Panda vicfox.

[vicfox]

Hi, I have just bought a 2009 1.1 eco, my first Fiat at 76 years old after a lifetime of classics from a Ford Pilot several Minis a Scimitar 6a several Volvos a Morris Traveller and a Skoda Fabia and I may have missed a few off that list, but it spanned a lifetime of cars from 2 new ones the rest in various degrees of condition where I learnt to fix lots of things by trial and error or belonging to clubs, hence I have turned up here.
Kind regards,
Vic.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Welcome to the forum.
Wow. Its taken you a long time for you to get to the top of the motoring pot. You will find the panda an easy car to work on. They do seem to like a bit of fettling, especially front brakes which are prone to sticking if not cleaned regularly. Self adjusting back brakes also tend not to self adjust when dust gets in the way. I have been told to vacuum the drums via a wheel bolt hole. Not long since striped and cleaned but I shall try this and find out. WHy these little cars are so infectious I dont know, but they are a joy to drive and economical and cheap to run and insure so great in retirement when more miles are local. Long journies are not a chore though.

I hope you have great motoring.

 

[steveras57]

Hi and welcome to fiats!- the term " I learnt to fix a lot of things!" is gonna come in handy!- not that they are bad cars just that being Italian( like there women!) they demand a lot of love attention &money!

 

[Twotone2]

Aye, I had my van (Nemo) in for a service and MOT last week at my usual garage, been going to them for about 20 years, and I told the owner that we'd bought a Panda 4x4 and I got that look 'well don't bring it here' bit disappointed in his attitude to be honest cause all of our cars (three) and my van have been going to him for years, he is getting old though and is probably at retirement age now, there's only him and another mechanic who might take over the business and who has worked there for as long as I've been going there.

When I had issues with my van's blue and me module last year they really didn't want to know to be honest, probably easier ways to make money than messing about with fault codes in an old van.

 

[09 johno]

I have a 2009 1.1 panda, the thing I like about it, is that for a modernish car, its pretty easy to work on and most faults are a simple fix, be aware of the common wiring fault that effects the power to one of the coils its normally a bad connection at the ECU on the rear plug. causes the fault light to come on and the engine to only fire on two cylinders as the coil loses power, normally happens after a bump like a pothole or driving down bumpy b roads. So to help prevent this raise the wiring harness up and secure it near the ecu to prevent the harness pulling on the plug and use long tie wraps to strap the plugs down into the ECU..

 

[steveras57]

I have a 2009 1.1 panda, the thing I like about it, is that for a modernish car, its pretty easy to work on and most faults are a simple fix, be aware of the common wiring fault that effects the power to one of the coils its normally a bad connection at the ECU on the rear plug. causes the fault light to come on and the engine to only fire on two cylinders as the coil loses power, normally happens after a bump like a pothole or driving down bumpy b roads. So to help prevent this raise the wiring harness up and secure it near the ecu to prevent the harness pulling on the plug and use long tie wraps to strap the plugs down into the ECU..

sound advice!

 

[rmjbn1]

Hi and welcome We've had our 1.2 just over five years, and very happy with it, just a few cheap age-related consumables in that time so no complaints.

A big relief to me is the main body is galvanised so rust isn't too much of a concern (for the first time in my life) and the FIRE engines are tough and efficient.

The few areas that can rust:

• rear axle spring pans
• rear sills (access to treat rust via rubber bung in rear wheel arch)
• mud trap behind front springs
• coolant return pipe across front of engine
• engine sump pan
• exhaust bracket below cat

Check the 'duckbill' scuttle drains below the wipers are clear - they block easily.