You won't catch me, ours completed 16 years in june...

Peter Pick-Up said:

You won't catch me, ours completed 16 years in june...

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Hi Peter
Yes, that wont be possible and plus for the kms used, my car is not even at 1/4th of yours

What would be the time interval to change engine oil if I use fully synthetic engine oil?


My car runs barely 5000 kms a year


Will it be OK to stretch to 2 years?

Common advise is to change engine oil at least once a year, so don't take any risk, and just follow this rule.
Compare 4 liter oil+filter to a new ( rebuild) engine....!!!

Btw, what brand and weight oil are you using?

I use castrol magnatec 10w 40 semi synthetic

Was planning to use petronas fully synthetic

Castrol Magnatec is a perfect oil, if you don't have issues, keep on using it.
I have no experiences with Petronas oil...
In fact, I only use Castrol in all of my engines...

Hi peter and others
Been posting here after long since practically stopped using pc due to stress on my eyes
It was an eventful last 30 days for me and my car
One fine sunday the car refused to start and i assumed the 6 year old battery is finally dead
So immediately called for a new battery and after installing it tried to fire the engine but no luck.
My garage guy assumed it maybe was a blocked starter as many push starts were attempted. It started working fine after few hours and i thought all is good
But next day again no luck.
So maybe the battery wasn't dead at all and it was an issue with the starter. I was surprised that a 6 year old battery was still going strong and i unnecessarily changed it.
Turned out starter was completely burnt and so a complete rebuild was done by a starter specialist
Again worked for few days and BOOM no starts again. This time key was not moving only
No one expected the ignition switch to be a problem so it was the last thing to look into. But it was the actual culprit. A bad ignition switch was killing the starter
I could not find only the ignition switch but it came a set with 4 locks
Another nightmare was fitting the lock barrels. For some reason it would not fit in place of old ones. Maybe QC issues at fiats end
It came in a FIAT box and i am most certain it was fiat OE
Took the car to lock specialist and he did manage to finish it after working for 5 hours and told me not to get the car again as its too hard to work on

Drove for 200 kms in 3 days and seems to be working fine but new issue although not crtical has cropped up

The AC fan blower starst by itself even if completely OFF and even goes high and low on speed. I am suspecting some bad switch in the centre console but will get it fixed after few weeks as need the car due to heavy rains

So lesson to learn is if you have an old car or maybe an old fiat dont directly jump to a new battery or an alternator if engine does not fire

It can be
1) A dead battery
2) Bad alternator not charging battery
3) Bad starter
4) or a bad ignition switch which has damaged starter by supplying current for a long time

I did not hear any unusual noises in last few months which may indicate ignitions switch holding current but the now i realize how jammed the original switch was as the new one is as smooth as butter to operate

I have not updated thread since a long time
Car has been doing well since last year or so except had a leak in a major fuel line which needed replacement. Luckily it was diagnosed at the right time
Car will complete 13 years in few months
I was thinking of changing all suspension bushings but not sure from where I can purchase them
It's becoming harder and harder to purchase parts for palio/Petra locally in Bombay

Why change anything if it's still good?
I see no reason for that.
Polyurethan upgrade bushings are available on Ebay....

Peter Pick-Up said:

Castrol Magnatec is a perfect oil, if you don't have issues, keep on using it.
I have no experiences with Petronas oil...
In fact, I only use Castrol in all of my engines...

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Since a year, I use Petronas Syntium 7000E 0W30 C2 oil in our New Alfa Giulietta, as Castrol doesn't make oil with the correct specs for that Euro 6 engine...
Btw, Petronas and Selenia are the same brand, I discovered...

Hi Peter
Hope you and your car's doing well
I will get all things checked once the rains are over here
First and foremost I want to get a proper radiator flush as the coolant has turned brown
Right now the rear brakes are jammed due to a malfunctioning emergency brake
My trusted mechanic will visit me tomorrow and fix the issue
Rest seems ok with the car and it's used quiet frequently unlike before
One good thing is that FCA (fiat Chrysler automobiles) are on revival mode in India
They just started selling the compass here in India and it has a got very good response inspite of the negetivity fiat had accumulated due to its past performance mainly due to service
India is manufacturing hub for all right hand compass
Not that it helps me with palio spares but atleast I can force authorised service center's to work on my car being a fiat car

Maybe I'll visit India in the future sometimes...
In a way, I'm fascinated about the car and motorcycle industry overthere.
How about the Royal Enfield, or the Austin Ambassador....
Anyway, my wife says I will be sick in an instant while I'm there, and I can't stand heat, so will I ever visit....???

Peter Pick-Up said:

Maybe I'll visit India in the future sometimes...
In a way, I'm fascinated about the car and motorcycle industry overthere.
How about the Royal Enfield, or the Austin Ambassador....
Anyway, my wife says I will be sick in an instant while I'm there, and I can't stand heat, so will I ever visit....???

Click to expand...

Ambassador production is stopped I guess few years ago
Royal Enfield is there but not sure how much they welcome factory visits unless you are some big media guy

I am not sure if you would like India so much , specially with the heat , pollution and too much people everywhere.
These things will take a while for you to get accustomed to.
Not being negetive about my country but fact is fact

About my car now
Water had entered the rear drums and made a complete change of cylinders and liners . Also brake line bleeding was done and emergency brake was set properly. For some reason it was too tight before
Front brakes seem to be in a good shape and could easily do another 10000 KM's
I will see what after market brake pads I can get which would be same size of what is used in Petra to get that extra brake bite

I am not really sure how did water enter so easily. We had to run the car on some flooded streets but water was max 12 inches

Liners had got stuck due to water entering

The rear drums are not watertight, so water entering them, is normaly not a problem, and won't affect brakepower much.
I always used red Ferodo DS Performance pads on our Palio, and they did well.

Hi all specially Peter
Am visiting after long

Car was doing well all these months except for certain air conditioning cooling loss, it was not at its best and summer is at its Peak over here

The ac service centre detected a leak in the evaporator coil. So I was happy the issue was detected.
We even got the radiator completely cleaned , till there was clear water flowing

But the next day morning when I went to collect car the service centre detected minor gas leakage again but could not find area of leak

Then it was detected there was high pressure being created and the pressure valve was letting out gas to ease the pressure

On physical inspection the condenser and radiator seems to be in good condition and foes not seem to be choked or rusted. Neither the engine is getting heated

So it's difficult to understand why high pressure is being created

I don't understand much about working of air conditioning but we have decided to use car for a week and then take a call

Car is 14 years old and parts are hard to to come by so it's becoming more of a problem

If anyone can point to some specific area to check for the issue I will be really thankful

The service centre owner was talking about some part with the condenser which cleans the gas likely to be choked so he will also check that next time I take the car to him for inspection

Just an update with Aircon system

The condenser was removed and cleaned internally even though there was no issue , just to make sure condenser is fine

The leak was from the oil seal of compressor, so new oil seal were fitted and the receiver was also changed as it was completely clogged with oil

Now working absolutely fine since 7 days now