Ok, so I got my car through its Mot a couple of weeks ago and fully intended on selling her. She's 05 manual Abarth. I bought her last year for £1700.

I got her on the cheap as she was high mileage. The car has done over 150000 miles. It's on her second Engine. I bought the car when the original Engine was just replaced with another that had done 70000. I took a risk, it paid off. Anyway, I couldn't sell her as I love her too much. So I've decided to spare no expense and get her gleaming. I'm keeping her.

Well anyway, this week I've had the cambelt and water pump changed. Both Anti Roll links replaced. A full service that cost over £200.00. Spark plugs, Air filter, oil filter, spark plugs, oil, filters, battery, bulbs and some other belts that were showing their age.

With Labour, parts and Vat, that cost me £600. Nick from NSB Auto services, Southampton carried out this work and I highly recommend him. He does a very good job and he knows his Fiat's. If you live around the Hampshire area, use him.

Today, I've bought some Alfa Romeo Mito Turbine Alloy wheels.

http://www.rs-import.com/jantes-original-alfa-romeo-mito-rsit254-p-1069.html?language=en

I paid £350 for them off Ebay. One of them needs a refurb, but still a bargain. Anyway, the Alloy wheels are 18". The Tyres are 215 40 18.

Can I run my Stilo on these tyres?

As soon as I get them on, I'll post some pictures of my car. Next job, try and bodge my Air-con so I can get some Cold Air out of the vents.

they are worth the money, so dont worry

just ensure to change the oil minimum every 6 months with fully synthetic oil!

no problem on that size tyre apart from choice of tyre. I run 215/35/18 on mine no worries.

Thanks for that. So I only need buy one Tyre and I can get them on the Stilo. I really think these Mito Turbines are going to look fantastic on the Stilo.

Hi,
I am new to this forum so please bear with me.
I have recently purchase a fiat stilo abarth manual 2.4. It has 53500k miles on it and I have just discovered the timing belt has never been changed!! It is costing me £383 incl VAT for the timing belt and a water pump.
Can anyone advise any othe problems I might be likely to face with this car?!
I do really love the car, having owned a ford focus ST, i prefer my abarth!!!!
Thanks in advance for your help.
Laura

Hello Laura

Welcome to the forum.

Have a read of this:
https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-faqs/273562-buyers-guide-fiat-stilo.html

Always best to replace the belt if your unsure of its history.

And those 2.4's need regular fresh oil and filter changes or they will give you problems ..

Thank you.

The last time it had a service was in March last year!! So I am guessing it is more than well overdue a service.

Only problem is I am going on holiday this month so the timing belt has more than put a hole in my pocket (however I do need my car to get there!!)

Is it true that the engines seem to go on these cars?

Thanks again
Laura

p.s dont know whether anyone can help but when i have the car running of i hear a low beeping noise.
at first i thought it could be the handbrake warning light, but it still does it if the handbrake is off...
yes...i am a girl and know little about cars LOL

Lorad01 said:

Is it true that the engines seem to go on these cars?

Click to expand...

They do have a reputation for throwing pistons, bearing etc but that's usually down to the owners not maintaining the car properly. Like I said earlier, make sure you change the oil and filter regualry ..

Lorad01 said:

p.s dont know whether anyone can help but when i have the car running of i hear a low beeping noise.
at first i thought it could be the handbrake warning light, but it still does it if the handbrake is off...
yes...i am a girl and know little about cars LOL

Click to expand...

If there's a bleeping sound you should be getting a warning on the dash display to tell you why the car is beeping.

thank you.
There is no warning lights on the dash only as I say the handbrake light when I have it on.
May ask the garage to check on Thursday when they are doing the timing belt.

Thanks again

Mine has that lol. I just turn the music up.
I think it may have something to do with the fan motor behind the Dash or inside the Climate control unit.

With regards to the Service your best to get it done ASAP, but in the mean time make sure you have some iol and check it every week or after every long Journey (say every 300 miles) and it will be fine.
I always leave mine on as flat surface as possible over night and then check the oil otherwise you get some funny readings.

I will let you know if the garage figure anything out.

I also need a new exhaust, back and centre box.....any ideas?

The garage i bought it from (i traded in a 04 plate C2 GT and £250.00 cash for my stilo) gave me a photocopied MOT certificate in order to hide the advisories as the deal was he put a full MOT on it for me. Now the exhaust was on the advisories so I have let trading standards know and they say he should pay for the exhaust repairs etc.

Alba tyres quoted £700.00 quid for an exhaust but i am thinking a custom made stainless steel would be better?

Thoughts welcome.

Thank you

Laura

The best exhaust place really depends where in the UK you are?

Where abouts are you?

MIJ Performance(http://www.mijperformance.com) close to me in Walsall do some great custom exhausts.

I am in Leeds but willing to travel for the right price.

After six quotes for the timing belt I am having to travel 40 miles for it. :-(

Also should mention I need two near tyres (as they are cracked) and I got a puncture last week on a tyre that didnt need replacing

Yes...I really do have bad luck with cars lol

I can highly recommend MyTyres(http://www.mytyres.co.uk). I saved over £150 when I purchased a full set Of Dunlop's from them. Delivery is fully trackable and quick.

And Tony(http://www.tonybanks.co.uk) has a good reputation for custom exhausts in your neck of the woods

Lorad01 said:

I will let you know if the garage figure anything out.

I also need a new exhaust, back and centre box.....any ideas?

The garage i bought it from (i traded in a 04 plate C2 GT and £250.00 cash for my stilo) gave me a photocopied MOT certificate in order to hide the advisories as the deal was he put a full MOT on it for me. Now the exhaust was on the advisories so I have let trading standards know and they say he should pay for the exhaust repairs etc.

Alba tyres quoted £700.00 quid for an exhaust but i am thinking a custom made stainless steel would be better?

Thoughts welcome.

Thank you

Laura

Click to expand...

Hia Laura

If both the back and middle exhaust box need to be replaced then for sure it is well worth getting a custom stainless steel exhaust system installed. The quote of £700 is bloody steep and for that kind of money, down my way in the south east you can have a full custom exhaust and a sports cat fitted lol

Bear in mind that if you choose a full custom built exhaust, they will make and provide the back box for your motor, if you fancy a particular back box such as Ragazzon, Supersprint etc, etc then buy the box and have the custom exhaust fitted to it
As a reccomended place to have your exhaust system done, one of our Forum`s Stilo Schumacher GP owners has used these guys and fully recommends them too, they seem to have brances in areas near you

- http://www.longlife.co.uk/

Stainless steel grades have changed too, they used to be 307 and are now I believe down to 304 graded, one request, any chance of any pics of the abarth??

Thank you for all your suggestions.

We did have a longlife exhaust on our Astra Sri which was very good so I will have to check them out for prices (espcially if i can get the garage i bought it from to pay!)

Whilst I am here, yes I am having a moan today, there is a slight clunk on turning the steering wheel to the left - sorry to be so vague. I had a lot of problems with springs etc on my C2 (similar sounding noise) but nothing visable on looking.

Thanks guys for all your help to a newbie.

I suspect CV is to blame but might be drop links or wishbones causing it.

Drop links are not expensive(http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290464931694) and they're easy to fit ..

Wishbones are not too bad either(http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/300462374448) but are more difficult to fit.

Unless you want to fit Original Fiat drop links or wishbones then they're not so cheap ..

thank you very much for this.

hopefully i can get my abarth running sweet soon, more than willing to spend the money on it...i love it!!

have already customised with abarth lettering above the number plate and new abarth badges (expensive!!)

thank you

volxstu said:

Mine has that lol. I just turn the music up.
I think it may have something to do with the fan motor behind the Dash or inside the Climate control unit.

With regards to the Service your best to get it done ASAP, but in the mean time make sure you have some iol and check it every week or after every long Journey (say every 300 miles) and it will be fine.
I always leave mine on as flat surface as possible over night and then check the oil otherwise you get some funny readings.

Click to expand...

Hi,
We have figured that the bleeping noise is coming from the ecu/engine mangment under the bonnet? no warning lights on the dashboard...

Dont know whether anyone might be able to shed any light on this?

My bad luck continues...one of new tyres I bought now has an egg in it...typical!

Oh and it took three litres of oil last night..... service now booked in!!

Thanks