General !!! Barchetta !!! Good Or Evill - Troubles and EUR'os, but Nice Car

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General !!! Barchetta !!! Good Or Evill - Troubles and EUR'os, but Nice Car

constantin_pop83

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Oct 25, 2007
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Hi Guys !
Here's a couple of things about "The Boat".
Well, I bought my B. in november 2007. I got it for 3600EUR, It's from 08/98, has 57.000Km and first thing service !!!:mad: And trobles started to come.
This is what I put in it: New Tires (380EUR -work included), Spark Plugs, CAM belt Kit (all the belts I changed them), water pum, thermostat, engine coolant, oil filter, sport air filter, fuel filter, oil, gearbox oil, brake pump, some axial joints, + wheels allignment and it costed me 1200EUR(Total with tires). (and maybee some other small things which I don't remember right now)
I still need to change left CV Joint because I have a knocking at low speed when turning.
The car has also like diesel sound for a few secods when starting and the engine is cold (i think it' the variator going 2 hell) - Please Advice
The fuel consumption a little high !!!!! I got it at 12,8liters / 100km in mixed driving sportive and "grandma style":D and mostly inside town.
Plus that there feels like a little low power at below 2000RPM, and a little lazzy below that range.
The air intake had a crack and the engine was not idl-ing properly, but the guys from service just sealed it with some duck-tape!!! i don't know how good this solution is.:eek:
Well, not to mention the airbag light is on, the door windows are not aligned too good, the window mecanism I have to grease it, I need to put an alarm on the car, make copy for the only key I have, the rear "window" it's a pice of.... I barely can see trough it, I would like to go 4 a new hood, but $$$$$$ becomes an issue whe every month you have to put more money for the car then 4 yourself.
I like the car but somedays i really hate it. I'm waiting 4 the good wheather to try it with the top down.


Untill then,
Cheers!
 
Oohhhhh, sounds like you have a bit of a pup!! Mind you a lot of what you mention are service items or small issues, usually these would need to be replaced over a period of time but being hit with them all at once is gonna smart in the wallet!!

Diesel sound and fuel consumption are all related to the variator - your going to kick yourself for not getting it replaced when the belts and water pump were replaced!!!
 
As LRB said sounds like a fair amount of stuff is what you would expect from a major service.

If your car makes a diesel sound on start up then fades, it is not the variator. If the variator was the problem it would continue to make the sound upto 2000rpm. wouldn't hurt to change it though when the new cambelt goes in. the two go hand in hand.

Jon
 
The sluggishness in low gears and the high fuel consumption was exactly what I've been suffering with too. I changed the lambda sensor and hopefully it's sorted it. I started a thread a few weeks ago about the fuel consumption and I had lots of helpful suggestions from everyone as to what kind of things cause it so it might be worth you checking it out.
 
Sounds like you just picked up a B that was in need of some love. Its a pain now but once through it you will have a fully serviced little runner for a few years.
I went through the same thing when I got my B.

First six months I had mine:
DTR main service
Cambelt
Variator
Exhaust downpipe
2 front tyers
Battery

Things will settle down constantin_pop83 (y)
 
Hi,
I appreciate your replies.
Well, I really wanna see first if the things are gonna really settle down, at least before my wallet will settle down :(. About my B, the previous owner didn't use it too much, and didn't took care of it at all, it was mostly sitting in garage, and after that almost 1 year in a dealer park.
-As you said It needed love, a lot of it and steel nerves. What she did to me second day after I bought it... I was on my way to take it to a Fiat service, and - disk breaks overheated - got stuck in town and have to call friends to call someone to pick it up, because I don't speak local language and they don't speak other lang, neither the service guys.

-Since I already change the belt, I think I won't change the variator and the sound like a diesel comes only for like less than 5 seconds when I start the engine, and it stops suddently and if it's cold. If the engine is warm, there's no sound.
I think the lambda sonde ideea could work, I'll try check that.
But The CV I'll change it because it drives me crazy that noise when turning at low speed.
- Should I change the battery? I think it's around 3 years old. I'm not shure. When I bought it, I had a little probl with it and at the service the guys took care of it- recharge it and I think accid change.
And do you know something about the exause pipes making funny noises? like it was overheated iron and when i stop the car it sound like clicks.
I'm going to my homeland next week 4 vacation and I have friends with autoservice and I wanna sort everything, because the work is free for me, but the parts I have to buy them from here (It's much cheeper parts). By the way I'm live in CZ now.

Cheers!
 
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The exhaust pinking sound is just the exhaust cooling when you turn off the engine. Check the exhaust over as the OEM type can crack at the back as well as the downpipe splits at the front.

You can get CV & drive shafts off eBay. Click for link

The battery in the Barchetta is a little small for the car because of space so go for the best ah capacity battery you can get.
 
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Sounds to me like you have cracked the back of it........

Mine has a rattling variator for 2-5 sec's when I start it on a cold morning or if I have not used it for a couple of days, if it is constant and you are suffering from low mpg its likely to need replacing, if not you could be looking at a number of issues, most likely is the O2 sensor (same thing has just happened with my wifes Picasso - at one point we were only getting 18mpg!!)........

Other stuff comes with age and wear and tear, brakes are not too expensive and easy to do, I would only change the battery if you are suffering from it retaining a charge and as for the exhaust - unless it makes a horrible noise while it is running there is no issue!!

Stick with it, when the sun is out you will reap the rewards!! (y)
 
Dear constantin_pop83,
Welcome to the forum!!!

The only thing I can add to all the replies is about your short diesel sound.
Turn the ignition right till you hear the fuel pump working. When it stops, fire up.
You will notice that by delaying the startup for about 5 sec the diesel sound wont come.
Good luck fixing up your B, it is something most of us have done and still doing! you will love it when you start seeing it comming back to life!!
 
well, I dig up a little bit and also talked with some friends who are mechanics, and It looks like a damaged lambda sonde could be the problem for high consumption, lower power, the overheating exaust. What I found out is that if the lambda S. is totaly damaged you will see a light on the dashboard or a ecu tester will give you the error... But a partly damaged one will cause you trouble, it gives false information to the ecu and he will mix the aer/gas badly. A lot of unburned fuel goes into the exaust and burns there causing damage to your catalizor.
-How to test that: 1 method is to unplug the lambda senzor, and the ecu will mix the gas how the default settings are, and if the engine runs better then... you found the problem.
2. You could connect a voltmeter to the black wire from the lambda sonde, and the minus wire from the voltmeter to the car's grounding (eg. the chasis), and the reading should oscilate between 0.1v and 0.7v certain times in a minute, if it doesn't do that ........

I'm going to chk it tomorrow.
I hope this was usefull for you.

I think that my car was crashed, i found some traces of broken glas, and at the left door glass doesn't go exactly into the left pilar, how could that be fixed? I tried to adjust the window but I think it's at the max pos of the adjusting screws. And it's so ennoing at high speed -hearing the wind.
Also right door glass seems to not beeing so fix like the left one, I read somewhere not to close the door pushing on the glas because you can brake some plastic inside ??? where is that plastic??? I have the service manual and I didn't find it. And the screw for getting the window tighter on the softtop is at max position and i can't do anything more, and sometimes i got little rain drops inside. I'm thinking to try with silicon, to put something on the glass so it won't stick to the glass and then close the door and wait to stick there, and by this way sealing it, and no more water... What do you think about this method ?:confused:

Also the airbag light is on. Could my airbag be missing, or it's on because my seat was disconected, and I need to reset the fault in the ecu?
Does anyone have some software for reading the ecu and erasing the codes, and also for airbag. I could offer something else for trade;)
I also need to make a copy of the only key I have to the car, and it's the blue one:mad: I was worried, I thought I can't copy the code. But I foud out you can copy the keys with the code in TESCO stores and it costs 35 EUR.:)Good thing, but again money, money...
 
Hey sjladopoulos thanks for the tip :eek: I think you are right. It was my fault. I had at home Focus 1.8 TDdi and i have to get used with benzin cars. Even with the gear shifting. At the diesel, when nicely driving and wanted to make fuel economy you can shift at 2000Rpm with no probl, but the Barchetta you have to kick in a little more:D lovely sound though, "ferrari":yum: but shifting at 4000Rpm increases fuel consumption.
Guys, what rpm range do you use? I mean give me some info like shifting when sportive driving and for economy driving.
Yesterday I found a girl coleague from work and she has the same silver Barchetta as me, and I took it for a drive to test her car and see if it wasn't only my impression tha my B is Ill, and it proves me that mine has a small probl, a little lower power ----as the above reply -Lambda Senzor I think. My coleague has also a hardtop and she had a really good deal when she bought it that's because she took it from a friend, not as me from a sh**ti dealer, I was thinking that I got a good deal because i m,anaged to lower the price with 800Eur and with this money I will make the service to the car, but I was wrong, I need a lot more. But at least she has new parts and hope she will become healthy and running and keep staying that way.
Both of the barchettas have such bad front lights, I could see the road better if I would use a flash light :-(
 
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The Italian guy a bought my B from said it would be the closest I'll get to owning a Ferrari

Hehe, youre absolutly right. (y)
As far as I know FIAT owns Ferrari. Anyway where in hell will I get the money for a Ferrari, at least the money for the gas and maintance :confused:. one FIat is enough for me. I am a bikerboy, and this B was an option for replacing temporary a motorcycle, because in this place the wheater is so .......changing all the time. But in the future I plan to get also a bike besides my boat:D
 
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The Italian guy a bought my B from said it would be the closest I'll get to owning a Ferrari

Unreliable and expensive????

Kidding, I would not change mine for anything, well - maybe a b with lower miles that has been kept in a temp controlled garage and polished once a week!!

constantin_pop83, I shut my doors by pushing on the door but applying a little pressure on the top of the window at the same time to ensure that the rubber lip sits over the top of the glass - also make sure that all of the rubbers meet, if there is the slightest gap water will get in!

As for fuel consumption, keep it under 3.5k rev's - but where the fun in that!! Unless I am engaged in a little 'enthusiastic' driving I tent to change up at about 4-4.5k rpm - that gets me late 20's mpg!
 
Kidding, I would not change mine for anything, well - maybe a b with lower miles that has been kept in a temp controlled garage and polished once a week!!

OH!, so you want to buy mine then LRB??:D
 
Hi Constantin with reference to your rear window problems.... if its a replaceable window with a zip maybe I can help!!

Here because of the sun you have to change the rear window every year or 2 & window material here is cheap and readily available. If you can get your old window removed and the new one re secured i can send you the window material for the cost of postage to europe.

If this is a common problem in the UK I can bring several meters of the stuff the next time i'm back home in the uk and post it to someone who can distribute it from there
 
If this is a common problem in the UK I can bring several meters of the stuff the next time i'm back home in the uk and post it to someone who can distribute it from there

(y)(y)(y)(y)

Good man - its a common problem over here and an expensive one to fix! The temperature is hovering just above freezing at the moment so the rear screen is very brittle, it takes a brave man (or woman - keeping the pc brigade happy!) to fold his roof down this time of year......... :eek:

If you are looking for someone to hold the stock I would be happy to do so! :D
 
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