General Fiat Panda 2006 - Leaving the headlights in position all the time is not an issue?

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General Fiat Panda 2006 - Leaving the headlights in position all the time is not an issue?

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Oct 3, 2022
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Varna
Hello everyone,

I’m new to this forum. I’ve followed the threads here out of curiosity and I do end up learning new things about my car. I am a new driver and this is the first vehicle that I own.

However, I have still not found an answer anywhere online to my following question. Here in Bulgaria we’re required to have headlights on during the day (or daylights on for newer cars, but the Panda 169 doesn’t have those). I tend to forget to turn them on, as the previous car I drove did have automatic daylights. But I discovered that leaving the stalk in headlights position is just fine on the Panda, as switching the ignition off automatically turns them off (and the green dashboard icon disappears), until the next time I switch the ignition on and they come up again - just like daylights would in a modern car.

Are there any drawbacks to this? Does this feature cause any battery drain? I would assume it doesn’t, otherwise Fiat would’ve probably put an alarm to remind you to turn the headlights off like on other cars. For the past few weeks I’ve just left them on and I haven’t experienced any issues. Anyone else from a country where the law mandates headlights on during both day and night tried this?

Thanks in advance!
 
Thanks a lot for the speedy replies!

The car is really well-preserved, we got it used a back in 2013 but it came with everything, all documentation, both keys and interestingly enough, Fiat in Germany (where this one was originally bought from) prints the code for the immobilizer and keys inside the green “Garantie und Serviceheft” book instead of making actual plastic cards.

It’s currently at a little above 89000 KM which is really good for a car of this age (it still *smells* brand new on the inside).
Since we bought it in 2013 it’s barely been driven. We got it at around 82000 KM as far as i remember, so around 7000 KM in total for the last 9 years. It has seen the occasional ride before I got my license and it is very well maintained but still hasn’t been regularly driven until now. I got the oil changed and my right rear tire braking cylinder (that had some problems that caused the brake to get a bit stuck sometimes).

So far it handles really well, I can’t complain about anything. Fuel consumption sometimes seems to be on the higher side (8 L/100 KM outside town with driving at 100 km/h) but I can’t really tell since the fuel indicator seems to fluctuate quite a bit and I don’t quite have that precision to the exact liter in fuel calculation. Is there anything that might be of concern I should look for? It literally feels like a brand new car every time I step in it but still, there might be some hidden trap.

Sorry if I’m going off-topic, this reply of mine could be moved to a different thread

Thanks a lot again!
 
Fine to leave them on 👍

There will be a 1% approximation increase in fuel consumption according to The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Bulb life will be shorter but still average over 3 years if you drive 2 hours a day


They will get very hot if the outside temperature is hot and the car isn’t moving. But at least there will never be a problem with condensation.
 
Fuel consumption sometimes seems to be on the higher side (8 L/100 KM outside town with driving at 100 km/h) but I can’t really tell since the fuel indicator seems to fluctuate quite a bit and I don’t quite have that precision to the exact liter in fuel calculation. Is there anything that might be of concern I should look for?
I work that out to be 35.5 miles per gallon (UK), so yes, does seem on the high side for a Panda. I assume it's petrol?

For out-of-town driving in my 1.2 I average around 5.5l/100km (51mpg), and I've read on here that others get better than that.

Are you going by the onboard computer? Mine reads about 10% out. Might be a good idea to do some brim to brim tests to get a more accurate idea.

Are tyre pressures good? Brakes not sticking any more? Engine temperature OK?

I would also clean the throttle body and MAP sensor.
 
No one can answer the fuel consumption as it depends who is driving, where you are driving

The best I have done is 82mpg (2.9) on a long 215 mile trip with a very strong tail wind driving at night and keeping the speed below 50mph all very flat

I normally average over 60 (3.9) mpg mix driving about 80 miles motorway to 20 miles city

My other half gets at least 10 mpg less And normally near 15 mpg less than me in the same car on the same roads.

The on board computer is very accurate on my cars as long as you don’t keep pressing the reset button. The first few miles are all over the place starts settling down after 200 miles and pretty good after 1000 miles

You could log the o2 sensor and see if it’s running rich.
 
Thank you everyone for the informative and quick replies! I haven’t had the time to go much in-depth with them yet.

Are you going by the onboard computer? Mine reads about 10% out. Might be a good idea to do some brim to brim tests to get a more accurate idea.
My Panda has the standard single row display, which only displays the time, kilometers driven and headlights position - no fuel consumption calculation capabilities. Which means the only thing I can use in my calculations is the fuel gauge and that tends to fluctuate a bit. I try to work it out with basic maths but it’s probably not actually as linear as in my calculations.

Yes, it’s the petrol 1.1 L Active variant.

Not sure about exact tyre pressures, they are good relatively new winter tyres and I haven’t bothered changing them as I’ll need them by next month anyway.

Engine temperature is perfect, the gauge is reporting totally normal temps. Brakes are not sticking, they are really effective, don’t need much force to a full stop at all.

No clue about MAP sensor, O2 sensor and throttle body, sorry, I’m very new into cars (albeit very interested in learning more about their technical side). I will research more into them but the car has been checked in-depth by services I trust and they say everything’s fine.
 
Mines the same year, I don't leave the lights on as I had a ignition switch fail
and my thinking was the less current it had to take at switch on the better,
On mine if you leave the lights on then switch the indicators on the side
lights on that side stay on as a parking marker, also if you hold the head
light flash for a few secs the head lights stay on for a time so for instance
you can get to your door at night doing this again extends the time they
stay on, at least on mine they do.
 
Mines the same year, I don't leave the lights on as I had a ignition switch fail
I had two ign switches fail. I am surprised we didn’t get more. The contacts are very small. Shed loads get sold on eBay and it’s a known problem with garages

Both of mine were the same and the problem and was with the starter circuit

Anyhow I doubt leaving the lights on will make any difference. The headlights are controlled by the body computer via a relay. Leaving the light will only pulls an extra few millionth of an amp as seen by the ignition switch
 
the only thing I can use in my calculations is the fuel gauge and that tends to fluctuate a bit. I try to work it out with basic maths but it’s probably not actually as linear as in my calculations.
The best way is to fill the tank completely and make a note of the km on the display, when the tank's nearly empty fill completely again. Divide litres put in the tank by km travelled (and x100 for l/100km).
Not sure about exact tyre pressures, they are good relatively new winter tyres and I haven’t bothered changing them as I’ll need them by next month anyway.
A simple tyre pressure gauge is a really useful tool, I use mine regularly and always check pressures before a long journey.
No clue about MAP sensor, O2 sensor and throttle body, sorry, I’m very new into cars (albeit very interested in learning more about their technical side).
Heh, no worries we've all been there:) I've learned loads from this forum! Great resources on youtube too. MAP sensor and throttle body are good places to start learning - simple to access, clean and replace. Just be careful removing the hoses from the air filter housing. Here's a good video for the MAP
 
You could fit bright LED bulbs into the pilot bulb sockets. This would give bright but not dazzling lights for daytime use with next to no power consumption.
 
You could fit bright LED bulbs into the pilot bulb sockets. This would give bright but not dazzling lights for daytime use with next to no power consumption.
I don't have the courage to replace my bulbs just yet but now that we talk about their light - should I bother constantly switching their position? I've only seen the car being driven with position 1, so I never really changed it myself as well but the owner's handbook says position 0 is for 1 or 2 passengers while position 1 is for four passengers... should I keep switching between 0 and 1 depending on the amount of people in the car? I've never actually seen anyone do that on any car.

As far as tyre pressure goes, I'll check it in the upcoming days, I think that could be cause of the concerning fuel consumption, apologies for being very slow with action, I'm just really busy on most days, hopefully I'll have time to check the pressure during the weekend. If that's normal, then I will have to look further into the matter. I've also never used the odometer, maybe that could help me with measuring my fuel consumption more accurately.

Thank you all for being so friendly, helpful and informative! I really appreciate it!
 
I don't have the courage to replace my bulbs just yet but now that we talk about their light - should I bother constantly switching their position? I've only seen the car being driven with position 1, so I never really changed it myself as well but the owner's handbook says position 0 is for 1 or 2 passengers while position 1 is for four passengers... should I keep switching between 0 and 1 depending on the amount of people in the car? I've never actually seen anyone do that on any car.

As far as tyre pressure goes, I'll check it in the upcoming days, I think that could be cause of the concerning fuel consumption, apologies for being very slow with action, I'm just really busy on most days, hopefully I'll have time to check the pressure during the weekend. If that's normal, then I will have to look further into the matter. I've also never used the odometer, maybe that could help me with measuring my fuel consumption more accurately.

Thank you all for being so friendly, helpful and informative! I really appreciate it!
It’s quite common for the motor to fail so mostly leave it alone

I do lower the beam in fog it helps to stop the light from bouncing back

Or when carrying weight at the back to stop dazzling oncoming traffic.

But 99% it’s on 0
 
Here in the UK the MOT headlight aim is normally checked at 0 which is the highest setting so should not dazzle oncoming traffic

As you add weight to the rear the back end sinks lower raising the headlight aim up. To correct this you lower them a bit 1 or more 2

One or two adults at the front you will never need to change from 0
 
Alright, here's a quick update: I checked the tire pressure and the front 2 tires were a bit low, I increased it to about 2.0 bars as the manual suggests, and the rear tires were 1.8, so there is no need to touch them as per the manual. I noticed that fuel consumption is now much much better. I drove 30 KM on a single liter of petrol, which is a big improvement from the previous results (maybe something to do with it sitting in the garage for months before I got to drive it regularly? not sure).

Sorry for polluting this thread, it was originally about the headlights toggle but I also asked all sorts of general questions, so dear admins, feel free to move comments/split the thread if you need to.
 
I don't have the courage to replace my bulbs just yet but now that we talk about their light - should I bother constantly switching their position? I've only seen the car being driven with position 1, so I never really changed it myself as well but the owner's handbook says position 0 is for 1 or 2 passengers while position 1 is for four passengers... should I keep switching between 0 and 1 depending on the amount of people in the car? I've never actually seen anyone do that on any car.

As far as tyre pressure goes, I'll check it in the upcoming days, I think that could be cause of the concerning fuel consumption, apologies for being very slow with action, I'm just really busy on most days, hopefully I'll have time to check the pressure during the weekend. If that's normal, then I will have to look further into the matter. I've also never used the odometer, maybe that could help me with measuring my fuel consumption more accurately.

Thank you all for being so friendly, helpful and informative! I really appreciate it!
The 1.1 variant eco actives are not that spectacular for mpg figures, the 1.2 are more frugal. Around town 1.1's are fairly poor compared to what you think they should do to be honest.
 
Hello everyone,

I’m new to this forum. I’ve followed the threads here out of curiosity and I do end up learning new things about my car. I am a new driver and this is the first vehicle that I own.

However, I have still not found an answer anywhere online to my following question. Here in Bulgaria we’re required to have headlights on during the day (or daylights on for newer cars, but the Panda 169 doesn’t have those). I tend to forget to turn them on, as the previous car I drove did have automatic daylights. But I discovered that leaving the stalk in headlights position is just fine on the Panda, as switching the ignition off automatically turns them off (and the green dashboard icon disappears), until the next time I switch the ignition on and they come up again - just like daylights would in a modern car.

Are there any drawbacks to this? Does this feature cause any battery drain? I would assume it doesn’t, otherwise Fiat would’ve probably put an alarm to remind you to turn the headlights off like on other cars. For the past few weeks I’ve just left them on and I haven’t experienced any issues. Anyone else from a country where the law mandates headlights on during both day and night tried this?

Thanks in advance!
Its fine to leave the lights on, the relay takes the load so won't burn the switch out
 
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