General My New HGT

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General My New HGT

F1ANG

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Hey peeps :)

Well after a 500 mile round trip I've finally got the car. Overall im happy, however I have to admit I was a tad bit disappointed on arrival of viewing it.

Lets get the bad bits out the way first..
Exterior:
Firstly the body work wasn't everything the owner described it to be, it has a rather nasty ding/dent on the boot lid, where apparently ladders fell against it. The front bumper has a pretty large scuff where another car has brushed past it, whilst it was parked up. Has a couple of other chips/scratches which tbh aren't overly bad for a 12yr old car, wheels were quite corroded and it has the famous deteriorating door handles :bang: I do detailing in my spare time and am pretty fussy to be fair.

Interior:
Both heated seats don't work :(
Various scratches to passenger side a-pillar trim, And both rear inner door cards.
Central locking+key fob doesn't work

Engine bay:
Bonnet holder clip is snapped, so it doesn't fold down and clip into place without using two hands.
Air-con doesn't blow cold.
Engine feels flat as a 1.0l and has a very loud ticking noise?

Ok, so it has it's niggles.. Ive bought and delt with worse, and it's nothing that cant be fixed with a little tlc :)

Ok onto the good bits.
The car has full service history (i mean loads) every mot, every bill including a recent one for £883.00 from motormech 3k miles ago... Bonus!
79k genuine miles, backed by m.o.t's
All 3 keys including red key
The car is 99%rust free, body and shassis
Feels very tight to drive
Addictive 5 pot engine note/sound...... You know what im talking about :D

In this last day ive fixed the central locking, fixed the temperamental key fob, raplaced the maf (HUGE performance increase!) got a quote from my bodyshop guy to sort rear ding and bumper scuff and gave the car a full detail.

The car was advertised for £950, I tried to get him down for it's problems but after him showing me the bill for 883 quid, he said he wouldn't sell for less than the amount of the bill, I ended up taking the car for £875. Ive since done 500 faultless miles and am reasonably happy with the car.

My main concern right now is a loud engine ticking noise, coming from within the head, not sure if it's a sticking bucket or something like that?? It ticks to the speed of the engine, faster I rev the faster the tick... Does it with the clutch dipped etc so definatley a engine tick, anybody got any ideas? Engine runs sweet as a nut, it's just annoying!

Things I plan to do first.
Polly head lights (current lights are like candles)
Door handles ASAP
Bodywork sorted out

I'll stick a load of photos up now.

Thanks. Angelo.
 
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Re: my new hgt

Advert photos
 

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Re: my new hgt

Day I bought it.
 

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Re: my new hgt

Back home, after some tlc and a bath :) just a shame I never had any sunshine to make the pics look half decent.

Oh and that bill.... Ouch!
 

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Re: my new hgt

Congratulations, :D For the ticking I think Id look into the variator thats on the inlet camshaft and maybe take the rocker cover off and have a general visual check inside. I do not like the way the water pump was not replaced during that cambelt change.

Its a shame about that damage to the boot lid, at least its not the quaters though. That passenger A-Pillar trim just clips off so shouldnt be hard to replace, Mk1 and Mk2 are a different colour plastic.

Is it still a bit flat after the Maf change?

After seeing all the pics im so so jealous you don't have a sunroof ;) Cant wait for updates and pics as you progress
 
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Re: my new hgt

I thought my 155 HLX Weekend had something wrong with the engine.
Really bad noise until around 4500rpm.
Turned out to be comination of alternator rear end bearing (2mm of play and rotor was bouncing on the armature until spinning centered it), PS pump bearing and the tensioners.
Easy check is to get the pulley off the cam end.


Does the tick change when the engine is cold/hot?
I think the variator should stop making noises when it gets oil, it is the return spring that fails and leaves it loose.
I assume it has good 40 weight oil in it?

Also: old waterpump :(
 
There's nothing like a project :D does the ticking noise sound like a diesel? if it does it is almost certainly the vatiator which would coincide with it being flat as a 1.0 as it controls the inlet camshaft and is probably all out of timing. I believe there about £150 from fiat (just the part) but its a head off job.

The heated seats could either be a fuse or a relay? Seems funny that they both don't work you see

Other than the boot l'ld say that's a nice looking car you have there :)
 
Good to see it's with you now and is basically a sound project that is already making progress.

The ticking could well be the variator, and a possible reason the car was sold? I wouldn't wet my pants about the water pump not being changed... it clearly says on the bill that it was checked so it's either the original in good working order, or it may have been done in the past (check the records?) In any case if / when you doyour engine swap it will be easy to do with the engine out.

I'm sure you'll get through the various jobs fine.. it would be nice to get it running perfectly in its current standard state and just enjoy it and use it, before you spend time and money on upgrades.

I'm sure you're itching to bolt your big wheels on, or can you wait?
 
Thanks alot for your help and replys guys :)

Ok, I replaced the MAF yesterday and the car felt alot better, but then when I started the car this morning it was horrendous! Jerking as if it was running out of fuel, it was also missing on 1 cylinder intermittently, and that tick was so much louder!.. So that was it, I had to get to the bottom of this!!

For some reason PLUGS popped into my head! Then After checking all the history the only plug change I found was in 2002 lol!

Got back home after getting the plugs and got right on it, after taking the cover off, and coil packs out I noticed cylinders 2 to 4 had quite alot of oil around the plug (obviously dripping down from the rocker gasket) on taking them out, they felt horrible! I literally had to use the ratchet untill the very last thread! Luckily the threads were undamaged... Phew!

4 of the plugs we're very oily, but the big shock came when I pulled no.1 out, the little metal bits were both completely missing as if they had snapped off, that made me feel sick lol! I've yet to stick a bore camera down there and check for any damage! I used a torch and couldn't see anything on the piston. I'm hoping the bits that broke off have cleared the valves and just got fired streight into the exhaust! I honestly don't know how it was still firing!

After cleaning the plug holes, sticking the new plugs in, I fired it up and fu**ing YES!! The tick was gone :D

Took it for a quick blast and was like a new car, now im in love!

I have a little confession to make.. To try and save a bit of money a bought a new, yet un-genuine maf from ebay, turns out the car doesn't like it, at all. It strangely made it better at first up top (after 4.5k revs) but worse everywhere else! I've cleaned the bosh maf and put it back on for now, while I save for a new bosh one. The car really feels great, has alot more power (im still not convinced I'm getting every one of those 155hp's mind) and is silky smooth to drive. So I'm happy now :)

Does anybody know if the standard fiat exhaust is restrictive? It has the full genuine fiat system.
Regarding the water pump, it was last changed in 2004 30k ago, according to this recipt, so it has had one. I'll be keeping a close eye on it.

In pic 7 the main fuel pipe to injector rail looked as if it has a tiny leak behing the sheeve? Is this commen? It was wet underneath it and around the injector.

Thanks again for your help and comments.

Oh... And check your plugs people (y)

Chuffed
 

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0280218019 I assume, I should have the same engine: 182B7
Around £90 mark.

Gains from new less restrictive exhaust are mainly the sound (but you could just do the airbox mod) and lightweight wallet (weight reduction++).
 
Damn i was typing sparkplugs in my last post and removed it before posting :p. After seeing that spark plug, Id be tempted to get a compression test done on the engine. If the guys that changed the cambelt did it by the book cylinder 1 spark plug would have been removed to fit a top dead centre guage to time the cambelt so that spark plug must have been ok at that time.

I would also change the oil and filter as soon as possible probably before driving it again since the excess unburnt petrol in the first cylinder will have gotten into the engine oil.

You should get a rocker cover gasket and the little spark plug O ring gaskets, oil on the plugs probably deteriorates them plus an electrician told me oil conducts electricity.
7715492.jpg

I have no input on the fuel pipe, never seen it up close and perosonal myself. Looks like its sat a bit far back, maybe pushing it on and putting a little fuel pipe jubilee on lightly will sort it. Check the other end of the hose to see if its been messed with.

Never had success with non-genuine budget sensors/electrical parts myself and vowed never to waste money on them again.
 
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Yep.

Airbox mod was the first thing I did lol, I cut the whole bottom of, about half way down so I was still able to use the origional mounting points, with an air saw and put a fine mesh over it, the induction raw is pretty loud now. Do people keep the cold air feed ducting to the airbox, or just ditch it?
 
Many thanks Adrian :)

Wise advice mate. I'm just at work now, I'll be back on tonight with my reply.

Thanks (y)
 
For the injector leak, checked it is fuel?
Had to replace injector on my 1.6 and I could not get it to seal, it would dump fuel everywhere.
Swapped the O-ring from original and all good.

The problem would be sourcing the O-rings, they are 2-3mm thick with small diameter, normal O-ringsets do not have them.
Changing them is not a bad job as you can access the fuelrail unlike on 1.6.

Which plugs are the new ones?
I remember having 4 electrode bosch ones and fiat recommends normal 1 electrode plugs (which I fitted).
 
Damn i was typing sparkplugs in my last post and removed it before posting :p. After seeing that spark plug, Id be tempted to get a compression test done on the engine. If the guys that changed the cambelt did it by the book cylinder 1 spark plug would have been removed to fit a top dead centre guage to time the cambelt so that spark plug must have been ok at that time.

I would also change the oil and filter as soon as possible probably before driving it again since the excess unburnt petrol in the first cylinder will have gotten into the engine oil.

You should get a rocker cover gasket and the little spark plug O ring gaskets, oil on the plugs probably deteriorates them plus an electrician told me oil conducts electricity.
View attachment 121777

I have no input on the fuel pipe, never seen it up close and perosonal myself. Looks like its sat a bit far back, maybe pushing it on and putting a little fuel pipe jubilee on lightly will sort it. Check the other end of the hose to see if its been messed with.

Never had success with non-genuine budget sensors/electrical parts myself and vowed never to waste money on them again.

Yeah thanks mate, I don't want to do a compression test, because I don't want to know if it's bad lol! The car feels amazing right now, really smooth and once it gets to 4.8k the engine note changes and it does fairly take off!... Well for what it is! I'm going to do an oil and filter change in the morning, and the gasket/o rings if they have it in stock and just run it as it is for now. Starting to feel the old love I had for my last bravo (black hgt 155). :)
 
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For the injector leak, checked it is fuel?
Had to replace injector on my 1.6 and I could not get it to seal, it would dump fuel everywhere.
Swapped the O-ring from original and all good.

The problem would be sourcing the O-rings, they are 2-3mm thick with small diameter, normal O-ringsets do not have them.
Changing them is not a bad job as you can access the fuelrail unlike on 1.6.

Which plugs are the new ones?
I remember having 4 electrode bosch ones and fiat recommends normal 1 electrode plugs (which I fitted).

Thanks bud, I'll bare that in mind, and give it a good look over tomorrow.

The new plugs I was given have three electrodes? And are NGK.

Thanks
 
If fuel (petrol) lines are leaking you will smell it. What with oil leaking from the cam covers as well you are driving a pretty major fire risk ...........

I would have checked plugs when viewing the car as they tell you a lot, then when purchased changed oil and filter as a matter of course. Would also change cam belt, tensioner bearing and water pump. Have you checked the brake discs and pads, shock absorbers? What condition is the front subframe in?
 
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If fuel (petrol) lines are leaking you will smell it. What with oil leaking from the cam covers as well you are driving a pretty major fire risk ...........

I would have checked plugs when viewing the car as they tell you a lot, then when purchased changed oil and filter as a matter of course. Would also change cam belt, tensioner bearing and water pump. Have you checked the brake discs and pads, shock absorbers? What condition is the front subframe in?

I would agree in saying in an ideal world I should gave the car a more thorough inspection, however I wasn't planning on turning up 250 mile later, in the pissing rain, dragging my tool kit out and starting to pull his car to bits outside the guys house lol.

I did climb underneath it, test drove it 10 mile, handling wise the car was very neat and tight to drive, suspension all looked sound from underneath. There was very slight surface corrosion on the subframe, and that was the only corrosion I could find on the whole car. Front disks/pads were brand new. Rear ones were fine, and the brakes felt spot on and very responsive.

First thing I done was change the plugs, and the very next day I changed the oil, filter and rocker gasket. Have never once smelt fuel, but I did put a jubilee clip on as Adrian suggested, and there has being no more visually wet patches underneath that pipe since.

Tha car is now running as if it was brand new, and im well happy with it. I wouldn't change the cambelt etc as you suggested, as it was done less than 4k ago, I've also spoke to motor-mech to confirm this. Changing again would be a total waste of time and money. Water pump was checked by a specialist and ill be keeping an eye on it.

Thanks.
 
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Tried the 16's on for size today, to see what they'd look like. I'm not too keen tbh, I think they look too big and too wide. Im just going to refurb the standard alloys and stick with them I reckon.
 

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I agree, they sit too far out and look oversized. Your standard wheels are my favourite for the Bravo HGT. Cars looking good though (y)
Tried the 16's on for size today, to see what they'd look like. I'm not too keen tbh, I think they look too big and too wide. Im just going to refurb the standard alloys and stick with them I reckon.
 
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