FIAT nightmare.

[Burnerman]

Just to resurrect this one........I'm sure at some time in the past, the sump plug was overtightened somewhat, that displaced or bent a flange that the plug was surely intended to tighten up to - therefore a replacement sump will probably be the answer. The threads on the original sump are fine.
However, the plug seems to be well gummed in place so I'm leaving it well alone, and if I do see the car again for an oil drop I'll just pump the old lube out.
John

 

[carmanmemoranda]

Just to resurrect this one........I'm sure at some time in the past, the sump plug was overtightened somewhat, that displaced or bent a flange that the plug was surely intended to tighten up to - therefore a replacement sump will probably be the answer. The threads on the original sump are fine.
However, the plug seems to be well gummed in place so I'm leaving it well alone, and if I do see the car again for an oil drop I'll just pump the old lube out.
John

I've had a similar experience in past and painted on the sump, 'do not remove' by the bung

 

[Stivino]

There is no flange or anything to stop the plug, it's just a tapered thread, like a pipe thread. Some muscle man has probably horsed it up previously.

 

[Burnerman]

There is no flange or anything to stop the plug, it's just a tapered thread, like a pipe thread. Some muscle man has probably horsed it up previously.

That's an explanation that had passed me by......it's ages since FIAT came my way, in the '80's in fact but that sounds right.
John

 

[Stivino]

I had a short spell in a FIAT dealership round about 1979-80. All FIATs with steel sumps have that plug, aluminium sumps have a normal style of sump plug. AFAIK that hasn't changed.

 

[Huynha]

A simple oil change couldn't be a problem surely?
FIAT 500, 59 plate, unknown ownership / history, 80k miles.
Out came the sump plug, 12mm allen key needed, a parallel threaded bung.......just fine.
In went the sump plug - but it didn't seem to bite on anything.......so much in fact that it went straight through the threaded hole and into the sump pan
Sump off, plug retrieved - but what now?
Hopefully I've done what I could....thread lock on the bung, screwed it back in leaving a couple of the female threads visible, fitted an internal circlip that seemed to hold then covered the clip with some Araldite.
Hopefully this will give me the 'sleep at night' factor, but I wish I'd never started!
Have a good evening everyone
John

Have you tried halfords?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

 

[Burnerman]

This vehicle has darkened my door once again......sticking and squealing N/S front brake this time.
I suspected a sticking caliper. On this system, the caliper has one large pivot at the top and one pin at the bottom.
The large pin has an 8mm allen head to fix it to the caliper bracket - except on this one the hexagon had rusted away.
Thankfully I was able to shift it with some Mole grips, after heating the bracket to release any thread sealant, but knackered the pin in the process.
Anyway, the brake flexy pipe wound out pretty well so on went the new caliper, I had to hammer the old pads out so fitted new discs too.....bled everything out and job done.
A pretty good design, by and large as the caliper swivels upwards out of the way to reveal the pads. I’ve seen this before, maybe on the Ford Ka?
John

 

[Diver Fred]

A pretty good design, by and large as the caliper swivels upwards out of the way to reveal the pads. I’ve seen this before, maybe on the Ford Ka?
John

Now isn't the second generation Ford Ka a rebodied Fiat 500? (and had a price premium added as well!).

To answer my question have a read of...

 

[Burnerman]

Cheers for that Fred, I wasn’t aware of that!
One thing that did surprise me though, the front discs are solid, rather than ventilated which I hadn’t seen in years.
Still, £52 for Bilstein discs and pads seemed excellent value to me. The caliper was around £40 I think, vat extra.
John

 

[jj4091]

Well, I’ve been changing oil for 55 years and have never needed a manual or torque wrench yet!
No issues so far.
John

Me too, but my recently acquired Suzuki was a real bit*h to do. Sump plug had been overtightened at a prior oil change & the star driver bit sheared off trying to remove it. Had to go through the manual to find out there was a torque setting for the replacement. First time I've seen an alloy sump with a rubber seal on the sump plug.

 

[Mottie]

Me too, but my recently acquired Suzuki was a real bit*h to do. Sump plug had been overtightened at a prior oil change & the star driver bit sheared off trying to remove it. Had to go through the manual to find out there was a torque setting for the replacement. First time I've seen an alloy sump with a rubber seal on the sump plug.

This type? I’ve seen quite a few motors with this type of sump plug with an alloy sump. I always sweat when taking them out, the star bit seems way too small for that size plug!

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

In the early days of driving, in a £4.95 an hour job, maintaining the car outside of my developing knowledge was difficult, but a local mechanic (in his early 70s now) once gave me the bill for a timing belt replacement. I winced and prepared to get the credit card out, but he stopped me and said "how much can you afford", I told him and he let me pay that. I even offered to pay in installments but he wouldn't let me.

Meant I could get to work with peace of mind. Never forgot his kindness.

In my early motoring days, some of the cars I could afford, had manually adjusted, rod operated rear brakes. Many of the instructions for adjusting brakes, suggested there should be no drag when rotating the wheel, so that's what I used to always aim for, but I always ended up with lots of pedal movement.

I would do most of my car and bike work, in my dad's garage, alone, which was located around a mile from where we lived. Just round the corner from the garage, was a repair garage, and one day, so frustrated by the long pedal movement, I took the car round to the owner to seek advice. He told me I was adjusting them the wrong way....

I should have adjust them up tight, so the wheels were locked, stamp on the pedal to snug up the shoes, then back it off just enough to free the wheel, shoes should still rub a bit.

My present car, has discs all round, but uses shoes for the handbrake, but I do like a perfect handbrake. I have always kept that advice in mind since then, but notice many with the same car model, think you adjust them, so there is no rub, and end up with a near useless handbrake, until I show them how to set it up.

 

[johnny2007]

In my early motoring days, some of the cars I could afford, had manually adjusted, rod operated rear brakes. Many of the instructions for adjusting brakes, suggested there should be no drag when rotating the wheel, so that's what I used to always aim for, but I always ended up with lots of pedal movement.

I would do most of my car and bike work, in my dad's garage, alone, which was located around a mile from where we lived. Just round the corner from the garage, was a repair garage, and one day, so frustrated by the long pedal movement, I took the car round to the owner to seek advice. He told me I was adjusting them the wrong way....

I should have adjust them up tight, so the wheels were locked, stamp on the pedal to snug up the shoes, then back it off just enough to free the wheel, shoes should still rub a bit.

My present car, has discs all round, but uses shoes for the handbrake, but I do like a perfect handbrake. I have always kept that advice in mind since then, but notice many with the same car model, think you adjust them, so there is no rub, and end up with a near useless handbrake, until I show them how to set it up.

Same trick used for vespa brakes.

 

[jj4091]

This type? I’ve seen quite a few motors with this type of sump plug with an alloy sump. I always sweat when taking them out, the star bit seems way too small for that size plug!

View attachment 307103

Yes thats the one, I think it was not torqued up properly but I suppose it could have been the reaction you get with steel screwed into aluminium. Never had a car like this before so I guess I'll have to stick to the oil change schedule more closely in future