[jagan0677]

@lucifer919:

Great Going!

Sorry to sort-of-hijack your thread - But a short update on my 1.6 Sport.

At about 80000kms on the odo, the car never ceases to thrill me. After 5-6 months of not using the car frequently, have been using it regularly for past 2 weeks. Still the same pleasure that i experienced when i first drove this car after i bought it in November 2007.

Was getting mileage figures of around 10 for 4-5 tankfuls( the absolute worst was 9.5 for one particular tankful.) But it turned out that the fuel filter housing was developing a slow aging crack. Got that fixed and checked the mileage. 12kmpl + on mixed cycle, full AC( 70% city, 30% highway.) Am I happy? You bet! The fuel price still hurts, though. Back in 2007, each visit to the pump used to cost around 2000-2200 bucks. Now each visit gets scarily close to 3000 bucks.

Ya, there are some minor rattles. But i am planning to get most of it fixed in Jan / Feb.

Happy Motoring for a Million More Miles !!

Happy New Year to all you guys!

Cheers,
Jagan.

Note: Sent you a PM.

[lucifer919]

Hey Jagan,

Good to hear about your car. we gotta meet up sometime in Bangalore. I recently have had a lot of rattles and creaks in the car and do plan on fixing them up. dont know where to go for it though. the *** is quite hopeless at this part to say the least.

do you have any ideas?

Also, looking at your garage pics, looks like you have a sun roof in the car! how practical/ effective has it been? does the Indian heat allow the use of this feature?

[ragsri]

@Lucifer,
I own a Fiat Palio stile 1.6 sport. I was wondering if you are facing the problem with spare parts as I am, in recent time. My front bumper got damaged and they charged me 9K for a new one. The body shop guy at Concorde motors (Silk board) says, Palio parts have become very expensive, while Punto linea bumper costs only 3K. A headlight costs 9K in Palio, it was about 2K about 2 years back. Its really strange how Fiat is rejecting the Palio users like this. I have no motivation to buy another Fiat car.

[lucifer919]

Originally Posted by ragsri

@Lucifer,
I own a Fiat Palio stile 1.6 sport. I was wondering if you are facing the problem with spare parts as I am, in recent time. My front bumper got damaged and they charged me 9K for a new one. The body shop guy at Concorde motors (Silk board) says, Palio parts have become very expensive, while Punto linea bumper costs only 3K. A headlight costs 9K in Palio, it was about 2K about 2 years back. Its really strange how Fiat is rejecting the Palio users like this. I have no motivation to buy another Fiat car.

Hello,

the spares of palio have become expensive as they are no longer manufactured locally in india. they are ordered from Brazil as and when the factory deems necessary. this is the reason for the prices going up.

and yes, the prices for each head light unit has gone up to 10000. we did however, get a easy way out for these plastic parts.

we have a garage in Pune that me and a friend visit. this guy has some inside contacts and gets parts for us cheap.

Eg: we just changed the headlight unit on one palio yesterday and paid 3500 for it. the reason this was cheap is, the factory rejected it on quality checks. like, the mount bracket for the light was bent in transit. this is broken off at the factory and disposed. our guy, gets this part repaired and we're all happy with the results.

[lucifer919]

Hi Guys,

i'm back from Pune and have a couple of updates.

There is good news and bad news. Good news first, the engine on my car is healthy as can be. getting good power and mileage at the same time. The car gave me 580 Km to a tank full the first time around after service and second tank full was 510 Kms to 40 Ltrs of fuel. definitely cannot complain about this.

Bad news is that the suspension in my car is on its last breath. The bearings in the strut mounts had given away so got them changed. the struts themselves are past their glory and need a replacement. Mech said to get this done in the showroom itself as they provide 6 months of warranty after the struts are changed. also, the original components are my magneti marelli and not available in the open market.

they will still be OK to use for the next 10,000 kms or so but do need replacement.

Car has so far clocked around 74000 kms and still going strong.

No complaints from me for sure.

cheers and happy driving in the new year to all.

Kiran.

[vinit.merchant]

What is the cost of the struts with the mountings at A.S.S.? Mine need replacement too. And this is after spending 6k on lower arm replacement due to wrong diagnosis by the mech.

[Rahulkool]

Tell me about it :( i had to also change the lower arm because of sound from suspension while it was just Lose caliper pins. AFAIR i was told 3.5k for the struts.

[lucifer919]

well, i am told that the non-OEM struts are for 2500-3500 a piece. the OEM struts manufactured by Magneti-Marelli Cofap, were for around 5000 a piece when they were in stock in Pune.

i think those are imported as well and am pretty sure the prices have shot up for these as well. i'm unable to get the OEM price quote as have not been able to visit a *** yet. If anyone can please find out and update me as well, it will be a big help.

Kiran.

[vinit.merchant]

Well, the car drives butter smooth except the clanking sound on rhs when it goes over pot holes/bumps.

And with prices of spares rising off the roof, wrong diagnosis is the last thing you want.

[lucifer919]

Originally Posted by vinit.merchant

Well, the car drives butter smooth except the clanking sound on rhs when it goes over pot holes/bumps.

And with prices of spares rising off the roof, wrong diagnosis is the last thing you want.

Vinit,

the clanking sound when going over bumps or potholes can only be the lower arms. the struts will not make this sound even if they have given up completely.
please ensure that all the bolts of the lower arm and corresponding parts are properly tight. the bolts being loose is the only other cause of this noise.

where are you located by the way? If in Pune, i can recommend a good Mech who is excellent at Palio diagnostics.

hope this helps.
Kiran

[vinit.merchant]

I probably know your recomendation. Check my PM.

[lucifer919]

Another update i forgot to mention is that my car battery died while in Pune. the Palio 1.6 needs a 50 DIN battery and surprisingly no body other than Exide make this. So got a new Exide maintainance free battery for 5K and got 800 Back in exchange for the old one. the OEM battery lasted me exactly 3 years before it went out. cant say that i complain. the battery shop owner was amazed that the battery lasted this long with me running 2 amps and 2 pairs of HIDs in the car.

One of my HID bulbs also shorted out. so took out the pair in the high beams and put in regular Phillips 55W halogens there. Running HIDs only in the low beams now.

Oh, and the car has completed 76000 Kms. till date.

EDIT: Was earlier running Blaupunkt Velocity components in the front. Got these replaced with the JBL GTO 609C. this change was mainly because i felt the need for more powerful midbases in the front. Ironically, gonna have to change the 4 channel amp soon now, coz the new components are driving the existing MTX x704 amp to heat up like crazy in about 2 hours of high volume listening.

The JBLs are rated at 90W RMS continuous and the amp is rated at 70W. do you think this might have something to do with it? i'm contemplating going for the JBL 1004. any thoughts or inputs about this?

[vinit.merchant]

Bosch makes it too. I think stock cars came with Bosch.
I replaced mine with Bosch couple of years back.

[4wheeldrive]

Folks,

I drive a 2002 edition 1.6 GTX in Mumbai and need to locate a good workshop ASAP! Any suggestions?

My car has a K&N Extreme air filter and an Automech free flow exhaust with headers. 77,000 kms and going strong! Really puts a smile on my face everytime i get an open stretch of blacktop

Facing some problem with the front end - get a knocking noise when making left turns. Recently replaced tyres (traded Yokohama S-Drives for Potenza G3s) and the tyreman pointed out a problem with the steering ball joint
Also the power steering / its fan belt needs to be looked at...

A couple of years back, i'd have Tata Motors (Worli, Company workshop) work on the car, but they stopped support for the Palio over a year ago

BCMA (Churchgate) has recently shut shop - someone told me they're turning into a Benz service. Went to them for a year and they were pretty good

4S Auto (Tardeo) is a multi brand workshop and they've worked on the car also, but they focus more on higher end cars (beemers, et al) and complain that they cant get hold of parts so often decline to take up the job.

Be grateful for any pointers!

[lucifer919]

Well Folks, another update here. Car is now upto 83000 Kms and still going strong. Just got it back today, from service.

I bought a KTM duke early this year so that car rarely gets to see any action of late. in the last 6 months, the car has probably run only about 1000 Kms.
Since I had the time and some money to spare, i thought of getting some preventive maintenance done. The KTM has already done 13000 Kms so that's how much the car has missed out on.

Got the car worked on at TDi Racing in Bangalore, because the car went out of warranty late last year and the people at Aadya motors did not respond too well to any requests I made regarding procuring parts so i could get them changed.
Got some parts replaced as time had taken their toll on them.

1. Rear suspension struts
2. Front Brake discs
3. Front Brake pads
4. Drive shaft boot
5. Transmission oil
6. Engine Oil
7. Horn

Also went through general service and checkup. Overall, she's as good as new and still gleams under the sun. Only complaint is that I don't get to drive as much now-a-days.
Bangalore traffic is just taking its toll on my nerves so puttering around on the bike is far more practical and sane. But, the wife and me now have a baby boy and I wouldn't dream of her or the baby on the bike so the car should get back to shuttling duties soon.

Overall, the car is still a hoot to drive and I don't see any reason to replace her with anything else anytime soon.

MODS: please rename the thread title to 83000Kms update