I love my 54 plate 1.9 JTD, it has never broken down, is big inside (4 door) and has a tray behind the front passenger seat so i can pretend it's a plane.

I'm a bit of a car novice though so thought i'd pester you good people for some answers to some probably simple questions

1. The plastic cover on the bottom of my stilo was hanging off, so i jacked up the car and removed it's last holding on few screws. it looks pretty battered (a point i'll come to). So i need to get a new one put on - but I don't actually know what it's called or where the best place to find it will be.

2. General question - with my tyres fully pumped and no problems with my suspension, my 1.9 JTD seems perilously close to the floor at the front end - and any speed bumps are a nightmare - is this common with all 1.9 JTD's - maybe because of a heavy engine or is there something i can do (garage always say springs are fine etc). It would be nice to be able to go over speed bumps normally instead of having to stradle them either side!!

Any help with these two conundrums would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

Mark

the plastic part sounds like its under the engine and is an undertray. They hang down because lazy mechanics only put half the fixings back in when they service the car.

your springs are probably worn out by now after years of work, and are sagging. New ones will help.

Great, thanks for that. I will try to source an undertray and will look at getting my springs replaced.

Would be interested to hear if other 1.9JTD owners have the same low front end problem though or if it is just something on mine that can be fixed?

Cheers

my JTD 115 sits low on the front, and i've had new springs, dampers and bottom arms fitted

i agree the 1.9 jtd is a heavy lump of a motor, and mine sits a lot lower (mw) than the 1.6 mw we also have.
but its worth a check that your springs are ok, they do have a habit of snapping on our grande cars....

My JTD (3dr) kisses speed bumps as it passes over them, and that's on springs that are less than 2 years old (makes the undertray useful). The JTD is a big ole lump!

It probably won't totally cure it but if you're still on the original front springs, a new pair certainly won't do any harm, even if they've not yet snapped. One of mine snapped & when replacing it, the garage saw the other one in a bad way so did that too.

I paid circa £240 in 2010 but £140 of that was labour, possibly because the garage wasn't Fiat so might've taken them longer than some places with more Stilo experience - they're as rare as rocking horse sh*t here. You may get it cheaper, especially as labour rates might be abit cheaper in Yorkshire than here (Oxfordshire). The parts themselves cost £100, so you've an idea of the potential bill

thanks guys, good to know. I did think it would probably be from the heavy diesel engine (not that i know much).

I will get them to check the springs when it goes in for service this time round.

ta

your engine cover, mine fell down at the back and all i done was jack the car up and drill some small pilot holes in the plastic then put some self tapping screws with washers on (3 each side), its done around 40,000 miles since then and not had a single problem.