General Panda no heater

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General Panda no heater

koalar

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Should I take a chance on a dodgy Panda 06 1.1L Active £400


Been to look at it.


Exhaust is blowing at the front somewhere


Rear handbrake not that affective


Looked at the old MOTs had a leaky radiator for the last two years.


Drives fine. Running a bit rich.


Hoses don't firm up. Full of radweld . Heaters not very good and its still got the holy radiator.
 
Should I take a chance on a dodgy Panda 06 1.1L Active £400


Been to look at it.


Exhaust is blowing at the front somewhere


Rear handbrake not that affective


Looked at the old MOTs had a leaky radiator for the last two years.


Drives fine. Running a bit rich.


Hoses don't firm up. Full of radweld . Heaters not very good and its still got the holy radiator.


Walk away. Find a pampered one with history for a few quid more.
 
Unless it's got immaculate body & interior it is probably too much money. It doesn't sound very cared-for so probably plenty more will need doing.
2 years with a leaky rad on a FIRE engine is crazy... or terminally optimistic.
Also presence of Radweld type stuff in a panda is often a good indication of bodgery for the sake of bodgery. Whenever I have found it I expect any servicing or repairs to have been done badly using the cheapest parts available, by someone with little or no mechanical sympathy.
Plenty of better ones out there for similar(ish) money that have been maintained properly.
 
Yes the bodywork is excellent as you would expect from a 06.

05 or younger Group 1 insurance cars don't come up in the sub £500 that often. That the girlfriends budget.

Been looking since December not much about at the moment. Can't be too good of a car as it will be parked in M28 postcode. Insurance is horrendous for M28 twice of mine here in CW2

Don't mind a bit of work.
 
Well... if you expect the engine to be a bit problematic and are fixing it yourself you may be ok.
At a guess, the service history is a bit light...
New rad/flush out/new coolant, timing belt & water pump + full service might bring it back to health, as long as it is generally healthy, but I reckon the HG is probably suspect. Hard to imagine someone topping up and bleeding it properly over 2 years without it getting low enough to do damage.

Be careful though - just had to replace an 1108 engine for a friend and was shocked by how much people were asking. £300 for an 05 with 70k was the first one I found. Nearly as much as whole car was worth, without fitting. Didn't even come with manifolds.
Eventually went with an 04 mpi from a seicento with 50k for £100ish.
Core plug had been leaking on original, and it had been radweld-ed coz the mechanic couldn't be bothered to find the real cause. Then plug went completely and it siezed up. Engine ran once cooled down, but with ominous noises and fumes from oil filler.
Only noticeable symptom was... heater not getting very hot and "slight radiator leak".
Radiator was/is fine.
I suspect problem with core plug happened because of lack of proper coolant, and once it started leaking the owner kept on topping up with water.
 
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Well... if you expect the engine to be a bit problematic and are fixing it yourself you may be ok.
At a guess, the service history is a bit light...
New rad/flush out/new coolant, timing belt & water pump + full service might bring it back to health, as long as it is generally healthy, but I reckon the HG is probably suspect. Hard to imagine someone topping up and bleeding it properly over 2 years without it getting low enough to do damage.

Be careful though - just had to replace an 1108 engine for a friend and was shocked by how much people were asking. £300 for an 05 with 70k was the first one I found. Nearly as much as whole car was worth, without fitting. Didn't even come with manifolds.
Eventually went with an 04 mpi from a seicento with 50k for £100ish.
Core plug had been leaking on original, and it had been radweld-ed coz the mechanic couldn't be bothered to find the real cause. Then plug went completely and it siezed up. Engine ran once cooled down, but with ominous noises and fumes from oil filler.
Only noticeable symptom was... heater not getting very hot and "slight radiator leak".
Radiator was/is fine.
I suspect problem with core plug happened because of lack of proper coolant, and once it started leaking the owner kept on topping up with water.

Cheers most helpful.

Still in two minds. It is a gamble. Engine sounds sweet and drives really well. Did open the bleed screw by the heater. Not much came out coolant or air.


Couldn't undo the one on top of the radiator. Too tight I might have snapped it off.
 
I'd walk away too as if it's been running with a dodgy cooling system and dodg-ily repaired with the likes of RadWeld then somebody probably 'ran it into the ground' with not much respect toward it.

For you, that could mean hundreds in repair, headaches and discovering lots more problems, something which, as of now - prior to buying it - you can avoid!

As someone else said, walk away and look for another one in better shape!

Good luck
 
for spare windscreen, wheels, steering column etc its not too bad - if you need anything... but unless you enjoy garage-time, then it could be a waste of money/time
 
I put Wynn's radweld equivalent in my Brava 1.2 when I had a leaky heater matrix, it did the job for a a year until I replaced the matrix. I flushed the system properly (Wynn's flush) and it's been fine, so using a sealing compoumd isn't necessarily a disastrous bodge. But I was informed that Radweld isn't the best despite its market dominance.
 
I put Wynn's radweld equivalent in my Brava 1.2 when I had a leaky heater matrix, it did the job for a a year until I replaced the matrix. I flushed the system properly (Wynn's flush) and it's been fine, so using a sealing compoumd isn't necessarily a disastrous bodge. But I was informed that Radweld isn't the best despite its market dominance.


Cheer

Not sure why I said radweld as I have no idea what was used. I know it was an advisory on the last two MOTs and there is a blob built up deposit on the back of the radiator.


Took a gamble on it. Can always sell on if no good.


After topping up drove the 22 miles back.


No dramas. Thermostat is stuck open. Be interesting to see if its due to the bodge or if the rubber seal gone like in my Panda.



Need to get the radiator and thermostat changed ASAP flush and fresh antifreeze.


Guess we will see from there.


One thing I have notice driving this one is mine has a very slight fault.


Get this one out of the way first but mine isn't as smooth when you slowly release pressure of the accelerator almost like a very slight hiccup.
 
Check the back axle around the spring seats.
They're noted for rotting badly around this area, the cost of a new one will write a car off these days and good used ones are hard to come by.

If it isn't too bad, remove it, wire brush it down, treat it with a rust stopper and paint it up as soon as possible.

1.1 Actives can suffer from a wiring loom issue.
Missing and cutting out along with coil and injector DTC's (particularly over bumps) are signs a wire in the bunch from the engines ECU is breaking down, there is a fix on the forum somewhere).
 
You seem to know your stuff so I'd think you'll be fine with your repairs.

Thermostats do go regularly due to gunk and rust etc. so a new one should help a lot. When I've flushed out my system I've put half a bottle of cleaning agent in first, then drained and repeated with the other half. There's usually enough to do a big engine, so plenty for a titchy Fiat FIRE...

Also you'll be removing most of the accumulated crud when you junk the old rad, as that's where most of it acumulates...
 
There is nothing wrong with in system leak sealers which can deal with a pin-holed radiator. I used Barrs Leaks on my mother's VW Golf 1800 that had a slow leak we never did finnd. The problem was sorted and never recurred. I believe it was the heated inlet manifold gasket to the cylinder head but never fully located the cause.

However, don't be fooled by the expensive large bottle products that claim to fix blown head gaskets. These can clog smaller cooling galleries (also water pump and thermostat) and usually fail to do whet they claim on the tin.

If there are ANY doubts about the state of the radiator then change the thing. The car will blow its head gasket before it tells you the coolant level has dropped. For £100 or less its not worth the cost of avoiding the job.

The back axle spring pans rot at the front about 30mm inboard from the welds and the back weld crack causing the spring pan to drops. The front edge can be patch repaired and the back welded up again. It takes about 2 hours (max) to remove the rear axle so if there are any doubts take it off and have it patch welded over the front problem areas. Unless they are REALLY bad, there is no need to totally rebuild the spring pans.


This is the spring pan front showing the patch needed to deal with the corrosion. You can see how corrosion is worst inboard of the weld. This axle look crappy, but will actually clean up and be fine so welding would be a precaution.

IMG_2693_zpsdqz9zkkm.jpg


This is the back that's manufactured with weld one side only so will crack when over stressed. Weld the other side to strengthen.

348957ac-033e-4321-a06c-41f7cfb83e06_zpsb3oookss.jpg


This is how a 169 rides with a 500 back axle and 500 road springs.

IMG_2706_zpseovzpgbu.jpg
 
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Yep, there are some really bad leak sealers on sale.
I've seen water pump impellers sheared off, thermostats glued half open, an a radiator or two which wouldn't flow even with a garden hose shoved in them.
I guess some are ok, but...
koalar hope it is straightforward to sort out.

When you flush it out, check the old coolant for rubbery nodules. If it's got them I would suggest flushing the block using a hosepipe and changing the water pump too. It may be ok but I have seen pumps so clogged up they could barely pump at all and the FIRE engine needs good circulation.
 
Made some phone calls. After a bit of haggling I have ordered a radiator and thermostat from a local motor factors. Collect tomorrow.

£55 radiator
£10 thermostat

Both inclusive


Next to Wicks so will pop in and get some replacement jubilee clips




Cartransplants wanted £30 plus vat for a second hand unit. Non negotiable. Did tell them I could get it brand new for £43.99 delivered to my house (eurocarparts). Not that I went with them as it always seem to take a few try before I get the right part.
 
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Cartransplants wanted £30 plus vat for a second hand unit.

Secondhand radiators will quite likely be useless.

Aluminium cored radiators corrode extremely quickly when exposed to damp air. If you are leaving one off the car for more than 48 hours, either plug it and fill fully with inhibited coolant, or dry it thoroughly inside.

This explains why running low on coolant often leads to a leaky radiator - the corrosion inhibitors won't work properly if there is an airspace in the radiator core.

Hint: if you have a vacuum cleaner which can be set to 'blow' instead of 'suck', you can use that to blow warm* air through a removed radiator & it will dry it out.

* a vacuum cleaner basically doubles as a fan heater with a rating approximately equal to the power consumption of the appliance.
 
Bit of a bonus. New radiator is dual core original is single.


All fitted just need some antifreeze.


No sludge but a horrible brown cloudy colour from the bottom of the radiator. Rest was a clear red colour?


Was going to buy some from screwfix. £10 for 5 litres to ASTM D3306, SAE J 1034, BS 6580: 1992 standards


No stock ahhhhhhh.
 
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Was going to buy some from screwfix. £10 for 5 litres to ASTM D3306, SAE J 1034, BS 6580: 1992 standards

IIRC the Mk3 Panda needs an OAT (pink) coolant; the later ones most certainly do.

That screwfix product is blue coolant, IMO it's cheap rubbish and you were perhaps fortunate that they were out of stock.

The Panda is not a car you want to be taking chances with the cooling system.
 
IIRC the Mk3 Panda needs an OAT (pink) coolant; the later ones most certainly do.

That screwfix product is blue coolant, IMO it's cheap rubbish and you were perhaps fortunate that they were out of stock.

The Panda is not a car you want to be taking chances with the cooling system.

I've just ordered a couple of litres of OAT concentrate from an Ebay factor,
£8 delivered.

ECP only list "waterless" =@£50..I can make my own for less.:p
 
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