General completely devistated

[Adrian Bravo]

Dunno if its the sound quality but on the first try it sounds like a hard metal thud at the end of that first attempt.

Im gutted for you, from the outside looking in I do think its genuine bad luck I dont think the seller has tried to con you.

The car does look imaculate, personaly id rather have a good body with an engine to fix than a poor body.

spotted the car on ebay and was tempted to bid on it myself. I never did because It was over 240miles away.

 

[goodgirl156]

i have some people down here to confirm the damage tomorow, but its looking termonal. it wasnt the quality of the camera, that was a bang, squeel, and then death

were looking at top end, and possable damage to pistons.

i have been working the numbers with some one who usaly works on fiat coupes

and im looking at a bill of £900. thats a replacment engen, new belts, fitting, all oiles, filters, and coolent

drive in...drive out service

 

[bulldog5046]

thats really expensive!

would that be motomech your looking at taking it to?
i always hear good things about their work but not been myself


i dont know if i'm convinced you've (rather 'it's') done the valves in as you started it up after

but it doesnt sound very good, i hope you get it fixed soon and hopfully without too much expense!

Ry

 

[goodgirl156]

its been confirmed to me today that its dropped a valve, its completely terminal, there has been interaction and there is metal filings in the oil

it is expensive, but its buy far the best quote i have had. I haven't found a engaen for less than 500 yet

(its a rev 2 VIS block)

 

[wish mine was orange]

hi for £900 quid you could by another car check out the classified here and then swap out the engine into your car, then you will have lots of spare or when money allows get the broken engine sorted and flog off the spare car
what engine is in your car?

 

[goodgirl156]

thats not a bad idear, at current i dont have the time, the location, the tools. or the heath to do it.
im running a rev 2 HGT 2.00 VIS block

 

[JoskeJTD]

Get rid and go buy a non fiat. Seriously. Dont waste any more money on it. Another £500 spent and nothing gained.

£2k spent for a £1.2K car.

Sell it for £500 on ebay, save yourself a £500 bill and walk away with technically £1000.

If your going for an engine change its a perfect time to fit a coupe 20V turbo engine. Atleast the £500 can goto towards the swap and not just for another engine.

 

[bulldog5046]

If your going for an engine change its a perfect time to fit a coupe 20V turbo engine. Atleast the £500 can goto towards the swap and not just for another engine.

now dont be misleading, we know it costs an aweful lot of money to fit the 20vT engine and the poor girl already said she doesnt have money to play with.

the 147 engines go for about £60 but i dont know much of the 155 engines, good luck finding one though!

 

[goodgirl156]

Just so we know who i am some may recognise me from samsite999 on the fcc forum

this is emmas account on here as i couldnt see the point in creating a fresh one here

i payed 1.5k for the car. it was "mint" i payed the money as i thought it was going to last me for some time. its got 60k on the clock, with a fsh (that doenst matter now)
i thought i was doing the right thing

i know im fooked what ever i do. i sell if for 500, im ok down, i fix it, im 900 down

i would love to drop a 20vt in to it. but its costaly, i cant do the work my self at the moment

that and its a vis with a differnt abs sytem so its a very difficalt fit, if it was the mk1 bravo. i would think about it

i dont want to spend the money on it, trust me, 1.5 k was a lot for me. and the extra 900 is money i will never see again

that and its money i dont have. I dont thnk any other car is any more or any less relyable. not long ago i scrapped a mr2 because i was royaly done on it

if any one has a usefull sugestion bar scraping the car.......

 

[Steve H]

If you have space and are in no desperate rush to recoup some cash, you could break it?
I dont know how different the VIS version is to the 147ps version but i swapped a 20vt engine into mine and it was more or less plug and play. I did have a working 20vt coop to go from though. If you want any help drop me a PM

 

[bridges]

Get rid and go buy a non fiat.

Why???? Are Fords, Vauxhalls any better?


@goodgirl156

The decision is yours but you are in this deep and the car is otherwise mint.
Service history is still applicable to tyres, suspension components, exhaust etc.
There is a chap on www.fccuk.org with the username, countrycruising
He breaks coupe's and would be a good place to start for a 20v vis engine.

 

[goodgirl156]

The genral consenses of me and frends is that the car is nearly mint, as close as a 8 year old car can be
and that if i were to sell it and take the money that i was going to use repairing it. whats to say that somthing equaly as nasty doenst occur with that one? and that money wont get me what i want and nothing thats in as good condition

if i replace the engen with a known working one, thats been tested, with new belts and everything. im ruling out any thurther issues with the bravo.... and hopfully it will be a relyable car... and ill have a hole engen of spares

(coil packs, pipes, leads essentualy anything thats not shafted)

i spoke with county a wile ago, such a nice bloke. my car will be going up there next week
i have dealt with him when i had a fiat coupe 16v turbo that needed some bits (tank strapps, lamba, thermastat)

im just trying to work out the money side now.

 

[canon]

Sorry to hear of that, something happened to my Dad recently when he bought a new van and two days later the clutch pressure plate and master cylinder went. He took it to a garage paid €700 to get it sorted, sent a solicitors letter to the seller who immediately coughed up the money - seems to me like he knew the fault was present.

You won't get anything from the seller unless you try some scaremongering. If the car dropped a valve it wasn't in A1 condition, and misleadingly advertised.

Best of luck.

 

[JoskeJTD]

Why???? Are Fords, Vauxhalls any better?


@goodgirl156

The decision is yours but you are in this deep and the car is otherwise mint.
Service history is still applicable to tyres, suspension components, exhaust etc.
There is a chap on www.fccuk.org with the username, countrycruising
He breaks coupe's and would be a good place to start for a 20v vis engine.

Yes usually. No offense i like my Fiat, (touch would) its never failed me in all 3-4years of ownership but there are many lemons around. However fords and vauxhalls are usually solid cars with small faults.

Its was only my opinion, if i was to waste money on a 2nd hand engine then it would be to fit a Coupe Turbo otherwise i'd buy something else.

There are no promises your next car wont go bang, but atleast you'll learn from your mistakes and get a check of the vehicle first. These traders that sell from home usually buy from auction and sell on at profit, they don't use the car so can't tell you if its knackered or not. They go off paperwork provided with car and condition. I expect you test drove the car before handing over the money.

Threatening people also doesn't work. Your only hope is to politely ask the seller to refund you the money for the car or atleast foot 50% of the bill to repair.

 

[goodgirl156]

fitting the 20vt coupe engine isn’t practical to a mk2 vis bravo with the non bosh abs system.
mk1 with bosh, then yes. i would do that in a shot, but im looking at lots of garage time, and lots of fabrication to make the thing fit at the moment.

im aware that im in a no win situation. i just want to walk away with the car i wanted. when the car goes in for the rebuild i hope to get evidence of the failure.

i did as much as i could bar take the aa out with me. the service history checked out, the block checked out, i ran car checks online to check the car out.

i left it running, i went on a long test drive with windows open and closed to listen to noises. it was left running on the drive way for me

no lights no errors, correct oil with resent but not immediate service

to say i didn’t look at the car correctly i find insulting. im just trying to make the best out of a crap situation

and when i do get the cause of failure from the garage, and it turns out this bloke sold the car with a fault. i have spoke to a lawyer who will drag his ass quite happily though the small clams court. The lawyer said he by his own admition the bloke has racked him self up for a huge fall. The law is cleare on this one, if there car was sold with a fault that was not advertised regardless if the seller new about the fault or didn’t, there still liable

He made me aware its not going to be fun, or easy, and probably will cost. but personally ill pay to teach this guy a lesson if it stops one more person having to go though what i have been though this week, its money well spent

If he was lying (and I hope he wasn’t because he still sounds like a nice bloke, or is one hell of a lier) then ill make him life hell

 

[bridges]

Yes usually. No offense i like my Fiat, (touch would) its never failed me in all 3-4years of ownership but there are many lemons around. However fords and vauxhalls are usually solid cars with small faults.

wish I could agree but all cars have faults.
I have, and sell all makes of cars and they all wear on different items. I have several 20v engined cars and have found them to be very reliable.
In my opinion the HGT is no less reliable than the VW, Ford, Vaux etc equivelants.

Totally agree that there are lemons, but it applies to all makes, for example I had a low mileage Ka which was the most unreliable, rotting out, heap ever. However have a Ford Puma 1.7 vvt and believe it to be one of the best most reliable cars i've owned or ever driven.

 

[Adrian Bravo]

Id keep it and preferably rebuild the engine personally. Then you know its done right.

Or second get a replacement engine that is the same model engine.

Unfortunately the money is already lost if you sell or repair your going to be down in either case. As the car is already so tidy id repair it.

Anyway best of luck

 

[The Professor]

My two penny worth, for what it's worth, is to remove the engine, strip it and photograph everything as it comes apart. Once you've got it apart you can see exactly what needs doing - not every time is it a total disaster, you may have got away with less than you imagine. You can then make an informed decision as to whether a replacement would be a better bet.
If the car's a 'minter' and you intend keeping it for the foreseeable future, I don't think you'll be throwing money away in the long run.

 

[jug]

first i would take the head off to see if the cylinder liner is scored or if the piston ring appears to be damaged. the iron filings arent a good sign but you may be lucky and get away with only replacing the valve in the head. even if you do need a new liner for the cylinder and/or ring for the piston its hardly the end of the world for that engine, and considering its history and mileage i'd say its a keeper before you even consider that its cheaper to repair than replace in this situation.

to replace 1 valve, 1 piton ring and 1 cylidner liner, and then rebuild engine along with a new timing belt, surely £500 is a reasonable price to expect to pay. i know that is the most i would be paying at my local garage for this work.

 

[bridges]

have to agree with the chief.
Less guess work and more facts, to see how big or small a job.