Does anyone do their own routine servicing anymore? Thought id do an oil change on our 05 multijet as it was over a year since last service. First problem was finding the filter.Was looking under car with a mirror when daughters boyfriend who works at a fiat van dealer as a technician pointed to metal cover on top of engine which I had assumed to be part of the aircon and told me it was under that. Bought a 27mm surface drive socket as I thought a 12 point one might damage the plastic housing also a 12mm hexagon sump plug tool. Went to new local fiat dealer and bought a filter and sump washer (about 14 pounds).They didnt seem very interested in selling me any oil. Looking at previous service invoices fiat dealer had used semi synthetic oil wheras handbook seems to advise a fully synthetic 5w40 oil along with the guide at halfords where I bought 4 litres of castrol edge turbodiesel for just under 39 pounds.
When I unscrewed the filter housing I found I had got the wrong filter.Looked at service invoices again to find the right part no. which I should have done in the 1st place.Luckily I hadnt let the oil out yet.Nor did I need the sump washer as ours has a tapered plug.Now Ive got the tools and the part nos job will be a piece of cake in the future.

I'll be doing my own servicing on my 4x4 when the warranty expires in 2 weeks. In fact even within the warranty period I've done brake pad and disc replacements because Fiat dealers just charge too much.
I'm lucky that my 1.2 petrol engine will use 10W40 semi synth oil which is not too expensive. That 5W40 Synth is expensive! A1 Motor Stores do 5L of Millers oil in that grade for £33.99 so if you have one of those near you that may save you a bit next time. In addition, I've never felt the need to buy oil filters at the dealers, I find a good motor factors usually supply decent filters from reliable makers at much lower cost.
Still, you are saving all those Fiat dealer labour costs. In addition, a lot of the checks made at routine servicing are covered by the MOT which you have to pay for already.
Watch those front discs, they wear down below the wear limit as fast as the pads in my experience.

After many years of spannering both as a hobby and professionally I must just say that the single most important item to the long life of your engine is the oil - both the quality of it and the frequency of change.

Modern diesel engines need a very good quality oil as they are built to much higher tollerances than in years gone...

Fiat Multijet engines must only use 5w-40 oil to the following specs; ACEA B4, API CF and FIAT 9.55535-M2.

I buy the genuine oil from my Fiat dealer - SELENIA WR 5w-40 and it cost 29.40 for a 4 litre can. This is cheaper than some of the aftermarket oils that do not meet the correct spec's.

Our Panda Multijet is now showing approx 53,000 miles and the engine sounds perfect. Oil and filter changes every 10,000 miles.

Just checked the invoice for oil change done by fiat dealer on my 9 month old doblo and noted that they used castrol oil.I wonder why they dont use the fiat oil. Mind you the same basic engine is used in vauxhalls abd suzukis and soon I believe the new ford ka. I suppose they will recommend their own oils.Must admit I normally use the makers oil myself and I would never use an aftermarket oil or fuel filter.

dobloseven said:

Just checked the invoice for oil change done by fiat dealer on my 9 month old doblo and noted that they used castrol oil

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what grade?

5w4 0 its a 1.9 120 by the way.

Hi,

On my 2007 Panda Multijet the cover over the filter appears to be plastic with a plastic type plug looking thing in the top of it, can anyone please tell me how to remove it without breaking it,

I assum the filter is underneath this cover is there any special things I need to know before removing ot replacing the filter

Any help and advice would be welcome

Thanks
Brian

Hi, Just an update,

I have removed the cover, it is actually metal with a plastic top but I couldn't see that until i had removed it, there are 2 star headed set bolts and one nut that need removing to free the cover and then it is clipped onto the top of the filter housing so it needs a reasonable pull to actually remove it, I didn't need to use anything to prise it just a reasonable firm upwards pull did it.

The filter housing needs as said before a 27mm socket to undo it

hope that helps someone.

Brian

enodreven said:

Hi,

On my 2007 Panda Multijet the cover over the filter appears to be plastic with a plastic type plug looking thing in the top of it, can anyone please tell me how to remove it without breaking it,

I assum the filter is underneath this cover is there any special things I need to know before removing ot replacing the filter

Any help and advice would be welcome

Thanks
Brian

Click to expand...

enodreven said:

Hi,

On my 2007 Panda Multijet the cover over the filter appears to be plastic with a plastic type plug looking thing in the top of it, can anyone please tell me how to remove it without breaking it,

I assum the filter is underneath this cover is there any special things I need to know before removing ot replacing the filter

Any help and advice would be welcome

Thanks
Brian

Click to expand...

Just to put a little light on the subject here it is in an eper view..




Canister that holds the filter is number 4 and the throw away filter is number 5..its very much like the GM system and will need a socket to fit the nut on the top of the canister..but make sure you drain the sump before you unscrew the canister so the oil in it will drain back to the sump as you empty it..

2 types of filter (you cant tell until you physically look at old one) bet you get wrong one.

Anyway you can go by chassis number on this T14..?

tried that

best bet is to get both filters & say you will return the one you dont need.

Hi,

I know I have done it already, but a great big thank you for the exploded view, its really helpful, my filter was the short one with the 8 little lugs on top end.

Thanks
Brian

PNL said:

Just to put a little light on the subject here it is in an eper view..

Canister that holds the filter is number 4 and the throw away filter is number 5..its very much like the GM system and will need a socket to fit the nut on the top of the canister..but make sure you drain the sump before you unscrew the canister so the oil in it will drain back to the sump as you empty it..

Click to expand...

Z11 said:

I buy the genuine oil from my Fiat dealer - SELENIA WR 5w-40 and it cost 29.40 for a 4 litre can.
Our Panda Multijet is now showing approx 53,000 miles and the engine sounds perfect. Oil and filter changes every 10,000 miles.

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how much does oil does the MJ engine take please...?

About 4 litres from memory, I seem to have a fairly bit left in the bottom of my two previous oil change purchases.

Which incidently are straight from a Fiat dealer, I got Tutella 5W30 the first time and 10W40 the second time.

This I was told was what they put in all the cars they service but I then got blanked when I asked which of the 2 incorrect oils I have was the one they used.

Still our car seems to be running on it fine other than a slightly sticky egr.

I get mine done twice a year short stint over winter & long over summer, now its out of warranty I will be taking it over the annual mileage & just getting it serviced & MOTd annually. Not got a lot of faith in longer intervals turbo diedels work the oils hard. Found a decent Fiat dealer so Im sticking with them (Walkers South Otterington), had a 1.6 Fiesta a few years ago wouldd be noisy at startup once 6K was up cured by a quick oil change. I reckon £50 well spent if it keeps the motor right any thoughts?

pondweed said:

how much does oil does the MJ engine take please...?

Click to expand...

3 litres including the filter change.