General What did you do with your Panda today?

[varesecrazy]

Bonnet up with the engine running..
First time in 2 years of ownership

It ran rough again returning to the house..
Not quite as severe.. but far from 'right'

It was 17'c yesterday.. the other time @26'c

Both times 2 hours into a 3 hour journey.. and @ 30 minutes after sitting in traffic

My only observation..
It seems to 'blow : roar' a little when its stone cold.. my punto does none of this

 

[KPat]

Fitted this USB socket with voltmeter.

 

[varesecrazy]

After 23 months of ownership..

My toolbox and panda got aquainted

Easy service stuff for now...

I shall start building GUIDES..as I did with my old 169

Being a twinair I will probably post them in MISC. Bottom of GUIDES

 

[The Panda Nut]

We went to the dentist. Noop's teeth are covered in dead flies. He needs a clean.

 

[Leroypanda]

5th MOT in a row passed!

 

[Herts Hillhopper]

At 32k miles and three years old, took the wheels off to check the brake pads and discs (MJ 4x4). All good - maybe less than half worn. Unscrewed the disc locating pegs, copper greased and replaced, so ready for a future disc replacement without mangling them. Checked behind the wheel arch liners on the rear wheels - all clear of debris. Everything else underneath looked good: clean-ish, no rust anywhere and all bushes etc in good nick. Happy with that for fairly well used car that's seen a lot of off-road muddy tracks and the odd seaside car park as well as the often potholed roads of Hertfordshire and beyond.

 

[FiatMatt94]

Gave all the underside a good clean, hosed the floor which is still holding up well after recieving a coat of Bilt Hamber Dynax UB a few months back, will do another coat after winter just to even out as the coverage is a bit light in a few small areas, but is more than good enough for now.




Then hosed out the dirt trap section up inside the wheel arch which had a coat of Bilt Hamber Dynax S50 a few months back too along with the box sections along the floor, this seems to be holding up really well & keeping the dirt out.



Then I turned my attention to the rear subframe & spring pans which was hosed off, then applied wax polish to subframe & spring pans as far as I can get in without dismantiling anything. I do this about 2-3 times a year as part of the cars maintenance which seems to help it as it is still looking quite good, just need to put some Vactan on the edges where it attaches to the rear brake backplates as there is a tiny amount of surface rust just starting.



I seem to remember reading on here about removing a rubber bung in the centre of the spring pans to clean them & found out that my Panda doesn't have them, just the holes for the water to drain out. Only thing I can think of it must of been part of the 2017 update along with the front wishbones & the rear damper bushes as I found out on the MOT.

 

[ferraricheals]

Just returned from a 5 day, 1295km road trip, CV-Massa/La Spezia-Parma-Bastiglia/Modena, around Modena, Bastiglia-Medicina-Ravenna-Cesena-Perugia-Viterbo-CV.

Odo showed 875km when we departed on the 8th, just the two of us but well loaded with heavy items on rear seat/footwell. Majority of running was Superstrada (4 lane divided, 110km/h limit) and 6th gear proved very useful - especially on the return trip when the engine seemed to be noticeably freer.

According to Fuelly, overall av so far is 7.2l/100km/39.1mpg with a best on the return trip of 5.5l/100km/51.1mpg. Not bad considering loaded & aircon on most of the time.

It's a much more enjoyable car to drive than our previous '06 Cross!

 

[gar074]

Looks good in that lovely Italian sunshine!

Those front windows look much darker than the factory tints.

 

[ferraricheals]

Looks good in that lovely Italian sunshine!

Those front windows look much darker than the factory tints.

Correct! As explained elsewhere, our Empanda was built for the Serbia market so clear glass all round. The rear side & back glass have an 80% film, front sides are 20%; strictly speaking, this is illegal in Italy but I've seen much darker tints driving around freely.

If I'm ever challenged I'll explain it's to protect my fair complexion!

 

[The Panda Nut]

Came back from Manchester on E10 petrol. Oh dear. No power and couldnt use ECO at all, Drop 2 gears to get up hill normally taken in top. I did have a ladder on the roof which was noisy at anything over 50.. Not sure if it was the ladder or the the ladder hooks that were the cause of the noise. Never again!!! Panda as ever covered the trip from Manchester in fine style. I went via a relative in Bickley -Cheshire, and back via A500 to Derby then Melton Peterborough and A47 still averaged 50mph and 40.9 mpg with the ladder and E10. It was 49.9mpg on the way up with E5 and no ladder, average of 41mph. So much easier at night but tiring doing a long drive in the dark.

 

[murphyv310]

Came back from Manchester on E10 petrol. Oh dear. No power and couldnt use ECO at all, Drop 2 gears to get up hill normally taken in top. I did have a ladder on the roof which was noisy at anything over 50.. Not sure if it was the ladder or the the ladder hooks that were the cause of the noise. Never again!!! Panda as ever covered the trip from Manchester in fine style. I went via a relative in Bickley -Cheshire, and back via A500 to Derby then Melton Peterborough and A47 still averaged 50mph and 40.9 mpg with the ladder and E10. It was 49.9mpg on the way up with E5 and no ladder, average of 41mph. So much easier at night but tiring doing a long drive in the dark.

Hi.
I can't really understand why going only to 5% of an increase that it made so much of a difference to power. In Brazil Ethanol has been the mainstay of fuel for many years and I believe in Europe E10 has been rolled out for a while and I've not read any horror stories. Putting even a big ladder on the roof won't make a huge difference to power unless your going fast which is never advisable with something like a ladder on a small vehicle, I can understand the noise though.

 

[Tom95]

I guess it's just a quirk of the car... Panda's have always seemed to be very picky about what they drink - both the FIRE and TA

 

[FiatMatt94]

Changed oil & filter as the little Panda is just 3 miles off 30k, changed with quality oil & filter as always, Castrol Magnatec 5w40 C3 & Genuine Fiat Oil Filter 55256470 for just £40 with free delivery. The next service will be a bit more as it will be the main service at 36k consisting of:

Oil & Filter
Air Filter
Spark Plugs
Gearbox Oil
Clean out throttle body
Clean the dust out of rear drums
Check breather pipe behind air filter housing
Check condition of auxilary belt.

This will be quite a way off yet as I am starting a new job & cycling to work so the Panda will get hardly any use for a while apart from my days off.
Also checked tyre treads which are wearing quite quick, pretty much half worn already considering only driven 5k since new tyres were put on for MOT 6 months ago & tyre pressures checked on a regular basis, so I won't be buying Avon ZT7 tyres again, the original Goodyear Duragrips were much better quality.

 

[Leroypanda]

Changed oil & filter as the little Panda is just 3 miles off 30k, changed with quality oil & filter as always, Castrol Magnatec 5w40 C3 & Genuine Fiat Oil Filter 55256470 for just £40 with free delivery. The next service will be a bit more as it will be the main service at 36k consisting of:

Oil & Filter
Air Filter
Spark Plugs
Gearbox Oil
Clean out throttle body
Clean the dust out of rear drums
Check breather pipe behind air filter housing
Check condition of auxilary belt.

This will be quite a way off yet as I am starting a new job & cycling to work so the Panda will get hardly any use for a while apart from my days off.
Also checked tyre treads which are wearing quite quick, pretty much half worn already considering only driven 5k since new tyres were put on for MOT 6 months ago & tyre pressures checked on a regular basis, so I won't be buying Avon ZT7 tyres again, the original Goodyear Duragrips were much better quality.

Dont forget a cam belt waterpump and tensioner every 4 years regardless of miles. As for tyres Goodyear 4 seasons...

 

[Jiffycom]

I checked my 2016 1.2 Panda over ahead of it's MOT and found the exhaust was blowing where the cat joins the middle section. The gasket had failed so I got another one off eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/392988420431

The old nuts were blobs of rust so I hammered some of the loose stuff off then hit them with a blowtorch and some Plus Gas before hammering on a twist socket (https://amzn.to/3ClEuwi) and they came off easily.

The lower stud was too far gone to reuse so I had to cut it off, drill a hole and use a new bolt. I used plenty of exhaust assembly paste on both sides of the gasket, tightened it all up and it's not blowing now.

 

[ferraricheals]

Lovely autumn day trip!

Another dreadful autumn day over here in non-BrexitLand and we gave the yellow Cross a 175km run into the hinterland, Cascate di Monte Gelato/Mount Gelato Falls. Midweek and schools in so traffic was light and the regional park was virtually empty.

Great day out and the TA continues to impress, odo now up to 2375km

 

[gar074]

Went in my wee yellow beastie to see a local retired farmer who had offered (via social media) to make me some brackets for my loudspeaker stands. Turns out that he has a huge workshop full of top-end metalworking equipment (much of it salvaged from defunct local engineering firms), is a superb (but incredibly modest) engineer, and a massive veteran & vintage car buff.

Also discovered that (1) his family are great Fiat aficionados, and among others have had several Pandas over the years; (2) like me, he's a 2CV fan, and has dismantled and rebuilt several of them; (3) he has rebuilt a 1906 Rover 6hp, and more recently, a beautiful 1915 Willys Overland 83 Tourer (no, it's not a Jeep!), machining loads of parts in his workshop.

I thought I'd be in & out of there in 15 minutes, but I stayed for 2 fascinating hours.

A morning well spent!

 

[FiatMatt94]

Fitted a new Varta C30 battery to the Panda, I suspected the original battery was on its way out as I noticed the steering was starting to feel a bit heavier than normal & was taking a bit longer to start than it usually would, so I thought with winter not far away the best course of action was to just replace it. Got it from Battery Megastore through Ebay with 20% discount code so it only cost £49.56 with free delivery. After fitting & putting vaseline on the terminals to prevent corrosion I went for a 10 mile drive after letting it run for a few minutes, money well spent as the steering now feels as it should & it now starts up a lot quicker. If anyone needs a battery get it from Battery Megastore, great service with free 24 hr delivery & you can get decent brand batteries for a lot less than motor factors, a Varta battery in ECP was £137.99. Also gave the inside of the car a good clean & vacumm as it was a bit dusty :slayer:

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Also checked tyre treads which are wearing quite quick, pretty much half worn already considering only driven 5k since new tyres were put on for MOT 6 months ago & tyre pressures checked on a regular basis, so I won't be buying Avon ZT7 tyres again, the original Goodyear Duragrips were much better quality.

Very interesting to hear your experience of the Avons. I follow minority motor sporting events with Speed Hillclimbs being a major interest. Avon racing tyres are a popular choice with many of the "serious" competitors and I've been meaning to try a set of their road tyres for some time now. So, the other day, when I had a puncture on a well worn tyre on my Ibiza, I decided to try the ZT7. When I contacted the chap I use for tyres he said he'd be pleased to supply but he wouldn't particularly recommend them as he'd noticed a few which he'd changed recently had problems with cracking at the base of the tread grooves. In fact this cracking problem is present on all 4 of the 5+ year old (original equipment) Bridgestones at present on the car and is exactly why I'm thinking of renewing them all (They have about 3.5mm still on them after doing nearly 25,000 miles and the rubber is now "hard" and doesn't grip so well in the wet).

I tend not to buy "premium" branded tyres but do go for a good "mid range" product. So, after a lot of reading of reviews - car running around on it's full size spare - and asking friends at local independent tyre suppliers, I decided to go with Falkens. Sincera SN 110 to be exact. https://www.falkentyre.com/en/tyres/car-tyres/product-detail/169291 Their publicity stuff seems to particularly claim good wet grip and this seems to be supported by several independent comparison review videos I've watched on you tube which also praised their overall performance. I'm impressed also that they supply tyres to the "drifting" community and "drifting", not a sport which particularly interests me, "punishes" tyres something rotten! If they survive that I think they'll survive anything I might do to them. I suppose that if they are slanted towards providing good wet grip it might imply that their tread rubber is somewhat on the soft side so expecting them to last for ultra high mileages may not be realistic? However that'll suit me fine as I no longer do high annual mileage so tyres "dying" due to old age and rubber degradation is much more likely than that I'll ever actually wear them out. It'll be interesting to see how they do.