Hi folks, well as i have just bought a 58,000Croma 1.9 JTD (150) 6 speed Automatic on a "55" plate and looking forward to picking her up from Blackpool on Thursday, We decided to go for her due to price and strangely enough the running gear, i am severely disabled so atm have a Mobility car...namely a Vauxhall Zafira 1.9 CDi, with yes the six speed auto, the engine is obviously the Fiat 1.9 (although only the 120), so was looking for something that was reliable and economical and the Fiat seems to fit that bill nicely, but without some of the problems the Vauxhall has (door sill height, more rolling noise than a "Vulcan" on take-off, & a sound system taken from tin cans and a piece of string), Vauxhall really need to try some soundproofing, now yes i realise if not going to be silent in the Croma BUT..at least i can add SP if needed.

Ok she has only covered 58,000 miles warranted from new but the service book did not have a timing belt change marked so I have made them put a new one on prior to collection (full kit), so should not have to worry about that for a few years .

We are looking at boot covers now , we need one that folds out over the rear bumper for when we take the powerchair in and out of the vehicle as the motors on it can scrape the paint and cause chips ..

Anyway peeps, nice to meet you all and look forward to many years of motoring with you all.

welcome to the forum make sure they change water pump when they do the belt

dave said:

welcome to the forum make sure they change water pump when they do the belt

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Yep, its being checked and changed at the same time.

And the tensioners.

Spoke to the Dealer today and he stated the belt and tensioners were changed out, the water pump was not though as it had absolutely no play or wobbles, £200 fitted, and it was a belt kit that was fitted , picking her up tomorrow, this will be the first Fiat i have owned in over 24 years..lol, last was a Mirafiori (spelling).

I am getting an Alternator and EGR just in case but i am also seriously thing of having the DPF removed and part blanking the EGR as well as a remap so eliminating the limp home function, any pointers as to good dealers / garages to carry it out.

As usual all or any advice will be gratefully received

the water pumps are the week part no matter what dealer says you should always insist they change it, its only £30 extra to do with the belt,

Yep, well he was told to check and change it, so if it fails i have the messages from the convo, and the credit card will get a chargeback, he will get a dead car back.

I wouldn't bother changing the alternator. Just leave it to pop in its own time. As we're finding out, the alternator seems to go every few 10,000 miles, so it's not just an issue with the original. We need to find a permanent solution to this one.

The same goes for the DPF and EGR valve - just leave them until they break. It's pretty easy to look in the EGR valve to see whether the seal's gone. If not just leave it.

It sounds like you've had a good read on here, so are thinking it's all about to pack in. They're not that bad really - you just see all the faults together on this forum.

lol, yeah, not really happy with the dealer not changing the water pump now, but will just have to hope all is well for a while until i can get it changed again, committed now to picking her up tomorrow (costings with train tickets). its due for its yearly service in August so will see if i can find an indy to do the lot again then, anyone know of any good ones in Herefordshire / Worcestershire or Shropshire ?.

Its always the way with forums that problems are posted, but a quick check on other car makers web sites / clubs balances it all out..lol, you get good cars and Friday afternoon cars . Fingers crossed for mine

Welcome to the forum

Oh aye, welcome to the wonderful world of Croma ownership!

We await your thoughts on what you think to it. We're all always interested in what you paid too.

Just got home with her, interesting car , averaged 45.7mpg over high speed motorway and slow A49 driving, faultless, soooo quiet compared to the Zafira, really good mid range power..40-70mph, really good power from start if needed, only had a hiccup in Leominster, started her up again after picking up a Kebab (as you do) and the power steering light (Red) was on, remembering some chat here i just turned the key off again..restarted and lo and behold the gremlin had left , everything works as it should including the sun dome roof, the only thing that spoils her atm is the plastic button for the radio on/off has broken off (by the dealer).. , one thing i did notice was the temperature was still at the first double marked on the gauge, soon as you booted her for overtake she went up a few bars on the gauge, is that normal ??.. anyway she a 55 plate and cost £2950 with 56950 on the clock.

Roadhoguk said:

one thing i did notice was the temperature was still at the first double marked on the gauge, soon as you booted her for overtake she went up a few bars on the gauge, is that normal ??..

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no should go to half and stay there

ok, thermostat will be sorted asap.

Roadhoguk said:

the only thing that spoils her atm is the plastic button for the radio on/off has broken off

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CD radio on / off knob:

Fiat Auto part number
71746371

I recently paid 8 pounds for one.

Wow, think i will just buy a new radio / CD / MP3 and sat nav unit later, live with that for the moment, serious question, should i be worried about the power steering light appearing on the way home (then disappearing when restarted), car was sold with no faults.

how far had you driven before you found the pas light come on?
if it had sat at dealers for a long time and only driven a short distance, it may just have been low battery power, but i would atleast register the problem with the people you got it off,

it had been driven for about 130miles home, BUT while near home my wife went to get the Kebab, i was turning on and off the ignition key to sort the sped limit beep and time on the multifunction display, just started it long enough to get rid of the press brake and turn key message that obliterated the display i needed to see to alter the settings, so it may just have been that a few quick starts had go the battery down enough i hope to trigger a fault, after i started the engine and noticed the light, tying the steering and then thinking about WTF for a min or 3 that i turned her off, back on again and the light had gone out and the steering was working...does that make sense ??.

i'd get code read whilst you can still make some one else pay if it does show up a bad fault

this took all my money to buy, so cannot afford to get a code read for at least a fortnight (disabled with RA osteo and polymitis), but if any of you happen to live near Leominster that have a reader you would be willing to hook up to her i would drive up to you and give for a £10 note for you troubles.. bit cheeky i know but i have limited options tbh..