Personally I subscribe to the 2x a year oil change regime short over the winter approx 5 months & 7 in the summer though I tend to ignore the mileage side just adhering to by time. Hopefully my 99k Multijet will repay me with long service always concerned that the oil in a turbo diesel works very hard.
You might be able to fit a more powerful version if the gearbox transfers ok from a 500. Given that there are plenty of MJ Pandas around it might be better to buy another or buy a write off for the parts.

My MJ has covered 75,000 without any top end noise. As has already been said the chain should last for an astronomical mileage, one reason trucks have chain driven cams rather than belt. The IVECO 2.3 van engine has a belt drive, but the 3.0L model, which now puts out 205bhp and around 450nm uses a chain as do all their other engines right the way up to 13 litres and, in marine versions, up to 825 bhp.

Relatives of mine who have a furniture making business in Italy use a Daily 3.0 to deliver their custom made products. They are based in the Italian lakes and are popular with top footballers. As a result they deliver from the foothills of the alps to the Lazio region around Rome to Florence, Milan, Turin, Monaco and even Paris. When we went to visit them last year the van had just been serviced as it passed the 350,000 kms mark, or around 215,000 miles. At that point no major components had failed.

The timing chain on my '55 Reg Panda MJ was getting rather noisy and 'slappy' so I had it changed at 104k miles and the car sounds much happier as a result (mileage now 111k miles). The cost of the replacement timing chain kit was a small part of the total £400 bill, but it was worth doing to keep the thing going almost indefinitely. My mechanic told me that by the time he'd accessed the tensioner, he might as well replace the chain, sprockets, as well. There is very little room to play with down that side of the engine!

Im probably wrong but if the engine oil is not changed on time or even never changed Im sure the turbo and its 100000rpm will fail long before the chain any way ( 132000 miles now on mine best car ever owned)

notsmartcars said:

Im probably wrong but if the engine oil is not changed on time or even never changed Im sure the turbo and its 100000rpm will fail long before the chain any way ( 132000 miles now on mine best car ever owned)

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I think you're right there. My car gets an oil change, using the best oil available, every 10,000 miles and there's no reason why it should not keep going indefinitely with this sort of care. I've changed the gearbox oil too, for the same reason. The timing chain does seem to wear out, though, and mine really did need changing; however it should be good for another 100k miles!

The Panda is a bit cheap and scratchy inside, is a bit noisy and a tad bouncy but in many ways it's the best car I've owned too. I also have a BMW 320d Touring but find that I always pick up the Panda's keys without thinking. Wind noise was horrendous until I pulled off the door and mirror trim and covered over all of the holes with duct tape. I only wish it had taller gearing to make it truly economical at motorway speeds.

Hi Shuggie,

Just a question about the gear box oil change, is there a drain for the MJ gearbox if so where is it located or did you siphon it out through the filler?
Any pics or diagrams would be useful thanks in advance.

joe1962 said:

Hi Shuggie,

Just a question about the gear box oil change, is there a drain for the MJ gearbox if so where is it located or did you siphon it out through the filler?
Any pics or diagrams would be useful thanks in advance.

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Sorry, I can't help much, since my tame independent mechanic did the oil change.