to imagine others' living conditions, and I currently live in a topfloor flat. I can do many servicing and maintenance issues, but then have to do them on the open road, in full view of the staring neighbours, and risking that it might start raining, or is very cold in winter . Now if I had a drive or even better a garage.....

And then there is still the evidence of service with invoices; if you are selling a car that uplift in value is paying for part of the costs. That and that mainly was the reason I got a garage (ATS this time) to do my oil change the last time. Do it yourself and there's nothing to show a buyer.

So for people like me getting some things done by a garage is not a bad idea, especially if it's something done so infrequently as a cambelt, perhaps once in the lifetime of your car if you keep it for 10-12 years. It's hardly worth learning, plus taking the risk, plus buying any special tools again. Every time a new car has different tools or approach again. To pay £100-150 for experienced labour seems better.

Back to that FIAT advice then. Perhaps Andy you know why it's here 4 years or 40.000 when a big 508 is/was 10/12 years or 130.000 . Is there anything with the 1.2 ( camshaft, crankshaft pulleys, tension pulley, waterpump) that makes it so much more urgent than that 508? I find it hard to imagine. I worry more about an 'implosion' of the waterpump then about snapping of the belt. Tempting fate now of course.....

And AM, what do you think about those tappets?