My wife has a 55 1.2 Eleganza which I bought her for a song (just £1,900!) from eBay. It is a nice nmetallic blue and has alloys, aircon, roofbars etc. etc. and runs like a dream with 52K on the clock. I drove it back the 200 miles from Glasgow without a missed beat.
However, it came with no service history whatsoever, the guy I bought it off said he had done it himself and at that price I wasn't complaining.....so for piece of mind I took it to a local independent garage for a once over and a cam belt change and they suggested that whilst the oil was quite clean and the brakes had been maintained etc. etc. they couldn't change the plugs because they were extremely tight and they were worried about snapping them as they are so small(?). It is still running well but I suspect that the plugs are factory fitted and therefore have over 50K under their belt so could do with replacing......
As a former aircooled VW owner I am well aware of the problems of stripping threads on heads removing plugs (they have a soft alloy block and it is a common problem that required taking the head off and helicoiling ) but I have never considered snapping plugs. Is this a problem with the Panda's? Should I just use a big bar and give 'em a bit of welly? Maybe it might be easier when the engine is good and hot?
Any ideas?
However, it came with no service history whatsoever, the guy I bought it off said he had done it himself and at that price I wasn't complaining.....so for piece of mind I took it to a local independent garage for a once over and a cam belt change and they suggested that whilst the oil was quite clean and the brakes had been maintained etc. etc. they couldn't change the plugs because they were extremely tight and they were worried about snapping them as they are so small(?). It is still running well but I suspect that the plugs are factory fitted and therefore have over 50K under their belt so could do with replacing......
As a former aircooled VW owner I am well aware of the problems of stripping threads on heads removing plugs (they have a soft alloy block and it is a common problem that required taking the head off and helicoiling ) but I have never considered snapping plugs. Is this a problem with the Panda's? Should I just use a big bar and give 'em a bit of welly? Maybe it might be easier when the engine is good and hot?
Any ideas?
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