Hi, I’m both a new Fiat owner and new to the site! I have dreamt of owning a classic Fiat 500 for over 20 years and a few weeks ago drove a 1800km round trip to collect one from Italy.
The car is in a good restored condition and was running with no problems when I collected it. However since it’s 15 hour bone rattling journey back on the trailer I haven’t been able to get it to run. It had trouble starting and we only got it running by jump-starting it. Thinking that the battery was flat I bought a battery charger and charged it overnight. The second issue was that the indicators were not working which I put down to a loose connection. I also bought a multimeter to check the electrics. This morning I reattached the battery, cleaning and oiling the connections as I did so. I discovered a few loose electrical connections on one of the front bulbs and after reattaching them the indicators worked… but only for a few minutes before being unresponsive again. ? I checked all the fuses with the meter and they are all fine. I can’t find any loose connections and all the lights work. ( except the indicators.) now the windscreen wipers don’t work! ( which were ok if not crazy slow before) and the engine won’t even turn over and is totally dead even with a jump start.
So, all in all I’ve managed to make things worse. My question is, are the ignition problems, indicators and the wipers connected and it’s primarily electrical issues or are there multiple things going on? What would you advise I look at-do next? I’ve imported it but it needs to pass it’s test before I can even get number plates and insurance. I’m prepared to take it to a mechanic if it’s complicated but have the patience and enthusiasm to try myself if it’s not too tricky. Many thanks.
The car is in a good restored condition and was running with no problems when I collected it. However since it’s 15 hour bone rattling journey back on the trailer I haven’t been able to get it to run. It had trouble starting and we only got it running by jump-starting it. Thinking that the battery was flat I bought a battery charger and charged it overnight. The second issue was that the indicators were not working which I put down to a loose connection. I also bought a multimeter to check the electrics. This morning I reattached the battery, cleaning and oiling the connections as I did so. I discovered a few loose electrical connections on one of the front bulbs and after reattaching them the indicators worked… but only for a few minutes before being unresponsive again. ? I checked all the fuses with the meter and they are all fine. I can’t find any loose connections and all the lights work. ( except the indicators.) now the windscreen wipers don’t work! ( which were ok if not crazy slow before) and the engine won’t even turn over and is totally dead even with a jump start.
So, all in all I’ve managed to make things worse. My question is, are the ignition problems, indicators and the wipers connected and it’s primarily electrical issues or are there multiple things going on? What would you advise I look at-do next? I’ve imported it but it needs to pass it’s test before I can even get number plates and insurance. I’m prepared to take it to a mechanic if it’s complicated but have the patience and enthusiasm to try myself if it’s not too tricky. Many thanks.
