General Just bought my first ever car!!

[pantalaimon]

Does it have a radio fitted already?

If so it will be attached to that. If not look around the outside of the car for signs of an arial. If it has try and follow the wire to it's end from the arial.

If it does not then you will have to fit one. If you not happy about mounting it outside the car you can buy in-car ones.

thanks, just found out where the aerial should be fitted by the passenger door, do most aerials fit there?

I'm going to halfords in a minute to get an aerial and the wiring as i don't think there is any in the car for the aerial. Also getting some cheap speakers.

 

[Harllequin]

Mine is located on the door also. If you get no joy at Halfords try your local Auto Electrician. I find my local one a LOT better than any kid at Halfords, a lot of the time cheeper too.

 

[pandafan]

Good evening,
The standard Panda stereo system had 'pods' at each end of the front parcel shelf....These are becomiong hard to find.
Secondary systems had speakers fitted at mid-points in the rear insert panels and in the door panels (front)........neither of these are 'right'. However, speakers were NEVER fitted as standard on/in the rear parcel shelf.

 

[Harllequin]

pst (steps out from a darkened allyway and whisperes) There are a pair of panda speakers on Ebay at the moment. Current bid was for 99p. It's the ones that fit in the front so the description says.

Just thought i'd give you the heads up.

(Sneaks off back to his ally)

 

[John H]

thanks, just found out where the aerial should be fitted by the passenger door, do most aerials fit there?

See this post -

https://www.fiatforum.com/showthread.php?t=16628

I don't know if they're still for sale, but it's what you want.

 

[pantalaimon]

I've bought myself some Sony speakers and fitted them on the rear shelf... which took me most of the day, cutting a hole in that plastic shelf is not fun :bang:

Anyway at least its done now, the stereo is fitted and works, all I need to do is wire up the speakers and hopefully it will work ok. Not sure how i'm going to get the speaker wire from the back to the front without showing... any tips?

As i've fitted these speakers do you think its worth getting the panda ones off ebay? Whats the sound quality like, i'm guessing they aren't too good

 

[pantalaimon]

I just got some Waxoyl and sprayed the bit of rust inside the back. Is there anywhere else you would reccomend I spray it?

 

[Harllequin]

Spray everywhere you can think of then spray the rest too

Run the wires under the carpet is your best bet.

 

[John H]

Not sure how i'm going to get the speaker wire from the back to the front without showing... any tips?

With a bit of time and effort you can thread the cables under the carpet, as advised by Harllequin.

The way I did mine involved unscrewing the plastic "kick plates" in the door opening to reveal the edge of the carpet, un-popping the blanking plug in the side just ahead of the back seat (black plastic, about 15 by 4 cms with rounded ends, it's brittle so take care), and opening up the side panels ( the front seat belts thread through them ) which are held on by push-fit plugs (a tack puller seems to get behind around the plug and apply the kind of pressure it needs to come out without damage).

You can thread the cable down behind the carpet from the edge of the parcel tray, along under the kick-plate, then follow the route of the existing car wiring at this point to get inside the shell to get behind the removable side panels.
My cables come out from under these panels towards the back of the car, behind the back seat.
I took mine down both sides of the car, but you could take both down one side, and have the "other side" cable strung across under the rear shelf.


Make sure you have a lot of slack at the back (maybe upto 1 metre), and inline connectors near the speakers too. It saves you ripping this wiring when you fold the back seats up.


It might seem like a difficult way of doing it, but while those panels and bits are off you can waxoil inside the rear wheel arch area, and put a bit down the screw holes of the kick-plates.



Regards


John H

 

[pantalaimon]

damn heater won't work now, any ideas?

 

[rrockettman]

damn heater won't work now, any ideas?

Hi and Welcome.
1. Check the coolant level, then with the engine running look for air bubbles coming through. These should stop if you have an airlock.
If they continue, you may have a more serious problem.
2. In front of the bulkhead you will see the big scoop where the air comes in for the heater. if you look at this from the drivers side, you should see the heater valve control, between the battery and the scoop. It has a couple of rubber pipes coming in and out of it and a wire that opens a butterfly valve inside. Get someone to turn the heater on and off in the car while you watch the valve to see if it works. I can't remember how much room you've got for this. I seem to remember removing the battery to get to it.
Good luck and happy Pandering.
Russ.

 

[John H]

Is there absolutely no heat? Or just a bit warm??

The heater may only working on the very last bit of the travel.
Also the thermostat has a tendancy to stick open a bit, so it takes forever to indicate warm on the gauge, and the air only gets warm when the gauge is towards mid scale.

If the gauge is indicating warm, it's possible your heater not working due to an airlock in the heater itself.

To clear an airlock:
check the coolant level (when cold), top up if necessary, then either-

with the heater control on maximum open the bleed screw in the pipe from the heater (little black disc about the size of a penny on one of the pipes behind the throttle), and rev the engine up a bit as the heater is the highest point on the system and the pump needs a bit of help to push the coolant up there.
When coolant comes out of the bleed screw, tighten it up again.

or, you can "prime" by removing the battery, the sound proofing material there, then the top hose off the heater matrix, and then pour antifreeze down the pipe until it comes out of the matrix and put the pipe back on promptly.
While it's all out, you can see the valve Russ described, and see if it opens fully when the heater control is moved.

It is worth looking for a coolant leak, if you had to bleed the heating.


Let us know how you get on.


John H


P.S. it's not unusual for a newly acquired Panda to need a bit of sorting out.
Don't despair.

 

[pantalaimon]

ok, thanks for the tips, i'll have a look tomorrow... i'm knackered, took me two days to get the stereo and speakers set up

thought most of the hard work was done, now the heater goes...

there wasn't much water in the coolant part, engine almost overheated whilst driving. There was loads of crap in there too.

Apart from the heater going i'm really pleased with it, with the condition its in now after i've cleaned it up and fit the stereo etc I feel like I picked up a bargain for £450

 

[John H]

there wasn't much water in the coolant part, engine almost overheated whilst driving. There was loads of crap in there too.

Can you describe the carp?

Depending on what you found, it's possible that there's rather more work to do than just bleed the system.

 

[pantalaimon]

went to take it to the garage to fix the heater and it started working again so that saved me a bit of money, we did bleed it yesterday so that must have done the trick. Only water in there at the moment though, tomorrow i'm going to have to put an antifreeze mixture in there.

Thats about all for now, just going to save up and get the doors done and get it in for a service.

I'll take some pictures of it tomorrow and post them here if you'd like to see what you've been helping me on

 

[John H]

Looking forward to the pictures.

Regarding antifreeze, bleeding, and all that - as you say you do need antifreeze mixture in there:
it helps stop corrosion problems in the engine - cylinder head gasket area and a steel coolant pipe suffer.
In addition to the obvious benefit of "anti-freeze" this weather.

Normal top up would around half and half, but if you're topping up following water it might be worth putting a similar ammount of neat antifreeze.

If there has been any shortage of coolant in the system, it's worth checking that the radiator gets hot at the top.
Any doubts - there is a bleed screw at the top, lefthand side as you face it.
Mind not to scald yourself.

After putting in new antifreeze mixture in it's worth keeping an eye out for leakage, and the level in the header.



Regards

John H