Learn to appreciate your Fiat

[ga.spyder]

I had an experience today that puts our little cars into perspective.My 2003 F-150 Supercrew has been the best vehicle I have ever owned .Absolutely bulletproof.Never seen the inside of a shop, only routine maint.,brake pads,etc..in 137,00 miles.Today,I start her up and the idle is rough.Drove for a while and it is missing!Bad at low rpm.Then the 'check engine' light comes on!Ran the code on a cheap OBD scanner..misfire below 1000rpm. DUH! Wont read the more specific Ford code.Anyone ever look under the hood of these modern engines? There is almost nothing familiar.No dizzy,wires ,plugs(you can spot).Where do you start? It makes you appreciate the simplicity of the Fiat design.It may have its peculiarities but it is straightforward.Makes me wonder about these mechanics that wont work on a Fiat.Every last one of them would tell me to bring my F-150 right in!! Looks like it gets to visit a shop come Monday.Taking out the second mortgage come Tuesday !!
Craig

[Gunsmith]

That is kind of funny how shops are afraid of the Fiat and welcome the complicated vehicle. I bought an Impala SS new in 95. I thought well it has a Corvette drive train, so small block Chevy no problem I could fix anything on this car. Then I opened the hood and could not recognize anything and immediately asked the salesman "So how much is that extended warranty anyways?"

[rlux4]

Amen! Amen!
I changed the plugs in the wife's Dodge Caravan and there are two in the rear against the firewall that make taking out the top tranny bolts on the Spider seem like child's play!
Ron

[kilrwail]

I will second that thought as well. I recently had a rar calliper seize on the truck, but quickly decided to have a shop replace it. None of my jacks, jackstands or collection of wrenches were intended for anything that big and heavy. The truck weighs as much as two Fiats! But it does its intended job very well.

[narfire]

I'll second or third or fourth that. I've just parked my 99 expidition. Yeup it was bullit proof,sort of, for the driving I used to do on logging roads and such.(300000 miles) Like you, the only thing I would tackle was oil changes and replace brake pads,I did find the washer fluid bottle and top that up. Just bought a 92 VW Golf,(gas)I can see the engine and where stuff is and goes. Currently the fuel guage is 1/2 tank and I have 420 kms on the trip odometer.After working on the Fiat(and still) the VW does'nt scare me much.
The Fiat as you say is a great simple design and other than a few what we might consider "goofy" design issues, the car is a delight to work on.
Cheers to keeping things simple

[mdrburchette]

It's funny how some shops refuse to even look at a Fiat. Kinda makes you wonder if they're qualified to work on any vehicle. Afterall, cars are cars and there really isn't that much difference in the way they function once you take away all of that electronic crap.

[mbouse]

don't most of those shops send guys to school to learn the latest and greatest?

then, they spend an awful lotta time reading the manual on how-to while actually doing... much more complicated than the ole carbureted engine.

i had to pull the intake manifold in order to replace a spark plug on my Ranger. Had to pull the front wheel to do so on my daughter's Trailblazer... me thinks the Spider's starter will be loads easier than this.

[manoa matt]

I did a brake pad and rotor change out on a co-workers car last week (94 Land Rover Discovery) Simple right, remove wheels, remove rotors and pads, put back together....WRONG. The front rotors were mounted to the back side of the wheel hub. Had to go to Sears for a 2 1/16" socket to remove the hub nut. And two separate sized 12 point sockets to remove the caliper mounting bracket and the disc from the hub bolts. For the rears, you had to remove the axles. No wonder they were quoted $1500 for the job.

[narfire]

Matt, makes you wonder what the designers were on when they designed the newer vehicles today. I thought engineers liked to keep things functional and simple. Isn't that right you fiat loving engineers.

[ga.spyder]

Here's a kick in the ass! I sprayed soapy water,hoping in vain for a vac. leak.I then pulled all the coil pack and injector connectors and re-connected.Now its running perfect Nothing worse than an intermittent problem.I didnt clear the codes,so I will let someone look at it and hope they can find..something!!
Craig

[rlux4]

Hey Craig! You fixed it the modern way. Unplug it, wait two minutes, plug it back in. Who'da thunk you could fix a truck just like you do a modem. Man, you are sooo techno.
Ron

[ga.spyder]

Started her this morning and the miss was back.I hate all these electronics!! Had a local guy scan the codes this a.m.,misfire on cyl.3.The coil pack is going bad on it.Less than $100 fix,so it could be worse. What was so wrong with 1 coil ,1 dist.,8 wires,and plugs? Too easy? Much better to have 8 coils,no dizz,and no wires.....right.
Craig

[sptcoupe]

I am almost emabarassed to tell this tale, but this looks like a sympathetic crowd on this topic. We bought my wife's car new in 2005. After about three weeks, I wanted to check the oil. Guess what? No dipstick! Didn't figure this out until I had practically dissasembled the entire upper part of the engine bay, and finally checked the owner's manual. Sure enough, you have to check the oil via the computer. Took about five minutes (instead of 30 seconds), and of course, it told me nothing about the condition of the oil. I also wonder what you do if you suspect you need oil, but don't want to start the engine to find out for fear of doing more damage.

I'll take our Lampredi motors anyday.

[Europa]

Sptcoupe, what kind of car is it?