General Newbie questions

[Maxbumpo]

Hi all,

I've got to help repair / maintain a early 90's Panda 1000, which belongs to SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed), aka My Domestic Superior. She bought it about 20 years ago in Italy, and we keep it there to use when on vacation.

I've got to fix a leaky axle boot which allows all the gear lube in the transmission to drain out, so I'm trying to find some repair information to figure out how to get that axle apart and install the new boot.

Is the Haynes repair manual any good? I've got several old Mercedes that I maintain/repair here in the States, and the Hanes manuals for those are pretty much useless, so I have copies of the factory service manuals (which really aren't the greatest, translated from German and all, but they are much better than Haynes).

Is there a DIY section in the forum for various repairs?

Thanks,
Max

 

[onemanmade]

Hi all,

I've got to help repair / maintain a early 90's Panda 1000, which belongs to SWMBO (She Who Must Be Obeyed), aka My Domestic Superior. She bought it about 20 years ago in Italy, and we keep it there to use when on vacation.

I've got to fix a leaky axle boot which allows all the gear lube in the transmission to drain out, so I'm trying to find some repair information to figure out how to get that axle apart and install the new boot.

Is the Haynes repair manual any good? I've got several old Mercedes that I maintain/repair here in the States, and the Hanes manuals for those are pretty much useless, so I have copies of the factory service manuals (which really aren't the greatest, translated from German and all, but they are much better than Haynes).

Is there a DIY section in the forum for various repairs?

Thanks,
Max

The Haynes manual in many respects is utter crap for the panda.

Get the porter manual

 

[firstcar-Y10]

The Haynes manual in many respects is utter crap for the panda.

Get the porter manual

So just to clarify, I've got both, Haynes is well used and usually spot on. My Porters manual is lovely and clean and unused due to having little to no detail on anything more complicated than an oil change. Porters was sold by the Fiat garages so its main aim seems to be diagnosing what's wrong so you can take it back to your friendly Fiat garage.
Only problems with Haynes are there are no details on 4x4 specific stuff, and the 'later models' section at the back only goes as far as the Bosch injection setup with dizzy and does not cover the Marelli twin coil setup.

 

[onemanmade]

So just to clarify, I've got both, Haynes is well used and usually spot on. My Porters manual is lovely and clean and unused due to having little to no detail on anything more complicated than an oil change. Porters was sold by the Fiat garages so its main aim seems to be diagnosing what's wrong so you can take it back to your friendly Fiat garage.
Only problems with Haynes are there are no details on 4x4 specific stuff, and the 'later models' section at the back only goes as far as the Bosch injection setup with dizzy and does not cover the Marelli twin coil setup.

What Haynes one have you got? I have the one with the brown cover? Think there was one with a blue cover too?

 

[kolza]

there are few different editions on Haynes book, I've got one green and two blue ones all covering different things, years in different detail levels.
Porters is getting used not that often as I'm strugling to locate information due to totaly different layout. for specification data I do mostly refer to Fiat service manuals pdf. Eper ilustrations does the job if you're not sure how to take things apart.

Only problems with Haynes are there are no details on 4x4 specific stuff

are you the mistery 4x4 buyer?

 

[Maxbumpo]

Manuals & PDF's & ePer

Thanks for all the inputs. I'll try to get a Haynes manual for now, price is not too outrageous.

Factory PDF's somewhere online?

I tried to get into the ePer thing, would only get a few screens in and it would crash. Any secret to that?

 

[kolza]

Sixth post from the top
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-classic/319064-classic-panda-literature-3.html

 

[firstcar-Y10]

What Haynes one have you got? I have the one with the brown cover? Think there was one with a blue cover too?

Got 3 I think, brown one definitely, green one I think, and another one. I do also have a pukka Fiat workshop manual for an Uno to cover engine stuff, but never used it even when I had the engine apart last year.

are you the mistery 4x4 buyer?

Nope, no mystery 4x4 here (but I would say that wouldn't I

) I should perhaps qualify my earlier statement: the lack of 4x4 stuff is only a "problem" if you have a 4x4, and likewise I never had an issue with the lack of info on later injection models 'till I got one.

 

[onemanmade]

Well to explain my position the photos are small, black and white and presumably taken by someone who's list of priorities did not necessarily include actually getting a clear view of the working area in the photo.

For example the instructions off the top of my head for removing the starter motor are as follows: "remove the starter motor" with no instructions on locating it, position of bolts or even how many bolts.

 

[panda1408]

I have Haynes, Porter and an original Fiat service manual in a binder, if I ever do need to look up something, I always go to the Haynes first, followed by the Fiat service manual. Never bother with the Porter as it's never seemed much use and only really covers the basics.

The Haynes has a good section on replacing the driveshaft gaiters anyway

 

[rendo]

Maxbumpo, there are descriptions on the site for doing this job, i had to replace a boot earlier this year.

i used a combination of this site and a haynes manual and managed ok.

maybe try a search for Gaitor, driveshaft etc..