Anyone here in Cuxton Marina last Thursday 16th

I was over in Blighty (down in Kent) last week buying a motor for SWMBO (A Fiat Multipla Ugly bug, but each to their own).

I was waiting to be picked up at the train station in Cuxton when I heard the most wonderful woofle of a V8 approaching. It was a late model P38 4.6 with theeeee best exhaust note I've heard from one of these motors. The Rangie was in excellent condition overall but the exhaust note was a stand-out feature.

I was enjoying listening to it burble around the marina from the old railway bridge until I was interupted by the clatter of my approaching 2004 1.9 diesel Multipla (although all things considered the wife and kids have fallen in love with Ugly Bug, its not a bad motor - lots of annoying beeps and leaks so should fit right in with the Rangie)

So if thats someone on here please tell us a bit about your motor. raise:

 

You have bought one of the worlds ugliest cars !
Well done

 

And even less reliable then a P38 according to some, but like the P38 they are very cheap

 

Yeah it got a fair beating with the ugly stick alright. I rate it just behind the Ssangyong Rodius, Nissan Juke and Chrysler PT Cruiser in the Ugliest car olympics, but you know what, it puts a smile on my face everytime I see it. Its kind of like having a pug or a bulldog for a pet.

On the reliability stakes, I joined the Fiat forum and yeah its up there with the Rangie for issues. I've already got a few little faults that are keeping me busy. The worst is a low oil pressure warning light at idle. Apparently common with the 1.9JTD engine. I'm working through the likely causes with fingers crossed that its not something as serious as bottom end (shouldne't be on a 71,000 miler with FSH). I don't think its anything more serious than a faulty sensor as the engine pulls like a train, its seriously torquey, it'll pull 5th gear from just over tickover without as much as a tremor. My old 00 landcruiser with its 3.0litre engine would assault you with the gearstick if you let the revs get below 1400.

Its got some curious deficiencies, its quite computerised. The auto climate control has a max defrost mode, but get this, it doesn't work if the external temp is less than 5 degs! So if you're in winter in Ireland or Scotland where its lashing down with semi freezing rain (a situation that the RR is just brilliant - when the HVAC is behaving) it won't kick in the aircon part of the program!

Anyway back to that Rangie, I hope it was someone here because you often come across threads with fellas wondering about whether to put an SS exhaust on etc, well this one answered all that, it was glorious. I've a 3.9RRC at home with a straight through back box but it never sounded anywhere near as good as this 4.6 last week.

 

Buy an O/E oil filter while you're at it - at least you can scratch that from the list of possible causes. Also (obvious I know) double check that it isn't idling too slowly. When my SWMBO's motor had a similar problem it was the sender switch as you suspect with your Fiat, but co-incidentally the oil filter was partially collapsed.

 

well done Steve!

It was the pressure sensor, phew!

I had bought a filter to try first anyway, a Mahle which is supposed to be what Fiat use. When I went to take off the original, the exact same filter was on it. That didn't solve it so I did the sensor, Oh this is going to be a b**tard to work on compared to my beloved longitudinal engined Rangie.
Changed the sensor, fired her up, had one or two low pressure faults come up but this was to be expected as quite a bit of oil drained out through the sensor hole while I was blindly fumbling to get it in. Took her off for a good run to make sure the oil was well warmed up and low and behold, no flickering oil light! Result!

Landyzone 1 - Fiat 0

Thanks again.

On a more relevant note my Rangie passed her NCT (MOT equivalent) today with flying colours. I put Koni shocks on her about 4 years ago and the front suspension is only showing a 4% imbalance (30% for a fail). The rear is showing 13% but thats most likely down to a dodgy height sensor putting unequal air pressure in the bags. I'm well chuffed:dance:

 

Great news, as for the suspension imbalance test - it seems your MOTs are more sophisticated than ours - I'm not aware of a similar test in the UK other than a visual check for sagging. A quick goggle on NCT and suspension imbalance to find out about it got a hit on a 2003 Audi Allroad failing the NCT for imbalance - £1K repair for shocks alone! - no aftermarkets available - P38s aren't so bad after all! Knowing Irish roads I'm not surprised you need good suspension checks.

PS I know a guy with a Fiat Multipla - he loves it - they have a kind of cult following. Apparently some are accidentally bolted together properly and can be surprisingly reliable. The 1.9 JTD is a gem of an engine when it's on song. Just replace that waterpump and cambelt every 30-40K miles. The only common weak point - it's not a difficult job - I did one on a friend's Stilo.

 

Fiat engines = good, electrics and body rust = bad.

 

One of my Aunts drove nothing but Fiats for years, a long line of 127's Ritmo, Strada and finally a Tipo. The 127's and Ritmo were rust buckets but reliable. The Strada was a bit better rust wise. The Tipo was galvanised but was the worst built car she'd ever had. One of the doors lierally fell off on day! They were all characterful cars and build quality aside I think the Tipo was far ahead of its time in an MPV sort of way, it had huge space inside (now admittedly I was smaller too)

I'm well impressed with the engine, I can't get over how well and smoothly it pulls from no revs.

Data, I can see already I'm going to have fun with the electrics, The external temp sensor was giving me -14C last week (which meant no aircon even though it was actually 25C outside!), after a lot of rooting and tearing I traced it to a corroded connector in the door.

Of course the weather has cooled since nad now that I've got the aircon working I no longer need it