First ever Fiat

[JerryA]

I thought I would just say hi and make myself known.

I’m in the UK and have just bought my daughter her first car. It’s a 2011 Fiat 500 Lounge and it reminds me of my younger days when I was driving around in a mini (not the BMW).

I hope to do most of the future repairs and upkeep myself. I have a trusty Haynes manual and of course YouTube and forums like this to help.

First job for me is the timing belt. I’ve never done one before but I’ll have a go. Just waiting for the parts to arrive.

The forum has already been helpful. I thought I was missing a hose or something from my radiator. A quick search on here and I was able to establish that it is a mounting point and not something that should have a hose attached.

Regards, Jerry.

 

[varesecrazy]

Hi Jerry, and welcome to you both

Well established cars, with well established niggles,

Duckbills, hatch wiring, earth strap, rear suspension rusting through

That's the basics

Some people successfully change the timing belt... then get dashboard errors

The sensors Top and Bottom
Cam and Crank will detect the minor change in timing, so flag it up.. Some dont

There Is an electronic procedure to 'Align the inputs'

Where are you based..?
People on here tend to own the correct software for such tasks

 

[JerryA]

I was aware of the hatch wiring, I had the same issue on a Nissan Note a few years ago. I am now aware of the earth strap issue, not sure if mines been done. I wasn’t aware about the rear suspension, I’ll have to look into that. I’ve just YouTubed duckbill. I wasn’t aware of them, I’ll go and check ours.

I was aware that you sometimes get a dashboard error after a timing belt change. I’ve read that it mostly happens if you follow the Haynes manual and loosen the camshaft sprocket. I’m not planning on doing that, hopefully I’ll get away with it. However, I have splashed out on multiecuscan already. We had flashing mileage from where the previous owner had removed a faulty blue and me unit. They had a parasitic draw and narrowed it down to that. They changed the radio out for an after market one. That’s fine but the steering controls do not work. I’m not sure whether I can make them work with an aftermarket radio if I get the blue and me module fixed. Anyway, a quick proxy alignment and I no longer have flashing mileage.

Oh, and I’m in Devon, halfway between Exeter and Torbay.

 

[steveras57]

WELCOME!