julzgeraghty said:

My mechanic says that this engine is used in Corsas and Astras as well and has a history of early failures. He'd usually expect them to go for 250k miles without a problem. The car is back on the road but I don't know the full details of what was damaged yet.

Click to expand...

Hi.
Glad it's up and running again. I was reading one of the motor trade mags my mate gives me to read and the MJ was mentioned regarding chain failures and Fiat blamed the oil, allegedly some mods have also been done during the engines life. It's not just Fiat and the supply of engines to GM in Europe, the MG3 & others have chain issues. If you look at a modern chain its about half the width of chains of days gone by. The old chains were duplex and of a decent size of pitch but not so now. I think that they should either revert to a belt, fit stronger chains or make the chain part of normal service replacement.

There's a reason why several manufacturers have moved back to belts from chains. Chains sound great in principle - attention-free for the life of the car - but they're an expensive pain if/when they go wrong. Of course, it would help if the cost-cutters didn't insist that the chains - and the all-important tensioners - are made as cheaply as possible, and if the engines were designed so that the chains could be quickly and easily checked/replaced.

Hi.
The BMW 2002 & most of those engines of similar had a long duplex chain but with a link remover and two bits of string a new chain could be linked to the old one and with an assistant the engine slowly rotated and the new one fitted. The new one had a replaceable link. Worked fine and I never had any problems. The old chain would stretch and insufficient tensioner pressure made them noisy so you knew it was time to get the spanners out. You'd be at 150k miles though

Many of the small 3 cylinder Vauxhall’s (petrol) when they reach almost ten years old have such a loud chain rattle you’d be forgiven for thinking they were Diesels. No exaggeration!!!

I phoned Vauxhall in my area once about my mum’s 04 1.0 Corsa that was at 92,000 miles. I asked about chain replacement and he told me ‘Well, 100,000 miles is about the life expectancy of those engines’ ... BS much? I certainly have more faith in them than only 100,000... must have wanted me to buy a new car from them lol

Yeah, you see (or should I say hear!) so many seriously ropey sounding ageing Vauxhalls. Is it just the 12V engine that has the dodgy chain, or is it the 1.2 as well? My parents have a 2006 Corsa 1.2 Twinport, and wonder if that could potentially start sounding very poorly at around 60-70k.

puntofan01 said:

Yeah, you see (or should I say hear!) so many seriously ropey sounding ageing Vauxhalls. Is it just the 12V engine that has the dodgy chain, or is it the 1.2 as well? My parents have a 2006 Corsa 1.2 Twinport, and wonder if that could potentially start sounding very poorly at around 60-70k.

Click to expand...

Well my mum got hers in 09, with 60k on it. But back then I had no idea or interest in cars and she still doesn’t! It died in 2015 when 6 years had elapsed since it had an oil change or coolant change .. head gasket.

But it made a LOT of noise. Though I must admit I did like the little thing. Wish I knew what I knew about cars now.

Sounds like it did well to last as long as it did then, lol!

But another Corsa off the road has got to be a plus, yeah? So in fact, by neglecting the wretched thing, she was really just doing her duty as a public-spirited citizen. Chalk one up for SB1500's mum! :woot:

gar074 said:

But another Corsa off the road has got to be a plus, yeah? So in fact, by neglecting the wretched thing, she was really just doing her duty as a public-spirited citizen. Chalk one up for SB1500's mum! :woot:

Click to expand...

Yes, it’s like a service to the public haha

I love the Fiat Forum lol!

You can usually tell from the sound of an engine when it needs attention - however how do you know when a Twin Air is ropey? Does it suddenly become quieter and smoother?

gar074 said:

But another Corsa off the road has got to be a plus, yeah? So in fact, by neglecting the wretched thing, she was really just doing her duty as a public-spirited citizen. Chalk one up for SB1500's mum! :woot:

Click to expand...

There's cars far more deserving of premature death than Corsas, lol!

Nothing, the car is enjoying the rain.

The Pretender said:

Nothing, the car is enjoying the rain.

Click to expand...

How's it been since the repair?

JCarp16 said:

How's it been since the repair?

Click to expand...

No more faults so far.
They cleaned the UniAir and replaced the Oil Temp Sensor.
So it should be in perfect working order.

Replaced the rear shocks as the top bushes were fubared, and was going to replace the sump too but gave up on it halfway after disintegrating exhaust brackets and rubbish access sapped my willpower - had it up on ramps and my ageing bones weren't enjoying lying down on concrete. Now booked in for Tuesday, so that should sort out the car for now.

Another early-morning cup of tea self-ejected from the sodding useless so-called cup holder, this time all over the briefcase in the passenger footwell rather than my left leg. Why does Fiat try so hard to make me despise this car?

Well, yesterday. My 3 week old Panda booked in for Tuesday for hot start problem. Not amused to be honest. My TA 4x4 never had this problem despite being run on just oil changes the last 2 years. Going to dealer bought off as my local dealer doesn't do Fiat anymore. Loan car either Fiat, Nissan, Hyundai or Kia. Should be fun.

Panda 2012 29K miles

Bashed the back drums off today to check the state of the rear brakes.
All OK as it happens, just a wash out with brake cleaner.

What I did notice is that a lump of road muck had found a way arround the plastic wheel arch liners and was sat in the rear of the sill just in front of
the rear wheels.
Scraped out the soggy muck and gave a liberal coating of wax oil.
It's this very collection of damp muck that rotted the wheel arches of my deceased
Seicento....

Onwards and upwards

Phil

Picking it up in 90 mins or so. They can't find a fault. The £16k Kia Rio been given is lovely (except for the mpg and the seats). So will be glad to get my car back.

Due to a colleague's misfortune, stuffing their 500 TA, I managed to turn this


Into this


For free!