Looking for a specialist that isnt arnold clark (glasgow)

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I have been looking for a decent 2nd hand electric car and have found that the ones on offer for around £10000.... which is much more than I want to pay are not quoting any range and the one that did was 75 miles and at £9800 and 9 years old does not looke even vagualy favorable. I shall carry on looking and see if anything binteresting does materialise. I have in min a budget of £2-3K bur epxect something tolerable and with a recently verified range checked at around 90 miles, anything less would be a pain. It will be interesting to see if your comments on EV's are correct.
I have spoken at length to GEM's technical advisor on oils and he seems well informed and in touch with car and engine maufacturers and oil makers too. He was very firmly of the opinion that sticking to EXACTLY whats recommended is the right choice. Oils are manufactured to produce the properties required these days and additives no longer likely to benefit. Adding anything to the correct spec oil on a TA is in my opinion an act of suicidal proportions. The oil in a TA lubricates and acts as a hydraulic oil and affectsthe proper running and timing of the engine. Mess with it if you want to, but this Panda Nuts not for messing with such a vital and specific tolerance component. Im even wary of moving from the Petronas oil specified, And I am NOT impressed with Petronas oil having recently got it our of our two 169's I fear its damaged one and done the other no good at all. The 2014 car has no oil supply related rattles at all on start up even after 3 weeks of standing in the garage in 30C heat with Castrol, unlike with Petronas Syntium. I wouldnt use that for oiling gate hinges!!! It resembled bad quality cooking oil after a chip pan fire after around 2000 miles of running driven very sensibly by Mrs P Nut who is probably the worlds mist sensible driver. (For that also read frustartingly slow on any long drive)

Yup, the thing with the twin and multi air engines is that the oil is not just lubricating but acting as a hydraulic fluid - like in a jack - it's being asked to do stuff which other engines don't do. Just use the specified oil on it's own. It's not unusual to find wee filters in oil supplies on modern engines VVT actuators (solenoid valves) seem to always have them. I'd only use a flushing oil if I knew the engine had been flushed at every oil change so was likely to be "clean and shiny" inside.

We've been contributors in another thread where petronas syntium was getting a bit of a bashing from folk. I had been noticing that the tappets on our FIRE engine were clicking away for a while on a cold start, longer than normal. I changed to Fuchs Titan GT1 5w-40 because I had started using Fuchs in my Ibiza so could order oil for both Fiats and the Ibiza (although different grade for the Ibiza) at the same time. The "clicking" time immediately halved when the Fuchs was in the sump.

 

[The Panda Nut]

For the TA misfire I offer this from Mark Stammers who seems to knowm his stuff from the internet. Fascinating stuff and more evidence NOT to mess with the TA maintenance.

Fiat TwinAir misfire

Fiat Panda TwinAir 0.9L turbo (2013) I was called in to look at this vehicle, after the garage had replaced both ignition coils and spark plugs, in response to a cylinder number 1 misfire condition…

markstammersdiagnostics.com

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

For the TA misfire I offer this from Mark Stammers who seems to knowm his stuff from the internet. Fascinating stuff and more evidence NOT to mess with the TA maintenance.

Fiat TwinAir misfire

Fiat Panda TwinAir 0.9L turbo (2013) I was called in to look at this vehicle, after the garage had replaced both ignition coils and spark plugs, in response to a cylinder number 1 misfire condition…

markstammersdiagnostics.com

Thank you very much for posting this link. Spare time is difficult just now as we've got my daughter and her "tribe" staying for the week but I've been ducking in and out of it a few times as time permits and I'm fascinated by what he found. I'm very interested by diagnostics done using scopes such as the Pico (can't afford or justify buying one I'm afraid) and I will be returning to this article many times I'm sure.

As I've said before, the idea behind these hydraulically actuated valve systems is most intriguing due to the flexibility of control over valve timing, lift and duration but I think it unlikely I'd ever buy one as I like to keep thing as simple as possible on any vehicle I run.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Yes its really good to know its possible to check a fault is or isnt the TA unit. The more I understand of the twinair module the less scared of it I am. I will soon be cleaning the filter on mine as I am pretty sure this is key to its long life. I do however have a feeling Desira may have included this in the last service so will have to check the paperwork. Keeping my oil clean is also now an obsession. I have taken to returning home from shopping down the A47 where we can do a bit if Italian driving.

Daffo (approaching 66K) seems to be supping water so my local man is pricing up cam belt, water pump and cylinder head removal. I willl have the head pressure tested and skimmed, check valves and repair the damaged plug thread at the same time This should sort the thing out completley once and for all. The annoying thing is its running beautifully and its much quicker than Ruby although Im not sure that one has ever been driven properly and its probably only just beginning to really loosen up. It sits in the garage showing exactly 38000. Im still hoping my manchester based daughter will take it over as its pretty daft having three cars only one gets a lot of use. Its such a perfect thing I dont think I will be able just to sell it off.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Anyone know if the OP found "a specialist that isn't Arnold Clark"?