(G) dead uno...alas

hey hey

some sad news here

my uno is has died.
it seems as though one of the previous owners has wound back the mileage. everything keeps breaking, clutch, cat, suspension etc.
im fed up of it.
dont get me wrong i love my uno. and will probably get an uno turbo one day

but it is going to be scraped or sold or something.

i was just wondering if you guys wanted anything from it?

since september 2005 it the spec has dramatically changed:-

new clutch
new clutch master cylinder
new front brake calipers
new brake master cylinder
new catalitic converter
new front dampers (1 week old!)
stainless steel powerflow exhaust (cat backwards)
lancia 15" alloys
40mm spax lowering springs (1 week old!)
punto 1.1 k&n
uno turbo seats
clear front indicators
modified, smoothed front grill
blue samco hose covers

the problems it has at the moment is that the passengers front suspension arm needs replacing. the ball at the end is broken.
it over heats because radiator fan does not work.

IMO it is not really worth fixing these problems but if you PM me you are more than welcome to salvage anything you want from it. the body is also pretty immacculate.
scrapping the car would just feel like a waste and i dont have the time or knowledge to remove some of the parts. id feel better if someone else benefitted from it
you are also welcome to take the whole car off me if you are willing to pay a sensible price. no doubt you could fit all the modifications onto your uno and save a hell of a lot

PM me for pictures/details on anything. or leave a comment.

btw
i forgot to add it also has a boot release fitted.
and i have a brand new rear spoiler (still in primer) as i never fitted it! its sat in my room

below is a small pic of my car, not up to date mind you!!!

Could you not buy another uno and transfer over? 1.4 perhaps?

Just fix it and get over it...

As I said before to one of your posts (I think), there are going to be parts that wear out in an age-related way (not related to how you drive the car). I think you should try and stand back for a moment and honestly ask yourself, would this part need replacing if I bought another Uno of similar price that hadn't had the odometer wound back? I think you will agree that yes, it probably would.

Wound-back mileage is a concern if you're buying a 'new' car (say, less than four years old) where the mileage affects the value more. Ironically, the durability and reliability is likely to be the same for a three-year old car with 70,000 miles as it would be for a three-year-old car with 20,000 miles.

The radiator fan is probably a simple connection problem at the temp. switch, or the fan motor itself needs its bearings lubricated. It will probably cost next to nothing to fix.

The suspension arm - hard to believe it broke completely? - probably has just worn out like they all do at some stage. It's usually the left that wears out because the left edge (of our roads) is rougher. I've just replaced both control arms in my Uno (unnecessarily it turns out, but they are a common failure) and I've changed them many times in the past. They're probably down to about 30 quid each aren't they?

Do you know anyone that could help you out if you don't have the necessary tools? (trolley jack, axle stands, some large-ish socket spanners)

If you really do want to get rid, so be it (are you going to buy another car instead? Is it going to be better than the Uno?) but it seems a great shame that you have put so much into customisations (I only wish that it hadn't cost you as much as I'm guessing it has...)

I still think though that you should prioritise here - fix the important things, put everything else on hold at the moment to save your money, no more customisations! If you can't afford to fix it right now, why not SORN-it until you can (I think I've learned what SORN means...)

-Alex

I think Alex is right as always!

The things you mention are broken, the track rod end or wishbones and the heater fan sensor are probably fairly simple to fix with a few cheap tools and your own time.

Cars will always go wrong and cost money, more modern cars are beginning to cost significantly large sums of money to repair. My wifes 2000 W-Reg Citroen developed an idling fault. I bought a new temperature sensor and stepper motor for the fuel injection system and that cost £100 from GSF parts. From a main dealer I believe it would have cost approx £40 for a basic diagnostic and then a further £250 to fix this fault and this is a relatively cheap car to maintain!

More modern cars are far from immune from faults and when they do go wrong the bills can be much higher!

If you do get rid, what you going to buy to replace?

Fix it!! Fix it!!!

Don't bin the uno you wont get a car as much fun!!

And it sounds to me like you have put so much effort into it!

If you think the engine is dead - get a replacement one entirely its got to be worth keeping!

the engine is not dead yet. but how long will it be until it does blow? how long until something ELSE goes wrong.

as you all should know, when a car starts to have major problems you have to make a decision. is it worth it?

ive decided against it as im fed up with getting it fixed. i am no mechanic so i do not have the expertise to fix the car. every job seems to be £100-£200.

i am going to replace the car. with another uno perhaps. whatever car i buy i will keep it standard but immacculate. modifying can often cause more problems anyway.

my uno is not fun. it spends way too long in the garage each month and it swallows all my money. a more expensive car, with FULL service history which is well looked after is much more likely to last without any big problems.

an engine conversion? im not even sure if it is running the original engine at the moment. this would make the car ILLEGAL. its not worth putting in a new engine...£600+!!!!!!! :O

maybe these problems are easy to fix but there is no telling where it will stop. i also understand it can be a gamble to buy another car. if something expensive goes wrong on whatever car i decide to buy next, i will get rid of it asap.

i would rather not transfer all the items from my car to a new uno, just because i do not have either the knowledge to do it myself or the funds to hand it over to a garage.

if i get £250 out of the car i will be happy but thats not a lot...ive spent almost £1200 (including buying the car)

also i have decided to contact the DVLA, see if they can get me previous MOTS to see the history of the car...i could have done over 200,000k. i wouldnt be surprised.

what are you on about? 600+??you could 1242 it for about 150 diy.

iv seen people have punto gt turbo engines fitted for under 600

if you read all the post it clearly states i do not have the equipment or mechanical knowledge to remove some parts, let alone fit a new engine.

plus there is always extra complications, where do i get an engine from? i wouldnt buy one off ebay and there are no uno's in any scrap yards locally.

its not worth it anyway, the body/rest of car would suffer from more use. and as i said the engine is not dead. yet.

i spose that shows how strong the FIRE engine is. everything is going wrong in my car except the engine.

anyway as i was saying. is anyone interested in buying the car or parts from it? if not then ive had an offer from a guy who wants it for rally track days.

Hi distortionrockets, I live near Dartmouth, about half an hour, if you can make it down here I could lend a hand and maybe some spares to get it going again. I've got a spare Uno here and still quite a few bits left, I'm sure i could dig out some bits. Plenty of spare time at the moment as well as I've just finished uni and no job lined up as yet. Would be a shame to let it die (its certainly in better nick than mine, which is on 182,000 now.....)

...there you go, distortionrockets, one great offer there (good onya totnesmonster! )

I do appreciate your points made. Mainly, about not feeling willing/able to work on the car yourself. It's true that you can be shafted by older cars in the hands of mechanics (labour rates steadily rise of course to cover the costs of running such businesses).

I've seen some sad stories like this. A Tipo I bought had an alternator fault which had been fixed - receipt provided. The girl who eventually sold the car to me got charged $220 (about 80 quid) to have new brushes fitted. When someone like me (and Pottleflump for that matter) does this sort of job, we will also look at the bearings and replace if in doubt - but of course this workshop did not do that. Not that it caused a problem (I changed them later as I was chasing a strange noise) but it serves as an example of the difference between DIY maintenance and workshop maintenance. When time is not at a premium, you CAN do a more thorough job. And, you can fix a number of annoying niggles (like the strange noise I mentioned) which would otherwise not be worth getting fixed.

'Beginning' DIYers often think that a garage would do a more 'professional' job, but often this isn't the case. It sometimes is, if the job requires a special tool, or if the DIYer bodges something with an inappropriate tool (e.g. the mash-marks on the steering rack I found on my Uno Turbo). And sometimes you do need an experienced eye to judge whether something is serviceable or not. I remember a friend years ago replacing his spark plugs, and again after three months (a) because he could, and (b) because they no longer looked new!

Anyway, to get back to my Tipo example, the girl had paid over $150 for a 'service' including a coolant change. (The receipts for the six months of ownership totalled over $600, about a third of the car's value... which I felt was excessive.) I found the cooling system to be extremely dirty and at least one drivebelt in need of replacement. How long would it have been before the drivebelt broke, or the heater valve jammed... in other words, how long before something else went wrong...

So let's be realistic. If you would rather not spend time servicing and repairing your own car(s), I fully understand. If you would rather not have those annoying niggles and unknown repair costs, I suggest you buy a three-to-six-year-old car with good local dealer support, in good condition, and of a size/value that you can afford to run (insure, have serviced, etc.) And of course, make sure you like it; because you lose money each time you sell and buy such cars!

For me, I shall never be able to treat a car like a transport appliance, because I like to know what is making it tick and I like to keep it ticking nicely...

The other alternative I can see is that you could remain in our little club - sort out those immediate problems and go right through your car checking everything (doesn't have to be all in a day, y'know!) until you (and a more experienced helper!) are satisfied that it is truly in reliable condition. At the same time, don't put yourself down - I'm sure you have more mechanical ability than you care to admit. You know which way to turn a bolt to undo it? Then you know how to take parts off your car!

Don't let me sway you one way or the other - I'm just agreeing with the points you made and putting it how I see it.

-Alex

Top post

One thing with any new car you don't know what will go wrong with it. I have a two year old Mondeo TDCi, needed a new car for my work, and the turbo pipe failed on me, part cost £40, but labour charges would have made it £100+.
Also the service items (which i do), cost a lot more as well, over 100 quid for a set of front discs and pads, Uno's are less than 40 quid all in.

One thing with your car now, you know what has and hasn't failed on it. Also if you need a honest garage, kind of local to you PM me. I used to live in Devon, and know a Fiat specialist garage.

Finally don't loose heart (we've all been) then, and with forums like this someone is likely to have done any jobs that need doing. I know for a fact that i have either removed or replaced EVERY part on an Uno at some stage over the last five years !!!!

that is very tempting.
i know i can fix the over heating problem for less than £10.

the part i need is the 'ball joint' and the whole arm probably. the car is probably not safe enough to make it to dartmouth. hmmm

but like i said there is no telling when something else will go wrong with this car.

this car has also led me to loose my faith in the uno. perhaps the mileage hasnt been wound back and its just not all its hyped up to be?

i still may buy myself another uno. just to prove myself wrong.
id feel much better to move on from this car. besides ive stripped all the audio equipment and engine stuff out of it.

ive decided to move on, perhaps get something a little more powerful too.
there is a 1.1 uno in the classified ads. its immacculate too! i may end up getting that and rejoining your little club

How bad is the balljoint knocking? As I had one knocking on my Uno for months before working out which one it was, as I couldn't make it move at all until it got bad. If you jack the wheel and can't get movement from the joint it *should be ok for a short trip. I think a new arm with balljoint included was about £15 from a motor factor.

cheers, Mike

Does the uno have any mot or tax?