General Request for advice

[chrisgg]

Hi everyone,
I am new to this forum and not a technical person. I am hoping someone could offer some advice for my 2018 Fiat Panda 1.2 Petrol with 29k miles. I have had this car from new.

I have just had to change from my regualar garage due to retirement. I booked my Panda in for a full service and MOT. The garage called with a list of what work needs doing over and above the service & MOT. This includes:
Front Discs and Pads
2 x rear shocks
4 x tyres
Brake Fluid
Coolant change
Cam Belt & Water pump

Becuase I know very little about cars I have done a little research online (how I found this forum). My findings & thoughts are that the Cam belt is recommended to be changed every 5 years or 75k miles, shock absorbers usually last longer than this, brake disks usually last longer than this, the other items I assume are expected wear and tear.

For reference, I am not an aggressive driver and avoid pot holes where possible and live in the midlands and use mainly main roads. My old regular garage used to tell me when things were on their way out but say you can probably get another year etc etc.
Having discussed this with the new garage, they have said these are the recommended repairs and wouldn't commit to saying the extent of need to replace.

Having very little knowledge about the items, I have no idea whether these recommendations are average for the age & miles of the car or whether some of these are excessively careful.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Chris

 

[jrkitching]

They said there was a lot of wear on the front tyres on the inside?

I'm surprised no one else has picked up on this. It suggests that all is not as it should be with the tracking - by no means unusual on these cars. It would also explain why you've seemingly come close to wearing out 4 tyres in less than 29,000 miles of careful driving. I'd certainly be getting the front toe checked when the new tyres are fitted, or the replacements won't last any longer.

And by the way, if you do decide to only replace two tyres, the replacements need to go on the rear wheels, moving the existing rears to the front. Any reputable tyre changing place will do this as a matter of course, at no extra cost. If you are a member (or know someone who is) COSTCO in MK will supply and fit good quality tyres at a keen price, and will rotate them as necessary when fitting.

Regarding the cambelt, I can understand you wanting peace of mind. The difficulty is that whilst after 4yrs/29K it's almost certainly absolutely fine, you definitely don't want the consequences that would result if it did break. I wouldn't want to steer you toward leaving it and for you then to have a problem.

That said, they almost never fail, even when run well beyond the age and mileage yours has covered. I can't remember the last time I saw a post here reporting an actual failure, and I'd be most surprised if one broke this side of 10yrs/100000 miles on a normally driven car. What we do see quite frequently are posts from folks who've had issues after having one changed. The replacement procedure isn't completely straightforward or standard, and whilst there's no problem if done correctly, it does offer endless possibilities to go wrong and get into difficulties. This isn't confined to DIY types; quite a few garages have got it wrong and left cars not running properly after the job has been done. Ultimately you must make the decision about when to have it done, but I would strongly recommend only entrusting this job to a Fiat specialist or franchised dealer. At the very least, ask the garage if they've recent experience of changing a belt on a 1.2 VVT FIRE.

In your position, I'd ask the garage to do the minimum necessary to get the MOT, and then do a little more homework to find somewhere else that inspires a bit more confidence for the rest.

Next year, you might consider having the MOT carried out at a testing centre which doesn't do repairs or servicing; that way, there's no incentive for them to pressure you into having work done that might not strictly be necessary. One such place reasonably local to you is Just MOT at Newport Pagnell and I can personally recommend them if you want a 'fair' MOT (and the price is usually discounted, too).

 

[chrisgg]

I'm surprised no one else has picked up on this. It suggests that all is not as it should be with the tracking - by no means unusual on these cars. It would also explain why you've seemingly come close to wearing out 4 tyres in less than 29,000 miles of careful driving. I'd certainly be getting the front toe checked when the new tyres are fitted, or the replacements won't last any longer.

And by the way, if you do decide to only replace two tyres, the replacements need to go on the rear wheels, moving the existing rears to the front. Any reputable tyre changing place will do this as a matter of course, at no extra cost. If you are a member (or know someone who is) COSTCO in MK will supply and fit good quality tyres at a keen price, and will rotate them as necessary when fitting.

Regarding the cambelt, I can understand you wanting peace of mind. The difficulty is that whilst after 4yrs/29K it's almost certainly absolutely fine, you definitely don't want the consequences that would result if it did break. I wouldn't want to steer you toward leaving it and for you then to have a problem.

That said, they almost never fail, even when run well beyond the age and mileage yours has covered. I can't remember the last time I saw a post here reporting an actual failure, and I'd be most surprised if one broke this side of 10yrs/100000 miles on a normally driven car. What we do see quite frequently are posts from folks who've had issues after having one changed. The replacement procedure isn't completely straightforward or standard, and whilst there's no problem if done correctly, it does offer endless possibilities to go wrong and get into difficulties. This isn't confined to DIY types; quite a few garages have got it wrong and left cars not running properly after the job has been done. Ultimately you must make the decision about when to have it done, but I would strongly recommend only entrusting this job to a Fiat specialist or franchised dealer. At the very least, ask the garage if they've recent experience of changing a belt on a 1.2 VVT FIRE.

In your position, I'd ask the garage to do the minimum necessary to get the MOT, and then do a little more homework to find somewhere else that inspires a bit more confidence for the rest.

Next year, you might consider having the MOT carried out at a testing centre which doesn't do repairs or servicing; that way, there's no incentive for them to pressure you into having work done that might not strictly be necessary. One such place reasonably local to you is Just MOT at Newport Pagnell and I can personally recommend them if you want a 'fair' MOT (and the price is usually discounted, too).

Thank you for the advice, I agree with the minimum mot pass. Our local fiat dealer motor vogue doesn't have a great reputation. There has been issues with my old garage getting parts from them plus a friend who had an alfa giulia had a couple of really bad experiences with them.
All the advice is brilliant and I will update everyone on the outcomes

 

[The Panda Nut]

The EML (engine magagement lighht) will throw out an error code that should identify the specific issue. If you can get the car to someone on the MES register to read the code(s) you might get nearer the cause. If you remove the oil filler cap, is there any yellow gunge underneath or round the threads. We had an issue that. The garage (main dealer) said was a partial blockage of the crankcase breather pipe and the flame arrester specifically. This caused other issues that I had the main dealer fix at heavy cost, but would now definitely do myself. They cleaned these but its a job that needs little more than a screw driver to do. I am in Norfolk but I think there is someone with MES in Cambridgeshire which is nearer I believe.

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

Thank you for your advice. The warning is definately the engine warning and not a triangle. The esc yellow light is less frequent as said before. I will wait to hear what the garage says as the car is with them at the moment.
I really wished I had joined this forum before taking the car anywhere
Again, thank you all for such good points and advice

This all points to needing a new battery. About £90 (online from Tayna in Wales) and the warnings will all go away. (If the voltage is low, the system that monitors the engine etc is 'fooled' by getting wrong info from the sensors owing to low voltage. tis means any codes that are read will likely not be the 'real' problem.)

If it were me, I'd NOT be doing that cam belt and water pump. Not at that mileage or age... You should be able to go double on both of those!

Tyres - definitely. And get the tracking fixed - tyres worn on the inside edges at only 29000 miles shows its well off.

And the rest, put it though teh MOT first and see what they say. If they pass the brakes and shocks then you don't need to spend the money! If advisory, again, can wait. *The discs may well be a bit rusty as they've not seen much use.

My Panda is on 45000 miles, on original brakes and shocks, but has had the tyres replaced (at about 30000 miles i think). It will get teh brakes changed at service in May - could go longer but maybe not a whole year (8000-10000 miles) more

You are being taken for a ride. Big time! I'd ask for the car back and then, replace the tyres, sort the tracking and find an independent MOT-only test centre.

 

[chrisgg]

The garage called today and told me the fault was due to a faulty accelerator throttle thing, sorry I cannot remember the exact words. They have said it will solve the problem. Fingers crossed no more yellow lights
I am going to get that fixed to get it through the mot and deal with the other things over time with the cam belt being first. A friend has said he will look at the disks, pads and shocks for me to give an indication of urgency. (He does his own servicing)
As said, I don't have any doubts about what is being reported is correct, I just don't have enough knowledge to make an evaluated decision as to urgency or severity.

Just to reiterate, I cannot thank you all enough for all the advice and help given. It really is much appreciated as i really know nothing about cars.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Panda front discs and pads cost up to about £150 for top quality parts and to fo both sides takes no more than 1.5 hours. PArts can be had for considerably less without compromising quality much. If your friend is willing I sould buy him a bottle or two and let him rip. If I were near enough I would have beenhappy to knock this out for you. You will probably fin the lower rubber bushes have ripped and I havnt found anywhere to replace these. I find the dampers get harder as they age and changing them improves the ride no end even though they may be functional. If you are doing dampers a full set front and back is the way to go to ensure the car rides and handles well. You can do front or back separately but wont get the benefit of a properly smooth ride for a prolonged period. Again my experience is that if one end has failed ordeterioraetd the other will not be far behind. Normally suspension dampers will last c80,000 miles in normal use. Im glad you are on the way to restoring control!!

 

[chrisgg]

Hi all,
A quick update. Firstly thank you to everyone for all the help and advice, it was truly invaluable.
The warning light is fixed (so far) by a new accelerator pedal switch sensor thing.
I've had the 2 front tyres done and the cam belt is booked in.
A couple of friends who know about cars have kindly looked at it and said the shock arms snd shocks don't need doing, lots of life in them. The rear tyres have a couple of perish cracks between the treads, nothing major though. A friends is going to do the pads and disks even though there is loads of life in the disks he said its worth changing at the same time as the pads. 2x disks were £25 so not worth worrying about.
All in all, much cheaper then quoted. I've hopefully found a garage that is doing the cam belt who are realistic to when things need changing.
Thank you all again for your help