Cinquecento Very original cinquecento.

[puntofan01]

Even prestige cars such as Lamborghinis have turbo kits available!

Similar to your situation Chris, between my two cinqs, which are exactly the same car, they are completely different. The standardish red cinq drives relatively well, while the black one was a pure, unfiltered go kart experience.

To be fair puntofan, it's not really about fixing anything (in most cases ) it's more to do with moulding the car into what you want it to be, and for it to do what you want it to do.

One guy might want 100 speakers, another might enjoy the benefits of an engine swap or polybushing. Each to his own, that the fun of cars!

Now that I've had the chance to own another (non fiat) car, I can finally understand what the cinq is all about. In the 60 mile drive back from buying my new car, a tinge of boredom hit me. This NEVER happens in the cinq. Cinqs are just..... Fun!

In summary, everyone needs to buy a cinq.

I do know exactly how you feel: I used to love charging round in my old mk2b, and I absolutely love charging round in my Grande. Safe, economical, comfortable fun.

 

[puntofan01]

Mind you, I used to love buzzing around in the Daewoo Matiz I had for my 1st car, lol!

 

[gazmac]

I agree I waited 7 years to get back in a cinq and it's been 7 years too long love it everyday is a genuine lol in it so fun haha

 

[Huwbishop]

Yep cinqs are fab little cars, it's just a shame they didn't make them out of lead or stainless steel. That way I wouldn't be on my knees blowing out under seal fires at 2am while trying to weld up a hand sized hole where the rear jacking point used to be.

I think it is testament to the breed that I see more cinquecentos and seicentos than I do daewoo matizs.

Not that there was anything wrong with the matiz.
I think the Italians call it il pasionate or something like that. It's the fact that you can forgive an Italian car for being a pain in the backside, but if it was German or Japanese you would expect it to perform at 100% all the time.

My alfa has a load of weird things, such as there is no rear washer for the screen. The switch is there, and the pump makes a noise and you get a screen wash smell in the back. But at no point has it ever had a rear screen washer.
Or the wipers look like they have Parkinson's on intermittent, until they warm up.
Or the fact the heater fan has 4,3,2,1,0 and off.

Just obscure and brilliant, makes you

 

[gazmac]

Thought I would update on my cinq !
Replaced front discs pads and rear wheel cylinders , spark plugs and leads , rocker cover gasket and I have new coil packs say there for it !!!

But have ran in to a problem battery has suddenly started going flat and keep having to use a booster pack ? so by the looks of it I need a new battery and also been experiencing a bit of lumpy running straight after start up been told it may be a cold start sensor but not sure anyone got any ideas ? On both things battery going flat and the lumpy start when it decides to start ?

Also re done my floors as it had been letting water in from the bulkhead ! So all sealed up and sorted !
Frustrating as the car looked so good until you get it home and do a bit of investigating on how much I need to do to get it mint .

Thanks guys
Garry

 

[ukmh]

Thought I would update on my cinq !
Replaced front discs pads and rear wheel cylinders , spark plugs and leads , rocker cover gasket and I have new coil packs say there for it !!!

But have ran in to a problem battery has suddenly started going flat and keep having to use a booster pack ? so by the looks of it I need a new battery and also been experiencing a bit of lumpy running straight after start up been told it may be a cold start sensor but not sure anyone got any ideas ? On both things battery going flat and the lumpy start when it decides to start ?

Also re done my floors as it had been letting water in from the bulkhead ! So all sealed up and sorted !
Frustrating as the car looked so good until you get it home and do a bit of investigating on how much I need to do to get it mint .

Thanks guys
Garry

My Sei goes flat after a few days unused. Radio feed is live without ignition being on, so next time it's sat for a few days I'll unplug it and see if it's that drawing power. You could look at that if your cinqs radio has a similar feed.

Also, get your camera out! Pics please

 

[Huwbishop]

I think there is a lot that has power going to it, but is not necessarily active.

If you disconnect the battery and wait a few seconds, in absolute silence there is a click. Almost like a relay de-energising.

When I reconnect the battery, a sorts of things click and whir. Central locking, stereo, hazard circuit. All are live with ign off. All will have small current draws, and impedance in the wires etc. ad to that muck, oxidisation, damp and Italian wiring, all equals flat battery.

Easiest way to tell is to connect a multimeter across from the positive terminal of the battery to the clamp, set to milliamperes and see what she is pulling. I may buy a small solar panel, and keep it under the dash. Because I don't have a battery as such.

 

[ukmh]

I may buy a small solar panel, and keep it under the dash.

Um, is it not a bit dark under there? Or am I missing something here?

 

[blu73]

this is just silly talk... there should be next to zero drain on the battery, you should be able to park the car up and leave it for months and months and it still start. Find the drain and fix it rather than some half arsed attempt at a bodge solution.. Yes when you first connect the battery a few things click etc but there should be hardly any drain, once its done the initial clicks and stuff the only thing i can think of that should be a drain is the clock.

Get the battery tested, most places will do this free. When its known the battery is good then get a multimeter on amps, connect in series with battery. Start pulling fuses out one by one and noting down any drops in current, then when you have the circuit (or circuits) that are drawing power go investigate as to why you have a draw on that circuit and fix it. While you are messing clean up every earth you come across and if you find any bullet connectors along the way cut them out and cut wires back to nice clean copper buts and solder and heat-shrink them instead.

 

[gazmac]

Tested the battery and it's dead now fitted a new one and yellow pearl burst into life first turn so hopefully it's fixed ?
Now onto getting the black sound proofing removed and put in some thinner better quality stuff and hopefully a nice black carpet instead of the dull Grey then same treatment to the headlining get it black all black lol
I will put photos up and keep people informed on progress I am hopefully attending brooklands for the first time in the cinq also so looking forward to that.
Thanks
Garry

 

[Huwbishop]

this is just silly talk... there should be next to zero drain on the battery, you should be able to park the car up and leave it for months and months and it still start. Find the drain and fix it rather than some half arsed attempt at a bodge solution.. Yes when you first connect the battery a few things click etc but there should be hardly any drain, once its done the initial clicks and stuff the only thing i can think of that should be a drain is the clock.

Get the battery tested, most places will do this free. When its known the battery is good then get a multimeter on amps, connect in series with battery. Start pulling fuses out one by one and noting down any drops in current, then when you have the circuit (or circuits) that are drawing power go investigate as to why you have a draw on that circuit and fix it. While you are messing clean up every earth you come across and if you find any bullet connectors along the way cut them out and cut wires back to nice clean copper buts and solder and heat-shrink them instead.

You would be surprised what is still live, when the key is off. Not just the clock, look how many wires go into the fag lighter, all live. Ecu is live, and all electrical components will have a running resistance, even wires themselves will drain the battery eventually. It's not a problem for most cinq owners, because they have a traditional lead acid set up.

I went a bit experimental and am running lipo batteries and power caps. Only 18ah but 1200cca. If I went to get my set up tested, they would tell me to sod off
Also I am not sure yet what sort of drain my sound system puts on the system when off, so that's a bit different with me as well.

 

[Huwbishop]

Um, is it not a bit dark under there? Or am I missing something here?

Lmao. I mean store it under there until I need to use it, when parked.

I did think of a flexi one instead fitted in the sunroof. You could leave it for months without a charge.

 

[blu73]

i know lots of stuff is live, alot if not most stuff is switched on the earth side so it matters not that there is a live wire to stuff, what matters is if its drawing current and the fact remains there should be very little draw from the battery and i can tell you i have had cento's sat for over 6 months and them fire straight up on the button like they are driven daily. Things you are talking about are such tiny little currents they are gonna do nothing really.

 

[Huwbishop]

i know lots of stuff is live, alot if not most stuff is switched on the earth side so it matters not that there is a live wire to stuff, what matters is if its drawing current and the fact remains there should be very little draw from the battery and i can tell you i have had cento's sat for over 6 months and them fire straight up on the button like they are driven daily. Things you are talking about are such tiny little currents they are gonna do nothing really.

Oh I'm not disagreeing with you at all, my point in post #27 if there is a problem with one of the circuits that are permanently live. That's when you get flat batteries, add that to an already knackered battery and the problem is made worse again.

Damp is a swine with my cinq. Because I use LEDs in everything I can, they can show up faults with things you may otherwise not notice.

Example, I have led interior light and number plate lights. When it's damp just one of the nine 3030 LEDs on the interior lamp is lit, permanently. It's fine when dry. If it was a standard incandescent bulb, you wouldn't know there was even a draw there. Likewise with my rear light problem, fine on LEDs, everything worked. Swap to bulbs, only one side worked. Fuse had gone, probably been gone for years. But 20 year old wiring is a can of worms anyway, 20 year old Italian wiring is just silly. None of the wires that run to the back of the car have any protection at all. They are just taped every six inches or so.
So any passengers climbing in and out can stand on and kick the wiring, recipe for a short.

My amps in the back can pull 50amps between them, and the stereo is able to charge phones etc, even when off. So any draw there is going to far out way what the original wiring can throw at the battery.

 

[blu73]

fair points. Only really had lots of stereo equipment in one of my vehicles and that was my vito which had (from memory) 2x 3000w amps, 4x 12" subs, competition 6x9's in the rear and some components up front. And i had an inverter in there, i forget the output on it, but enough to run the tele and games console and a kettle and fridge all at the same time. It managed on just the van battery (so long as engine was running when everything was on obviously) but it did need a power-cap for when the stereo was on really loud.

Gotta say i do miss my van!!

 

[gazmac]

Little update the yellow pearl need a new battery ! And lucky it did I was wondering for ages where I had a water leak and lone behold under the battery tray was a sneaky hole so ripped all the soggy soundproofing out and carpet and done some filling now attacking the battery tray then she is ready for some thinner but better quality soundproofing and a nice black carpet ? slowly getting there hard when you work six days a week and she is the daily runner but hopefully all sorted for brooklands !!

 

[blu73]

well bar that bit near battery looks like you found a very nice solid car from them pics

 

[gazmac]

Yeah she is a beauty !
Plans are black carpet black headlining then high gloss black wheels with a bit wider tyres !!
Nice lowered suspension and poly bush all round maybe a slight tint on the windows !

 

[blu73]

not keen on black black wheels myself, think they always make the tyres look not black enough lol... I prefer anthracite for this exact reason but each to their own

 

[gazmac]

Still undecided but think that black would suit it many options out there lol