Technical Cinquecento Newbie In need of help

[baz83]

Hello everyone, I passed my test last Wednesday and rushed out to buy a car this weekend, I drove countless fiesta's and hated them all. I spotted a Cinquecento and loved it, drove like a dream.....

I bought the car and it has the following problems, and i am looking for any help at all.

The Car is a Cinquecento 1996 P Reg 3 Door. I paid £680 MOT'd till Sep. (ALSO PLEASE TELL ME IF THIS WAS GOOD OR NOT!!)

Right the problems are...

1. The handbreak appears to be weak especially on hills, or even when pushed! Was told it might be break shoes??

2. I don't know if it is supposed to be central locking or not, but if it is it is not working.

3. The lock on the boot is broke but i can still open it with the lever and lock it by closing it.

PLEASE ANY HELP WOULD BE MUCHLY APPRECIATED, I AM STARTING TO HAVE SORT OF REGRETS, BUT I REALLY LIKE THE CAR AND WANT TO KEEP IT.

Cheers

 

[Donz]

welcome to fiat forum

with your problems there are others here who are more technically minded and will be able to help but here is my 2 cents anyway

1. hmmmm handbrake hmmmm, beyond me

2.This will depend on the model of cinq you have, i believe that the Sporting and SX had central locking but the S didn't, special models will vary depending on which model they are based on.

3. to be honest i never use the boot lock on my seicento, and yours being broken sounds like a perfect excuse to delock the boot

never have regrets about buying a cento (cinq or sei) coz they are brilliant cars that are fun to drive. and lets be honest who wants to be seen driving yet another fiesta?

SEI POWER​

 

[Sei-Mad]

~gumble~ dam fiesta - thats all you ever see - but I do like the Ford Ka.. kakakak lol

Anyways I thought the handbrake its a mechnical thing that doesn't work with the rear brake drum shoes other than a pin that locks the axle to stop it moving. Best guess that it needs rejusting.

As with Q2, I don;t have a Cinq so I wouldn't know, but with the boot lock, my panda had the same problem!! If I remember right some WD40 did the job. ut it may be different in your case if its broken internaly

Can I ask, for the £680, how many miles has your cinq done when you brought it?

Sei-maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

SEI~MAD

 

[HP]

Welcome to the forum.

Central locking was only on the sx and sporting.

£680 for a P reg is a good deal - well done!

Handbrakes - cables seize up (£15 each) as do the linkages: these are the bits the cable end attaches to and goes inside the drum. There is a pivot on them which can seize solid and cause bad brakes, and also if the brakes drag on it can overheat and destroy the rear wheel bearings.

The boot lock is a simple affair, there's only 4 bolts holding the whole thing together. Lift the hatch up and have a look to see what's gone wrong.

A sound investment would now be a Haynes Manual!

Good luck, and happy Cinq driving [8D]

Pete.
Cinq sporting 1242cc
http://mysite.freeserve.com/close_to_cracking_up/
http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/Cinqs_and_Seis/
http://www.clubcento.co.uk/

 

[John H]

Further to the handbrake:
look at the thread "MOT and my handbrake" in this section of the forum.

Regarding the price:
depends hugely on condition and mileage.
Take a look at

http://www.parkers.co.uk

and navigate down
pricing
used car prices

and put your figures in there.

It's only a guide though.

 

[baz83]

Thanks for all your replies, the handbreak problem has been sorted (even if only for a little while) my dad went under the car and tightened something, some bolt was broken and he took this off and tightened something up and the handbreak now works (so when you push it with it on it now does not roll back!!)

I think I will still leave it in gear when parked, atleast until it gets checked at a garage and then if it needs handbreak cables or something else then I can do that then.

The mileage is 84,000 so it has done quite a bit, but everything else on the car seems fine, the bodywork is nice and as many have pointed out it looks better than a fiesta, and it has more character.

Another question is this!!

Are there any little bits and pieces I could buy to make the car look that little bit better?? Not full body kits or anyhting, just little things!!

Cheers

 

[SPUD]

Well for little things you can buy

1) Gear Knob
2) Handbrake sleeve
3) Neon washer jets
4) LED side repeaters
5) Eye brows for the lights
6) Change rear lights (smoked, red, yellow, etc)
7) clear front indicators
8) Number plate surround
9) Gear Gaiter
10) Just get a full bodykit, lowered and all of the above plus new seats and steering wheel

 

[baz83]

Alot of those little bits sound like a good idea, what website/shop would you recommend as a sort of one stop shop??

 

[Sei-Mad]

MaxPower Magazine has shops listed in their mags for parts like this for the Cinq and Sei - can't remember what sites at the mo as just got back from the Pub

SEI~MAD

 

[Donz]

have a looksie at www.fastfiat.com and www.needforspeed.co.uk

SEI POWER​

 

[Jonna83]

gd choice of car there m8 I agree fiestas r boring the cinq is unusal I wudn't mind a Ford Puma afetr griving my managers 1 very nice think ill have another go 2nite. A m8 of mine bought a L reg Cinq Sx 34000 miles 4 £600 and here's me paying £1800 4 mine ahwell bigger engine = more fun

FIAT CinqueCento = Recycled Ferrari

 

[SPUD]

Well you can get these mods from a number of places including:

www.speeding.co.uk
Halfords
www.larkspeed.co.uk
www.demon-tweeks.co.uk
www.ffwdmotorsport.co.uk

That should sort you out

 

[Jonna83]

Worth trying my local modifying shop 2 Xtreme www.xtrememotorsport.co.uk they'll get u anything basically.

FIAT CinqueCento = Recycled Ferrari