Hi all.

 

Last night my wife's Panda broke down when she was on her way to see a friend. I have just charged the battery as she had flattened it trying to get it running again. It does turn over but doesn't start. Her friends dad reckoned that the fan belt just needs tightening. Any ideas on how to do that or any other ideas as to what the problem could be? I will be contacting a local garage or mobile mechanic tomorrow to try to get it sorted.

 

Thanks in advance

You need to explain really.

Did it break down as in conk out while being driven, or fail to start because of a Flat / Dead Battery.

Now charged but still gubbed.

 

Does Dad reckon the alternator is not charging the battery, or does he want to fix a squealing water pump?

 

Best have someone check out what the fault is, ask Dad to walk away with his ring spanners and ratchet.

 

PS

Does it have enough fuel in the tank, 

Petrol if a petrol engine, or diesel if a diesel,

(and not the wrong fuel for the engine type.)

Edited 24 January, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

Conked while being driven now it just fails to start since I charged the battery. It was her friends dad who towed it back. Plenty of fuel too and the right stuff

Edited 24 January, 201610 yr by ben1990

OK.

So what type of Panda, age mileage, fuel type, any service record etc.

No idea what that will help with, but someone might know something,

Derren Brown maybe.

1.1 petrol 05 plate with just over 70k on the clock with full service history.

Conking out and then not restarting is rare.

So the first thing the 'First Responder' often checks,  is Fuel Gauge,  asks the driver if they bought fuel recently, then sniffs the tank to see if it smells like petrol or diesel.  

(but not always, that maybe pervy ones)

 

So maybe Spark Plug issue, maybe something else.

*Corroded Earth Lead.*

 

Fan Belt needing tightened can maybe wait tell Dad.

 

All the best with it.

Edited 24 January, 201610 yr by GoneOffskiroottoot

Any warning lights on the dash?  Like George says, is the red ignition (i.e. 'I'm not charging') light on - maybe the reason why the Dad thinks the fan belt needs tightening?

 

Got spark?

 

Got fuel being delivered?

 

I recently worked on a mate's Punto which had all sorts of warning lights and messages on the dash.  Turned out that they have a common problem of the battery earth strap failing due to corrosion at exposed points - easily diagnosed by by-passing it with a jump lead and simple to get a replacement bit (chassis to gearbox) from Halfords/ECP.

 

Does it have a fuel cut-off button under the bonnet that needs a reset?

 

Could it just be flooded - worth cranking it over for a few seconds with a wide open throttle to blow any excess clear.

 

Did it get hot?  Any emulsion under the oil filler cap?  Oil level and coolant levels okay?

 

Just some thoughts.

 

Gaz

As mentioned above, the battery-gearbox earth strap on these can cause problems. If I were a gambling man though, I'd put my money on the crank position sensor. Have a look on fiatforum.com, there are some threads about similar problems. If it is the crank sensor, it should throw up an error code. Just one though - have you any warning lights on? I'm thinking immobiliser in particular.

The red battery light stays on after the others have gone off. Fluid levels good, not overheating. As per the wife all was normal when it conked. It does need a new cat converter that has already been diagnosed

The battery light will stay on if the engine doesn't start. If it's the crank sensor, a replacement won't be expensive. Always best to check the cheap fixes first

Always do look at cheap first . Then I start wiping my brow as those options vanish

My wife's 15 year old Micra developed an intermittent starting problem just before Christmas 2014. I don't think the local garage were that interested in finding the cause until they couldn't start it to get it off their car lift It turned out to be an ignition relay - £8 plus vat and one happy me Mind you, we still ended up getting a new Panda a few months later, so it wasn't that cheap! 

Turns out the fan belt snapped. Luckily the pandas engine design is such that the cylinder heads didn't get munched too

Fan belt or timing belt? 

The Panda's FIRE engine is non-interference, so no probs if the timing belt goes.

One of the two. Must be timing belt. Knew what I meant hopefully it gets sorted tomorrow

Well £640 later the car is all fixed. Turns out whoever did the last timing belt change didn't tighten the bottom vernier gear enough and it worked loose over time and broke. Got the cat changed too and it ended up £120 cheaper than the original quote to get it all done.

On a completely unrelated note, anyone interested in a 10 year old panda?

Now the Lada is history, you now why Panda's have heated rear screens.

get some bamboo....   (ill get my coat)

On a completely unrelated note, anyone interested in a 10 year old panda?

Peking Zoo ?

Is it fertile?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Is it fertile?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

Depends who is asking

Well £640 later the car is all fixed. Turns out whoever did the last timing belt change didn't tighten the bottom vernier gear enough and it worked loose over time and broke. Got the cat changed too and it ended up £120 cheaper than the original quote to get it all done.

On a completely unrelated note, anyone interested in a 10 year old panda?

 

£640 on fixing an old FIAT??? OMG!

 

Mate, I threw my 10 year old Punto away when the MOT bill threatened to be in that bracket, It looked mint but needed £600-900 spending on it.  Luckily there's a scrappers round the corner who gave me £120.

Same with the Multipla at 10 years old, too many bills, got rid for £400 whilst it was running OK.

 

I know the buses out of your location are terrible though so that's clearly not an option for your missus.

Edited 6 February, 201610 yr by camelspyyder

Needed the cat converter doing too which was the majority of the bill. We are considering trading it as it is cosy with us and 2 ever growing kids.

You'll be lucky to get £640 back I reckon.  We were throwing money away on the bigger FIAT we had just like that - must have done £1100 in the last 8 months we had it.