Just gave the 4x4 it's first oil and filter change (2,926 miles) I won't be reporting every service but as this was the first (I change the oil on all my cars every 3,000 miles) I thought I would post it. The Biggest part of it was getting the steel belly pan off. "It weighs a tonne". I thought it would be made of plastic but it has definately been made to protect the engine/gearbox over some very rough terrain. It's held with 6 13mm bolts and you have to remove 2 plastic covers over the front bolts held on by self tappers. I would strongly suggest to owners of a 4x4 is to take the bolts out and put plenty of copper ease on them along with the 4 self tappers, as it could prove hard to get off once water etc gets in on the act.
The oil and filter change is a 10 minute job. You do need a strap or chain to take the filter off as there's no room for a filter remover that goes on the end of the filter due to the exhaust shield being so close to the filter.

Excellent advice, thanks, mine's going in for a service soon so I'll ask the highly trained Fiat mecahnics to do this for me.

Do you not invalidate the warrantly by changing the oil yourself? The first "Fiat" service is not due until 14K miles?

Is there any real benefits of changing oil at 3,000 mile intervals?

to answer both questions.

Yes I'm sure if the dealer really wanted to they could find a way of riggling out the warranty.

I do almost 1,000 miles a month which is a mixture of motorway driving and then slow moving through Belfast city every day, so the engine is always operating at high temp. This does have an effect on thining oil out.

I've been round cars all my days and have been fortunate enough to have raced, rally'd and own old classics. Through the experience of this I have never had a single engine problem, (looks round and touches wood quickly) which I put down to having clean oil and clean filter keeping the oilways clean and clear.

I intend keeping the Panda for a very long time so want to make sure it's in the best health possible.... plus I'm just really fussy about who cares for my cars and always have things like timing belts changed sooner than reccommended, (learnt that from owning Alfas). If I do the work I know it's been done properly and no YTP has been asked to do it during his/her work experience. No offence to YTP's

Basically I call it preventative maintainence!

Hope this helps explain why.

i have seen the insides of engines that i have servised that have had 3 oil changes for 4500 miles for example ie checking tapets excetra and they do stay remarkably clean compared to regular 12/14k servised examples i do the same with my uno changing it about every 5000 miles their is method in it not entirely madness

by doing so i recon ou will increase the engine life to the point were the car will rust away before it dies then again that fact is true for later unos anyway

Great news. Do you know if it's possible to change the oil on the 4x4 without taking the engine guard/bash plate off?

From what Stuart said it's not likel to be a five minute job on a Sunday morning. .....


At 6000 miles (in a year) the oil on my car is now looking a little treacly, It's in for a service next week but I'd like to change the oil every six months myself.


There's endless stuff on the web about automotive oils, one long term test backed up by lab results showed that even with fully synthetic oil, viscosity actually increased with age which suprised everyone. The protective additives decreased of course. The testers had the lab results showing that most of the wear on a new engine came from camshaft and crank bearings, with very few wear metal deposits coming from pistons, cylinders or anywhere else. I think the car they used had a seperate transmission so there were no bits of gearbox floating round in the oil.

I've asked the Fiat dealer to lube up the bolts on the bashplate as per Stuarts post, thanks for that.

Funnily enough I went out and bought a pump thingy (I'll get the name for you) that has a tube you put down the dipstick hole into the sump and it sucks the oil out.
Most of the garages use them these days. Costs around £40. I'm told though that if you have a car with really old oil it can leave gunk in the sump. Problem with the Panda 4x4 though is getting the oil filter off.

when i service new cars with 12000 miles on and i can still see litle bits of gunk coming out with the oil not sure what they are have never caught one to see

so i whouldnt recomend a pump that goes down the dipstick as they wont get rid of these little particles


that oil geting thicker fing dosnt suprise me

i have seen oil so thick it wont come out when you take out the drain plug
that was in an uno diesel 1.3
althou after it was all cleaned out and run for 100 miles with that oil system cleaner stuff not sure what it was caled it was fine the guy only came in for oil change cos his oil light was on he believed this was the signal to change the oil idiot he hadnt changed the oil in 10 years and the car had done 360000 miles

testiment to a solid engine

Stuartl said:

Funnily enough I went out and bought a pump thingy (I'll get the name for you) that has a tube you put down the dipstick hole into the sump and it sucks the oil out.
Most of the garages use them these days. Costs around £40. I'm told though that if you have a car with really old oil it can leave gunk in the sump. Problem with the Panda 4x4 though is getting the oil filter off.

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Have used one of these vaccuum pumps for years, with the oil really hot it sucks it out quickly. I would not worry about the "gunk in the sump" with oil changes as you mention. In fact, I think it clears the sump better, you can hear it `sucking`as it gets the last dregs out, If you then take the sump plug out, no oil comes out. Thats enough for me.
Regards