Grande Punto First time driving an Italian car!

[The Imaginative Lad]

Hey folks,

This weekend I purchased a 2007 Fiat Grande Punto as my second car to replace my old 2003 Vauxhall Corsa. Considering one of my parents had a Fiat Grande Punto in the past and really liked it, I thought I should give one a go and I've gotta say I'm liking it so far. It may only be the 1.2 8V engine, but it has more go to it than my old 1.2 16V Twinport Corsa and returns better MPG so can't complain there either.

However, a few things I'm missing as of right now.
- Air Conditioning, yeah maybe it was a mistake to say that I didn't need that :bang:
- Alloy wheels, not too much of an issue but aesthetically steel wheels with the standard Fiat trims is not too appealing haha.
- Colour coded fittings e.g. Wing Mirrors and Door Handles, again not too much of an issue considering the colour of my car but it's one of those nice to have things.

Now big assumption, but I might just get all this in the future and retrofit them. I know one or two are big tasks but it's something to keep me occupied

I'm joining this forum as no doubt I'll need your help and resources in the near future as I'm noticing a few issues with the car now that it's in my ownership. I'll list them here;
- On the motorway I noticed that the engine management light blinks just around 60mph and then goes out as I get towards 70mph, it doesn't come back on for the remainder of the journey. No power loss or oddities from the engine hmm.
- Windscreen washer pump is not working, at first assumed it was a fuse but apparently not as replacing the fuse, the pump still did not engage.

I'll make separate posts on those in the correct sections. I'm no stranger to this site, visited it before as a guest when my parents had a Fiat Grande Punto 1.3 Multijet. That car was higher spec than mine, but had one major issue. The engine management light would pop up anytime the engine was putting under load and drop the car into like a limp mode. We found the issue was to be a gate on the turbo not allowing excess pressure to escape or something like that. Nevertheless we got it fixed then almost immediately snapped the cam belt sending that car off to the scrappers! Car had done the mileage though, I believe it had over 150,000 miles on the clock at the time so not too bad at all for a 1.3 engine.

So that's me and my story, see you about the forum



My Grande Punto after a wash and wax

*Edit - I found out I could upload attachments, probably should have read that haha

 

[Eklipze3k]

Welcome to the forum, glad to have you onboard

 

[chris3234]

Not sure how they snapped a cambelt on a 1.3 as they are chain driven and they don't snap unless run low on oil or they been rattling around for weeks before and people haven't changed them

 

[Bernievarian]

Strange Indeed …

By the way, GPs engines are equipped with breakable rockers designed to absorb the energy generated by pistons colliding valves in case of belt snapping … They are quite cheap and relatively easy to replace
It may look like a catastrophic situation when you first open the camshaft(s) cover after a timing belt Failure but you don't even have to go further in dismantling the head itself; remove the camshaft(s), install new rockers, re-install the camshaft(s), new belt and water pump and you're done, maybe for another 150.000km ;-)

BRs, Bernie

If someone here helped You fix -or better, understand- your issue, hit the thanks icon @ bottom right corner, it's free and makes us feel helpy ;-)

 

[The Imaginative Lad]

Strange Indeed …

By the way, GPs engines are equipped with breakable rockers designed to absorb the energy generated by pistons colliding valves in case of belt snapping … They are quite cheap and relatively easy to replace
It may look like a catastrophic situation when you first open the camshaft(s) cover after a timing belt Failure but you don't even have to go further in dismantling the head itself; remove the camshaft(s), install new rockers, re-install the camshaft(s), new belt and water pump and you're done, maybe for another 150.000km ;-)

BRs, Bernie

If someone here helped You fix -or better, understand- your issue, hit the thanks icon @ bottom right corner, it's free and makes us feel helpy ;-)

Ah, unfortunately the AA guy who recovered the car said he recommends scrapping it, so did the mechanic who checked the car over. It was a good car until that point. This happened only 2000 miles after the gearbox was replaced and 8000 miles after the clutch was replaced. That to us was the final blow, but now knowing we scrapped a fine car is a bit sad. Oh well.

In other news I fixed the problem causing my engine lamp to blink. It was the phonic wheel that needed calibration as it evidently not done when the cam belt was replaced. Warmed the car up on the drive then revved up past 5,000 rpm three times. Light no longer blinks anytime I hold 60mph. Found that answer on these forums as well

 

[DGPunto]

That's good news on the engine light. When you can it's worth getting a copy of MES and an OBD2 interface. Alloys from the Dynamic models go straight on if you can get a set which do make a difference.

There's a guide on swapping outer door handles.

Did you sort the washer pump yet?

 

[The Imaginative Lad]

That's good news on the engine light. When you can it's worth getting a copy of MES and an OBD2 interface. Alloys from the Dynamic models go straight on if you can get a set which do make a difference.

There's a guide on swapping outer door handles.

Did you sort the washer pump yet?

Yeah we do have an odb2 interface somewhere as my father once had a Saab 95, they are well known for the engine management issues. Only problem is that I gotta find it haha.

As regards alloys, I'm looking and there are plenty on eBay, same goes with door handles and mirrors.

The washer motor pump is an interesting one. Are there two motors or only one? If it's only one then I've troubleshot it down to the motor itself or the connection to the motor. I've replaced the fuse out of peace of mind, tested the stalk. When I pull the stalk I hear the relay click which should enable to the motor. What I'm going to do next weekend is get under the car with a multimeter and check that the motor is getting power, will also replace the motor while I'm under there as they are cheap enough.

Also changed the oil on Monday and it was filthy, it was just black and couldn't have been healthy for the engine. Also replaced the oil and air filter, again they are cheap enough. Noticed a difference almost immediately, got my average mpg to almost 40mpg around town. That's up from 32/33mpg constant. Maybe the carburettor clean also helped that.

 

[Bernievarian]

Regarding the pump, it's shared with front and back sprayers, Simply by rotating CW or CCW …

BRs, Bernie

If someone here helped You fix -or better, understand- your issue, hit the thanks icon @ bottom right corner, it's free and makes us feel helpy ;-)

 

[The Imaginative Lad]

Got the pump free from the bottle, disconnected it and tested the socket with a multimeter. Motor is getting power, so motor is trashed. I even tried putting power through it with my power supply and nothing happens. Ordered a new one for only £9.99 from eBay.

Wasn't without some small battle scars to get this thing loose, they really do grip to the car haha.

 

[Bernievarian]

Could you tell us if there is any non-return device in the pump's port .. ??


BRs, Bernie

 

[The Imaginative Lad]

Could you tell us if there is any non-return device in the pump's port .. ??


BRs, Bernie

I'm not sure what you mean by this. The electrical socket itself is just 12v positive and negative terminals. The ports on the pump, one is stuck into the main assembly and the other two sockets connect to hoses for the front and back jets.

 

[Bernievarian]

in the exit ports, Something that would not allow the liquid to flow back to the reservoir…

BRs, Bernie

 

[chris3234]

Blow into the exits ports if you can blow thorough there won't be a valve probably easiest way

 

[gandhimate]

Hi and welcome,

I also have a 1.2 8v active and know what you mean on the colour coding (or lack thereof)

For inspiration, I thought you might like to see my progress so far.

I've removed the side rubbing strips, painted the wing mirror caps and changed out the door handles for some I found on ebay in the same paint code (took months of searching but well worth it) here's a before and after :

 

[The Imaginative Lad]

Blow into the exits ports if you can blow thorough there won't be a valve probably easiest way

Yeah I can blow through so no valve. Even when the motor was still connected we tried just to see if it was blocked while troubleshooting and it let air through into the bottle.

Also nice transformation gandhimate

Yesterday I took the rear door card off to find out why one of my rear windows didn't move when I turned the handle. Turns out that the cable and pulley system is a mess. Cable has been snapped, and one of the pulleys is in two pieces. Whoever did that really did not have any care for the car.