OK, overall i am very pleased with new panda... just a few things i want to throw out there to see what comes back...

Drove the little thing from Accrington to Lancaster this evening... needed it's legs stretched anyway... the carb had week old fuel in it and started off complaining but started it did. quick stop for fuel as it had nearly none... gear selection is a little hit and miss as the gearstick doesn't seem to be fixed to anything and wallows around after changes... looks like it's been fixed in place with bungee cord underneath somewhere.

The 4x4 system seems to complain when engaged especially at the back... something is possibly seized or needing some attention... anyone got a likely culprit?

other than that it has a little rust (the door, bonnet and boot will be changed anyway) and has got a railer hitch with full electrics.

well worth £250, i am happy for a day or so

i'll post some pics tomorrow after i have hovered the interior and swapped the bonnet to the one Alan kindly supplied me.

The UJ Joint on the prop shaft can sieze if not greased annually but more often is better. Just before the rear diff the joint has a grease nipple that you can plug a grease gun into and fill with fresh stuff. It will start to vibrate wildly if it siezes. If it's just a humm fill the diff with fluid same type as the gearbox.

I've got some spare levers if you need them.

If the car has been sitting for a while with no fuel the tank can rust from the inside so fill up to the brim and fit a new filter, when the tank is near empty fit another new filter.

I'm not sure about the levers fixing points from the lever side but think they are bolted to a mounting at two points and have spacers either side that can wear.

Could be the linkage to the box is worn but Juppys's 4x4 stick shift is much loosers than any of the 2 wheel drive pandas I've got.

The 4x4 system is noisy (or mine is compaired again to the 2x4 cars) but it might be a good idea to check the fluid levels in the box and diff

There's a grease nipple on the prop shaft too that might be worth a shot....

(unrelated, but the last time I'd a bad noise from the arse of Juppy it was both rear wheel bearings. There was very little play in the rear wheels but changing the bearings made life a lot quieter)

BTW, congrats on joing the 4x4 bunch!!!
(the different groups being autos, 750's, 903's, 999's and 4x4's. I'm just one short of a full house )

Alan.D said:

The UJ Joint on the prop shaft can seize if not greased......

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Damn, Alan you must be able to type faster than me

(and also be a lot more knowable than me! hehe)

Jim

e505jpy said:

and also be a lot more knowable than me!

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That wouldnt be very hard

I usually find that the remains of oil in the rear diff's is the stuff that Fiat put in when they built them.

YEAH!!!

Pandafans back!!!!:slayer:

Jim

e505jpy said:

Damn, Alan you must be able to type faster than me

(and also be a lot more knowable than me! hehe)

Jim

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I don't thinks so mate but maybe I'm a faster typer

Alan.D said:

The UJ Joint on the prop shaft can sieze if not greased annually but more often is better. Just before the rear diff the joint has a grease nipple that you can plug a grease gun into and fill with fresh stuff. It will start to vibrate wildly if it siezes. If it's just a humm fill the diff with fluid same type as the gearbox.

Click to expand...

ok, i will have to go and buy one of those... they sound pretty useful for a panda. does it have to be that universal joint grease like we stuck on the gearbox axles?

Alan.D said:

I've got some spare levers if you need them.

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I parked the thing after and put the lever down very easily... i think maybe it just needs a little greasing like everything else.

Alan.D said:

If the car has been sitting for a while with no fuel the tank can rust from the inside so fill up to the brim and fit a new filter, when the tank is near empty fit another new filter.

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not sure that it has been standing that long... well 4 days since i saw it last, before that i wouldn't be able to say... he did say that it was his daily drive though. but then he was away from home for long periods i think.

Alan.D said:

I'm not sure about the levers fixing points from the lever side but think they are bolted to a mounting at two points and have spacers either side that can wear.

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I will have a look and see if there is anything obvious. but it'll probably be me taking picks and someone spotting potential probs.

ok i'm off to do some valeting.

For what it's worth, here my 2p's worth:

Gear lever.
There's a mount about 2/3 of the length down the gear lever through which passes a shouldered bolt that fastens into a captive nut in the body. The bolt passes though a couple of plastic bushes that wear very easily and this leads to the 'pudding bowl' gear lever effect. Simply remedying this will take about 80% of the slack out of the gear change. You can either replace the bushes for new items or for a quick fix, as I did, you could fit a suitable thickness washer over the threaded portion of the shouldered bolt (after you've passed it back through the bushes or course) and bolt the assembly back up. Being a shouldered bolt it's designed to tighten before compressing the bushes. Putting a washer on means that the bushes will be compressed so you have to be careful not to overtighten the bolt and lock the gear lever up. I found this worked very well on mine but I will probably have to check it periodically to make sure it's not coming loose again.

4x4 selector lever
Sometimes it will be difficult to impossible to select/deselect 4x4 depending on how the car has been driven simply because the gears do not line up. For instance, when driving on hard surfaces in 4x4 mode (not recommended) the drive system 'winds up' as the tolerances between the front and rear drive systems will be very slightly different and it's just simple mechanical linkages . In this case a short drive on a soft surface will allow the system to 'relax', or just drive in reverse for a short distance. It's best to select 4x4 when moving slowly forward but not above 20mph. The 4x4 selector is a very simple piece of mechanical engineering and it's very unlikely to be wear in the linkages causing selection difficuly, unless it has been damaged by some boisterous off-roading. A quick peek under the car should tell you all you need to know as the 4x4 selector lever is quite obvious.

Hope this helps. I'm currently in the middle of a total rebuild of a Panda 4x4 based kit so my observations are based on my own personal experience of working on this and the donor vehicle. I'm learning a lot about the Panda very quickly from this.

Tony M said:

ok, i will have to go and buy one of those... they sound pretty useful for a panda. does it have to be that universal joint grease like we stuck on the gearbox axles?

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Nope just normal grease but has to have the little joint that slips & locks onto the nipple

Tony M said:

I parked the thing after and put the lever down very easily... i think maybe it just needs a little greasing like everything else.

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I meant the gear levers I have one complete unit spare not the 4x4 one

OK, here it is... in full technicolor.

interior stuff...

it even has a wheel with gloss magnolia on it... in fact it has 4 with gloss magnolia and the rear offside is the original colour.

Alan.D said:

Nope just normal grease but has to have the little joint that slips & locks onto the nipple

I meant the gear levers I have one complete unit spare not the 4x4 one

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ok, so 1 grease gun will be gotten if i can't borrow one in the meantime, and the levers... aren't as much an issue as the carburetor fueling.

what is the engine cutting out pretty sharply after 5 seconds a sympptom of?... I am thinking the vacuum advance has kicked the bucket... but the hose leading to it seems solid... I don't fully know how to test it though... I disconnected it from the v.advance unit and could suck blow without a problem... and likewise when it was connected to the v.advance.

so anyone got any suggestions?

Prob needs a tune & to check the C/o BTW WTF is that thing in the boot with the brake type fixing to it? some sort of leveling device??

And excuse my ignorance it's a nice looking little motor I see I may have some competition.

Alan.D said:

Prob needs a tune & to check the C/o BTW WTF is that thing in the boot with the brake type fixing to it? some sort of leveling device??

And excuse my ignorance it's a nice looking little motor I see I may have some competition.

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the WTF device has been removed... it had an LPG conversion fitted by the previous owner which he seems to want to keep hold of... pity.

all the pipes are still there and holes left behind from the tank in the boot... two bolt holes. the body work seems pretty good on the whole, but i haven't started taking things off it and looking underneath yet as i haven't got the time ot do anything about them.

I will have a about 3-4 big pieces that'll need spraying (doors, boot, bonnet and some touching up on the body)

but that's further down the road.

Chances are that the timing and carb have been "retuned" for the LPG.

Also, even if it was used daily most of that would have been on LPG so the petrol in the tank could be old and past its best. Alan's advice on changing the fuel filters and running a complete tank thro looks like a good idea to me

panda-sport said:

Chances are that the timing and carb have been "retuned" for the LPG.

Also, even if it was used daily most of that would have been on LPG so the petrol in the tank could be old and past its best. Alan's advice on changing the fuel filters and running a complete tank thro looks like a good idea to me

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Ok, i haven't a clue how to alter the timing, as i have never fiddled with an engine other than dropping and swapping. and until i have got that bit sorted it isn't going to run at all... let alone use a tank of fuel up.

I don't understand why it would stop running after we drove it up the motorway without much problems... is there a knack to starting the FIRE, i tried half choke and no gas... but that didn't start at all... the only result i got was with full choke and foot on the throttle... then it would run for 5 seconds then cut out.

the fuel filter on the other hand even i could sort out... and the previous item looked well beyond saving. here's the new one... i always have a couple of these in the house for some reason.

Is there fuel in the tank? sounds like it's ran dry. The carb models need full choke to start & run even in summer and then push in a 1/4 at a time till about 2 miles or so then choke off.

Alan.D said:

Is there fuel in the tank? sounds like it's ran dry. The carb models need full choke to start & run even in summer and then push in a 1/4 at a time till about 2 miles or so then choke off.

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It's got fuel in it... about quarter of a tank after we put 10quid in at Accrington. I'm thinking it's a carb issue because it cuts out so quickly... most likely the setup is way off... but for the life of me I can't explain why it won't start after the Accrington run.