Technical It's Service Time!

[ahmett]

The plugs do indeed show the engine to be in good condition but the plugs themselves look shot. Those photos don't show the important detail of the shape of the central electrode but you can clearly see a yellow ring around the base of the ceramic.

Good flame propogation needs a sharp edges and unfortunately the central electrode on copper cored plugs rounds off quite quickly due to spark erosion. The performance of Cu plugs degrades significantly after about 10,000 miles - you will usually notice a difference in the way the car drives if you replace the plugs at this point. Ir electrodes are much more durable and maintain a sharp discharge point for many thousands more miles.

Jrkitching yes exactly! After the service today the car felt significantly more powerful especially low in the rev range. The car was so sluggish at slow speed with the ac on before the service today that I thought the clutch was slipping! Now all that is gone. And this much difference after only exactly 15,000 km and 9 months of driving, so not even 10,000 miles! I first started to notice the effect of the spark plug deterioration around 8,000 miles into them. I should have taken the picture of the spark plugs next to the ones that were about to replace it and you would have seen the difference in color and all the corrosion on the old one!

The spark plugs I put in are Denso copper's, lets see if they last any longer than the NGK copper's.

 

[ahmett]

A quick service report at 75,000 km and 3 years
Nothing major wrong, I saw a small amount of gearbox oil leaking from the gearbox but when I asked the mechanic he said no worries the amount is so little literally like a drop and it was mixed with dirt so barely even oil and he said could be just condensation (wrong translation) from gearbox getting hot. He said not to worry, he checked the gearbox oil level which was fine and said maybe next service we change the oil and have a closer look. He had a good look at it and didn't seem worried. My gearbox is working normally and the body computer is not reporting any faults.

They told me to change the timing belt and auxiliary belt but I could see from the bottom of the car that the timing belt looked just fine so I am not going to change it.
Risky business? Could be but I think 75,000 km and 3 years is too early especially when there seems to be no damage from looking at the bottom of the car and no leak whatsoever from the water pump.

Front pads and discs are ok, discs may eventually need changing, will probably do that when the front pads wear out but right now they have plenty of meat in them.
Rear discs just fine and pads ok too, much less abuse than front brakes of course.

Exhaust looks ok, no excessive corrosion. Doesn't look perfect as it isn't stainless steel, but we hit it a few times no loose parts and no real corrosion to be seen.

Suspension? Well we know how Fiat's suspension is amazing but its really actually not that bad, so I will upgrade to Billies eventually but for now I think I can get away with the current suspension and top mounts to be changed together when suspension to be changed.

Other than that just the normal full fat service maintenance items so the car is looking quite ok reliability-wise after 75,000 km and 3 years!
My headlight issue with the bulb periodically going on and off is apparently because I had replaced the lightbulb in the wrong way meaning I hadn't fitted it properly back into the socket which caused the bulb to overheat in the 2 weeks that I had it connected in the wrong way. This has caused some of the plastic to melt away in the lightbulb holder which makes replacing the lightbulb more different and every now and then I have to push the lightbulb together into the socket (it sometimes get a bit loose) as the lightbulb every few days or so does not turn on until I put it back in. I am keeping an eye on this if it becomes a bigger problem will probably have to replace the lightbulb socket. But then again this is my fault and not Fiat's fault so I can't call this a reliability issue!

Regarding the cost of the service, it was 147 Euros all in.
This included:
60 euros labor for changing of oil+filter, air filter, cabin filter, spark plugs.
3.5 liters of Castrol Magnatec 5w-40 C3 oil was used at (I bought 4 liters) 8 euros a liter = 32 Euros.
25 Euros air filter (I know crazy high price my indie gave me for that) - magnetti marelli
9 Euros Cabin Filter (magnetti marelli)
12 Euros Denso Spark Plugs.
5 Euros Oil Filter (magnetti marelli).

 

[jrkitching]

The spark plugs I put in are Denso copper's, lets see if they last any longer than the NGK copper's.

Sadly Ahmett they probably won't - copper is a soft metal & the constant sparking will soon round off the edge on the centre electrode. Expect to get about 12000-15000 km before they need replacing again.

Plan ahead next time & we'll find a way of getting some Ir plugs over to you.

 

[ahmett]

Sadly Ahmett they probably won't - copper is a soft metal & the constant sparking will soon round off the edge on the centre electrode. Expect to get about 12000-15000 km before they need replacing again.

Plan ahead next time & we'll find a way of getting some Ir plugs over to you.

Wow my car feels good! Tbh i was thinking of simply having a full fat service every 15000 km instead of 30 thus sticking with the coppers as after 15000 the car starts burning more oil as its dirty.

 

[jrkitching]

Tbh i was thinking of simply having a full fat service every 15000 km instead of 30 thus sticking with the coppers as after 15000 the car starts burning more oil as its dirty.

Lots of folks don't realise how much of a difference worn plugs make. 180000 miles on Cu core plugs will leave them way past their best,

If you think it runs well on new OEM plugs, just wait till you try it on Iridiums. With Ir plugs fitted, oil & filter change after 15000km is all you need for a halfway service .