Multipla Glopsy

What are the symptoms? If it's a lethargic starter motor but headlights etc seem ok, it may be worth checking the condition of the earth strap that runs from the starter to the gearbox/engine.

I was in the same position as you a few years ago, marooned at my uncle's in Durham on a very cold winter morning. He called out the local recovery guy, who spotted (with an eagle eye) that there was nothing wrong with the battery or alternator, grabbed a length of heavy duty cable out of his van, fashioned looped ends to it and bolted it twixt cylinder head and battery negative. A couple of turns of the ignition key and my Multi sprang into life, even though it was -6C.

Outwardly, the earth strap in question can look fine but the water gets inside the insulation sleeving and one by one the copper strands let go. You could try a multimeter across it, but as the recovery chap explained it to me, you're not really aware of the problem until a serious current is drawn so I'm not sure a normal meter would show anything up.

Thanks for the reply but I'm fairly confident it's the battery as the trickle charger was registering a drop in battery level throughout the time it was charging. The battery fitted also looks quite old so a replacement is probably due anyway but I'll definitely take a look at the earthing cabling when I swap it out tomorrow.

In that case, it does sound like it'll be the battery that's at fault. BTW - I should have written "the condition of the earth strap that runs from the battery to the gearbox/engine", not starter.

A clever way to diagnose this situation/rule out a bad earth. Put a multimeter between a point on the engine near enough the starter and the -ive on the battery. Try start the car and see what voltage is registered. This will tell you the voltage drop across the earth cable, you will normally lose a volt or 2 across even a good earth... but if the earth is bad, as soon as you start to draw high amperage you will see higher voltage drops across this part of the circuit.
Marty.

Happy New Year all.Finally managed to find some time to fit the new battery this afternoon and she fired up straight away, so that's another job ticked of the list☺

Little update : Still trying to source a grommet for the washer bottle/pump but did finally replace the n/s mirror this afternoon which was a job that's needed doing since I bought her. The old mirror worked but was pretty much being held together with silicone but I now have one that adjusts in all directions electrically as well as folding as it should. Oh the luxury !

Well, today has seen Glopsy get through another MOT with just a couple of advisories for slightly chafed brake flexis, which I'll sort when it warms up outside. Not bad for a £500 Fiat ?

Afternoon all. I knew I shouldn't have got excited about Glopsy getting through another MOT as this morning her NSF spring snapped ?
Luckily it happened just as I was pulling off my driveway but with her filled up with stuff for a dump run. Going to see whether I can get a used complete strut for ease of fitting or just replace the spring.
It never rains with oldish Fiats !

Yeah a replacement strut would certainly be a lot easier.
Just make sure the top mounts look ok in the replacement as they are prone to falling apart. Mine did!... and the springs on the multi are under serious pressure. I managed somehow to use regular winding spring compressors,but I’d not like to have to do it again. Marty.

Cheers Marty. A complete strut would certainly save me time and hassle. The hunt is on.

Slight change of plan. Decided to just get the spring replaced in the end and after reading several accounts of how much tension the front springs are under opted to let our local garage do the job. £160 later and Glopsy is now back on the road. I may start running a book on what goes wonky next !

Aaaahhh the joys of Multiple ownership!! I've dome my alternator earlier this year, can't remember the brand but the original one lasted 5 years and the last one lasted five years! So far this year I've done front discs and pads, both bottom arms, both drop links, o/s track rod end, o/s inner tie rod end, air con re gas and a new a/c pipe, rear shoes and new drums, two of the 4 rear flexes, new oe brake lines at the rear, both rear wheel cylinders, thermostat (that was a pig of a job) a small coolant tube which annoyingly put the car off the road for a week, second hand centre section of exhaust with Flexi. Needs two front tyres and also the knuckle steering uj joint in the steering column has play and rattles over bumps. In my bottom desk draw at work I have a set of brand new baking plates and two rear flexes.. just need time to get them fitted... well what do you expect with 182500 miles on, as I keep telling myself and every one else its cheaper to fix that having a finance agreement!! And we've had it 10 years and has done stuff you would not dream of doing in a normal car including picking up a BMW R100 motor bike but I did have to remove five seats to get it in and it's even been round the Ring in Germany! Happy motoring Glopsy!

And two coolant pipes that go to the oil cooler and they we're £75.00 even with my staff/trade discount!! Fresh coolant, off side front outer cv end joint, one inner and one outer cv boot, near side front wheel bearing, there are probably some other parts but I know its been an expensive year off setting last years £350 spent.

The problem with Glopsy is that my wife and daughters love her and she's become part of the family so I'm duty bound to keep her alive! A recent development has been an intermitant creaking/graunching noise from the nsr which could well be the dreaded bushes giving up, but like you say, she's a 15 year old Fiat with 100k under her wheels.☺

Quick update: Just returned from a 500 mile(ish) roundtrip to Devon which saw Glopsy pass the 99k mark. No real issues apart from the usual intermittent groaning from the rear subframe bushes. Next up is a jaunt up to Pocklington in Yorkshire at the end of the month?

Just returned from a week in Yorkshire with Glopsy and she didn't let us down. She's definitely running smoother following her recent long hauls and with the top box fitted she carried all of my families stuff with ease.She also hit the 100k milestone as we passed by Nottingham on the soaking wet M1.
Looking back, it was our trips to Devon and Yorkshire back in 2015 that saw me purchase Glopsy, with the plan to retire her when we returned.It's Funny how these funny cars become part of the family !

Had a rare day off to myself today so set about a bit of remedial work on Glopsy. First up was to replace the o/s/f drop link to try and cure at least one of the annoying rattles. Had to get the grinder out to get the bottom nut off but the new link is now on and secure. Next up was an oil/oil filter and air filter change. No dramas, Fram air filter, Borg and Beck oil filter and some Q4 oil. Coffee 'o' clock now I reckon before a test run to see if I can notice any difference !

MOT day tomorrow. Fingers crossed !

Congratulations on the Pass!
Is the advisory on the n/s drop link or something else with the ARB?

Thanks,pretty happy with the result. The advisory is for a drop link, which was replaced less than 10k ago but I guess they're classed as regular consumables now. I had just replaced the o/s one for the mot as it was obviously knocking but will sort the n/s one next week.