First, hi all, nice to finally find a site like this. I've owned my Tipo for about two years now and have muddled through problems on my own in the past, but this one is slightly beyond my understanding.
Recently I've noticed some smoke from the exhaust under heavy acceleration. I suspect it's the turbo (engine is a 1.9 TD), as smoke is only noticeable under heavy boost. Unfortunately I can't see the colour of the smoke, as I've only ever seen it at night when it's been lit up by the headlights of the car behind me. Do any of you know what could be causing this, if it's likely to get any worse/terminal etc? I saw some pale looking smoke a year ago, but changed the air filter and that seemed to fix it. I think performance may have dropped off a bit, but I may be imagining that. What's slightly more concerning is that the car uses a bit more oil than I'm used to - perhaps a litre every couple of thousand miles. Which reminds me, it's due an oil and filter change...
A couple of other minor niggles while I'm here - the manual says not to idle the engine after stopping to protect the turbo, which is contrary to how I thought you should treat them. Am I reading the manual wrong, or is the car sophisticated enough to look after the turbo itself?
A couple of weeks back the RHS electric mirror got bashed by the dustmen. Fiat have quoted me over £100 for an entire new unit, but I only really need a couple of bits. I think I can replace the outer shell with a manual mirror I've got hold of (hopefully the inside connections are the same), but I also need a threaded connector pin type thing as I've only got two left, out of four. Are the insides of the mirror shared components at all, because DGT tipos are a bit rare on scrap heaps?
Finally, I really should change the cambelt some time. I don't know when it was last done, and I've had it for two years now, so it must be due. Is it doable by an amateur, i.e. can it be done with the engine in place?
Thanks for your time people, as I said I've fixed some pretty obscure problems myself in the past so hopefully I can help one of you out one day. I really don't want to have to scrap this car until I absolutely have to.
Recently I've noticed some smoke from the exhaust under heavy acceleration. I suspect it's the turbo (engine is a 1.9 TD), as smoke is only noticeable under heavy boost. Unfortunately I can't see the colour of the smoke, as I've only ever seen it at night when it's been lit up by the headlights of the car behind me. Do any of you know what could be causing this, if it's likely to get any worse/terminal etc? I saw some pale looking smoke a year ago, but changed the air filter and that seemed to fix it. I think performance may have dropped off a bit, but I may be imagining that. What's slightly more concerning is that the car uses a bit more oil than I'm used to - perhaps a litre every couple of thousand miles. Which reminds me, it's due an oil and filter change...
A couple of other minor niggles while I'm here - the manual says not to idle the engine after stopping to protect the turbo, which is contrary to how I thought you should treat them. Am I reading the manual wrong, or is the car sophisticated enough to look after the turbo itself?
A couple of weeks back the RHS electric mirror got bashed by the dustmen. Fiat have quoted me over £100 for an entire new unit, but I only really need a couple of bits. I think I can replace the outer shell with a manual mirror I've got hold of (hopefully the inside connections are the same), but I also need a threaded connector pin type thing as I've only got two left, out of four. Are the insides of the mirror shared components at all, because DGT tipos are a bit rare on scrap heaps?
Finally, I really should change the cambelt some time. I don't know when it was last done, and I've had it for two years now, so it must be due. Is it doable by an amateur, i.e. can it be done with the engine in place?
Thanks for your time people, as I said I've fixed some pretty obscure problems myself in the past so hopefully I can help one of you out one day. I really don't want to have to scrap this car until I absolutely have to.