When I acquired 1997 B 12 months ago with only 33,000 miles I had it overhauled and whilst the original variator seemed OK it was replaced along with timing belt, water pump etc. I thought that Fiat had modified the variator so that the previous design fault had been eliminated and assumed that I would not need another one for at least a good while. It seems that some of you are having to replace variators more than once. Is this correct and what is the expected life span of them? Have the new variators been modified or are Fiat still selling the one's that have a short life?
Rich

When speaking to a Fiat tech they said that they no longer replace the later type variator without cleaning them first.

My variator has never been replaced and has just started to play up at 68k............apparently the Alfa's were/are even worse!

LittleRedB said:

My variator has never been replaced and has just started to play up at 68k............apparently the Alfa's were/are even worse!

Click to expand...

I did not realise that they last as long as that. Based on your experience and my low mileage this means that my variator should be good for another 10 years!
Rich

Hey Rich,

I just had my Variator replaced at 96 tkms. I don't know when the problem first realised though as it was there when I bought the car (sadly I didn't notice before purchasing). Anyway, it was fixed for around 1500 EUR.

Happy driving lad and best of luck with that variator.

1500.00 Euro

That's taking the pi$$ Merv.

Fraid not Alan... wish I was too... Fiat are all too happy to charge for doing nothing here. As you recall from my other thread, Fiat have charged 2000 EUR for the variator job, replacing the wiper motor and filling the supposed "non leaking" air-con. Now they want 1300 EUR more for the air-con condensator and pipe + labor + gas. I really don't like those guys.

Love my B though

Would it be cheaper to cross the border to sweeden? or even take a ferry to another european country?

merv said:

Fraid not Alan... wish I was too... Fiat are all too happy to charge for doing nothing here. As you recall from my other thread, Fiat have charged 2000 EUR for the variator job, replacing the wiper motor and filling the supposed "non leaking" air-con. Now they want 1300 EUR more for the air-con condensator and pipe + labor + gas. I really don't like those guys.

Love my B though

Click to expand...

Wow, that's eye watering and maybe in the UK we are not being as ripped off as we think. Got a quote on behalf of LRB from my one man band garage to replace variator, timing belt and tensioners and it came to £520. LRB says DTR in London have estimated the cost at £400 so obviously that is where he will be going. To pay the kind of charges you mention must prove that you really are a fan of B's.

Yeps, eye watering stuff indeed guys. I would've considered bringing the car to, for example, Germany or Sweden if indeed I could save money. But alas, I fear that the fuel + ferry ride + fix might just end up being the same price or more difficult. Not to mention language. Although the Swedish do tend to speak fluent English. It's possible to drive to Sweden and Norway via Lapland, but the easiest to get to is Russia . And that place is like the hotel California - "You can enter any time you like, but you can never leave..."

And yes, I love my B.:slayer:

BTW Merv have noticed that we don't have any pics of yours yet so get some added....

merv said:

Yeps, eye watering stuff indeed guys. I would've considered bringing the car to, for example, Germany or Sweden if indeed I could save money. But alas, I fear that the fuel + ferry ride + fix might just end up being the same price or more difficult. Not to mention language. Although the Swedish do tend to speak fluent English. It's possible to drive to Sweden and Norway via Lapland, but the easiest to get to is Russia . And that place is like the hotel California - "You can enter any time you like, but you can never leave..."

And yes, I love my B.:slayer:

Click to expand...

keep driving and you end up in "Hostel" country

It is hard to believe there is only one FIAT garage in Finland... there must be more... And what about independent specialists.. there must be at least one decent greasemonkey in the whole country.

Alternatively, maybe Eesti or Russia might be an idea... some of those russians are born mechanics (must have something to do with fiddling with LADA's for generations)

merv said:

but the easiest to get to is Russia . And that place is like the hotel California - "You can enter any time you like, but you can never leave..."

Click to expand...

Not true The first time I was in Moscow I sat in an arrest at the airport for 12 hours for not having a valid visa (The embassy issued one with the wrong date). The second time there was a blizzard in Moscow (who would have thought ) so the plane was rerouted to Nizhniy-Novgorod where I had to sit on the plane for 4 hours before we could land in Moscow. I was only too happy to leave Mother Russia both times

I had no problems getting into or out of Russia, although Moscow is unbelievably expensive. I was warned to double check all the dates on all the paperwork though!

I don't think my Barchetta's had her variator changed and she's done over 120000km and is 11 years old. OK, so now I've said that we all know what's going to happen.....................

ok quick question my variator has been done before i bought her and have paper work to prove great !!!
so will it need changing again in the future as i thought is was only needed to be done once???
go on enlighten me

:shrug: Maybe, maybe not depends on maintenance schedule re oil condition usage etc is it a quality variator or poor one. Almost impossible to say Karen, Like is my HG going to fail :shrug: :shrug:

As Al says its difficult to say, one way of keeping it clean is to change the oil every 6k miles with a good quality oil and steer away from the magnatec stuff - its not good news for the variator!

will bare that in mind oil was changed at fiat dealer when they serviced it, because of warranty.
whats first signs to watch for?
she is idle erratic at the moment at traffic lights you would swear i was blipping the throttle, and she is ticking over to high, could that be variator?

Na that will be the idle control valve Karen I'm sure you know where it is but if not just ask.

Tell tale signs are a constant rattle from the engine - known as the tractor noise, poor economy and sometimes poor performance, the noise is the biggest give-away