Well who'd have thought. I've had BJ now for 10 years And I still treat him like he's a new car.
(although mileage is down to around 500 a year now).
MOT coming up so we'll see how he fairs yet again but apart from the usual wear and tare items that require periodic changing nothing serious has required attention. He has been a joy to own. Just shows there are good ones out there.
I wonder if I'll still have him in 10 years time? :chin:

Wow thats good, and you have not had the tailgate wiring breaking problem

Keep the door outside handle hinges well lubricated behind the handle to prevent the hinge pin breaking.

Carry on what ever you are doing, as it seems to be working.

Ade:wave:

Yes I brought some new door handle hinges last year with the view of changing them as preventative maintenance. Not got round to fitting them yet though.

I have the tailgate repair kit ...still in the box !! Shhhh !

Well it passed the MOT again without even an advisory.

muttleysdad said:

Well it passed the MOT again without even an advisory.

Click to expand...

Great to hear

Ours is a good one too! Bought at six years of age and 75,000km, we’ve now gone over 120,000km and ten years old this year. Dualogic as well...

As a bonus, fuel consumption has suddenly improved in the last few months to the point where I can get over 600km (373 miles) on a tank at 5.8L/100km (5.4 on a trip - 52mpg) which seems wonderful for the 1.4. Claimed is 6.2L/100km and it seems rare for newer cars these days to better the claimed figure.

If we get to 150,000km problem-free, I’ll really be celebrating!

-Alex

So our car is now 10 years old@ 86k and had its MOT today ( Kwik Fit ), passed, only slight oil leak from the seal on the 4 year old sump, both rear coil springs corroded and rear beam generally corroded, on that I found two new Monroe springs for £42 delivered, and am wondering if I should buy this https://www.imaxle.co.uk/new-fiat-5...prwqASqa4CRgmjvLaPWqVjc0lqFlPEcoaAsYJEALw_wcB
and replace the whole thing given the car is going to be a "keep till scrap or accident" vehicle ? Anyone know how involved its to swap over and what other parts might be a good idea to replace at the same time?

John202020

Have dropped the springs and shocks together with most other axle components so cannot imagine it’s too tricky.

Probably brake pipes and other ancillaries are most difficult due to risk of clips breaking etc.

Not sure if it needs squaring up ( like the old mini subframes which I’ve done a few) but doubt it as it seems to be aligned. If it were me I’d do all the ancillaries to boot, just easier than messing with rust and one press brittle plastic clips.

Just a view -

Cheers

Note my link above for the new axle, there are different part numbers for the 500 and Panda just in case people thought they were cross compatible and they do a Grande Punto front sub frame too.

If you don't have serious rust and don't mind a scarred finish then renovation is an option. Shot-blast and r-epoxy coat will be around £80.. but for the money difference, while you're doing it, I would probably go "new".

But since I suspect the new one might be not very rust resistant metal, I'd give it a few extra coats of gloss black Hammerite aerosol (plus wax in any cavities or tubes).

It looks like the Stilo beam so I'd guess the beam comes out with just the bushes in it.. everything else would be left hanging off the car.

New beam needs new bushes but check how those are fitted. On the Stilo the bush is pressed in with a notch aligned with a welded seam on the beam and then only torqued up when the car is back on its wheels, rather than hanging down on a jack... so check.

Otherwise if you have cash and a warm garage, then over the winter you could also look at;

1) Brake drums (the inner plate gets scabby and proper nasty)
2) If you remove the drums to clean them up and feel flush, change the cylinders too.
3) The rubber brake pipes to the might be corroded or perishing so would need to be undone. You might find the flexy unions is rusted to the solid pipes so when you undo them they twist the metal pipe. The metal pipe at the car end (rather than the metal pipe on the swinging arm) might pass over the fuel tank so is "tricky" to change without dropping the tank a bit.

4) The spring supports and rubbers usually clean up okay but the foam bump stops migth be a bit flakey.


Ralf S.